JOHN MILNER
Horn Player
This website is primarily my recordings of the music of Lowell Shaw - The Fripperies. He wrote 40 of them plus assorted Bipperies, Tripperies and Quipperies. His music is played and loved by horn players all over the world. Bravo to Lowell and what a gift to the horn world!
Since my retirement from playing 3rd horn in the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, it has been my hobby recording horn quartets, playing all the parts myself and even dusting off my drumming skills on two pieces.
I developped my sense of style for the Fripperies playing them on the street as a student in New York back in the 70's. We made a living one summer, playing on 5th Ave near 54th st. It was a shoe store with a recessed display window that made a perfect little stage. We played evenings from about 7:30-10:00. We didn't see it as begging, but as putting on our own little concerts. We would put a case in front and on a good night we would make 35-40$ per player. The style had to be punchy and as dramatic as possible to compete with traffic and crowd noise. One night we looked up and there was James Chambers ( then personnel manager of the NY Philharmonic) listening. Another night, just as all the concerts were ending, the entire trombone section of the Chicago Symphony was there listening. It really built endurance. Imagine the feeling after 3 hours of quartets, and your chops are beat, seeing a rich-looking crowd coming. We would say " Quick, Fripperie # 6 ", our best money-maker on the street !
To download for free: https://johnmilnerhornquartet.bandcamp.com/ . Just click on " Buy " , and set the price at 0.00