用灵魂吹响的圆号

How do you play the horn with no arms?

 

The instrument is on a stand. With my left foot, I press the keys which are known as valves. The mute, (which changes the sound), is on a separate stand that rolls. I use my right foot to move that in and out of the bell (the bit at the end of the horn). When I started playing at age four, the horn was on the ground and I sat in front of it to play, my head level with the mouthpiece. But when I grew up, that was no longer possible, so I started to think about how I would hold the instrument. I went to a creative person who can build strange things and told him what the problem was. He made my first stand, which was fixed and couldn't be dismantled. We developed and developed it and the one I have now is perfect. I can take it to pieces and transport it in a box.

Musicians usually alter the horn's sound by putting their right hand in the bell, do you do the same with your right foot?

No. The body should be relaxed while playing so putting my right foot in the bell wouldn't work. I change the sound with my mouth and my air stream instead and sometimes I don't know how I do it. If I want to play an emotion, I think of something, like being in a bath of warm water when it's raining outside. It's like when you speak and you are happy, you make a different sound to when you are sad. You can't explain what you are doing.

Can you play anything else?

I am fascinated by all the different things you can do with the horn and have never wanted to play another instrument. The horn is really rich, with lots of different colours. You can do many emotional things with it. A lot of Hollywood music is horn music. The violin always sounds the same, the piano sounds almost always the same, but the horn can make different types of sounds.