Sean and Robert are joined by Mr. Jim Esswein, a multi-instrumentalist who plays tuba, upright bass, and the alphorn, to discuss his history planing the alphorn, his work teaching middle-schoolers, and how he memorizes complex musical pieces.
Following his graduation from the Ohio State University, Jim worked as a band director with Columbus Public Schools from 1969 until his retirement in 2004. Jim bought his first alphorn while he was on tour in Austria with a German choir. After playing solo alphorn for several years, he started playing trios with a group in 2008 which has transformed into the group Alphorn Gruezie. Jim also works along side Angela Buckley and Dave Sabatka in the Ohio Alphorn Band. In addition to his schedule of live performances, Jim focuses his energy on continuing to educate aspiring musicians and owns several alphorns for the purpose of running master classes and making them available to people who are interested in learning to play the alphorn
Learn more about Jim:
https://theohioalphornband.com/gallery-1
https://alphorngruezie.wordpress.com/about/
Visit the Alphorn Institute website here!
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