7 minute read
INTERVIEW WITH STEVE CAUSEY
AUDIENCE INTERVIEW
STEVE CAUSEY
CELEBRATING 50 YEARS WITH LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA
The Louisville Orchestra has some of the most talented musicians in the industry. Selecting just one to highlight is a daunting task, as each member boasts unique talents and contributions to the company’s magnificent performances. We caught up with Steve Causey, one of the longest tenured members of the orchestra, to talk about his 50-year run with the group, his thoughts on playing instruments, the evolution of the Louisville Orchestra, and more.
This is an excerpt from the full interview. To read it in its entirety, visit Audience502.com.
G. Douglas Dreisbach: You are one of the longest tenured musicians at the Louisville Orchestra. Do other members come to you for advice or look to you for direction?
Steve Causey: Well, timpanist Jim Rago is a couple years ahead of me, and we have had a few others who were here longer in the past, but I’m number two on the list right now. I don’t know if they really look up to me, but I do think it’s nice we have such a broad spectrum of ages in the orchestra, and people do find it interesting that we’ve been through so much. There are a lot of us who have been here for decades, so it’s not like it’s us versus them. But yes, people are kind of amazed that I’ve been here this long. I have been fortunate to have a good job all these years.
GDD: How did you get involved with the orchestra?
SC: I grew up in Memphis, Tenn., and occasionally, I would come to Louisville and study with Jerry Ball, the assistant dean at UofL’s School of Music, and he was also the horn teacher. He later became the dean, but at that time, I was studying with him, and there was an opening for an assistant French horn in the orchestra. So, I auditioned for Jorge Mester (LO music director from 1967-79) and the principal brass players, Leon Rapier, Ken Albrecht, and Pat McHugh. I don’t know how I played, but do remember it was pretty scary for a 17-year-old to go through. But I got the job, and here I am.
Steve Causey has played with the Louisville Orchestra for 50 years. Photo by O'Neil Arnold.
GDD: You’ve seen a lot of changes at the Louisville Orchestra, especially with the explosive energy of Teddy Abrams and what he has done over the past few seasons. What are some of the biggest changes you have seen over the years?
SC: When I started, the orchestra had been what we referred to as a “nighttime orchestra” because almost everybody in the orchestra had a day job. We had a lot of music teachers and various other forms of employment, so we rehearsed at
night. And then in the late ’70s, there were some people who just couldn’t do two jobs because the orchestra got busier and busier, so the players decided that we should try to go full time, which we did in ’81. Since then, we have been a "daytime orchestra." It has been a long road, keeping that working, but fortunately, we have, and we’re still going.
Also, every time we change music directors, the orchestra takes a different turn. Teddy has been simply magnificent as far as community involvement, and many other things, but what he has done in the community has been great. The programming he created really caught people’s attention. It was great because we were getting more people in for the concerts, until the pandemic hit, of course. It is interesting to look back over the decades and see which direction the orchestra has gone, and where it will go in the future. Right now, we are certainly on a positive trend, even during the pandemic. We are doing as much as we can with the streaming, small groups, and everything else, but we’re working, and that’s a great thing. GDD: Are there things that the pandemic may have forced you to do, that you weren’t doing before, that you’ll continue to do when everything gets back to somewhat normal?
SC: I am just hoping to get back to playing concerts for people. I am fortunate that I have two large musical families with both the Louisville Orchestra and the church choir, which is a very large family of 120 people. During the pandemic, it’s been totally different. But the orchestra is functioning, and
we are doing our best to take care of our own and provide music as we can, and that has been working for the pandemic. But we hope to be back to playing live concerts for live audiences as soon as we can.
It has been a hard year for me because my wife died back in September, and her dad, my father-in-law, died in August. They were both patrons, and they were always at concerts. I don’t want to dwell on that, but that’s what my year was like. It was a very hard year. So, it’s nice to be working. I’ll be playing on a concert in a couple weeks and am looking forward to that as well as getting things back to a more normal form.
GDD: You play the French horn, which is an interesting instrument in that it isn’t like a guitar where you might be able to control the volume with a knob, but more with airflow through the instrument, controlled with your lip muscles and positioning around the mouthpiece. What is the hardest part about playing the French horn?
SC: I think one of the hardest things about the horn is getting started playing it. For kids in high school or junior high, middle school, or whenever they start playing — it’s a very difficult instrument to start playing. The reason the horn is difficult is that it’s a very long piece of tubing, versus the trumpet, which is a shorter piece of tubing, so the notes are wider apart, and on the horn, the notes are closer together. It’s higher ranged, and it can be frustrating, especially for a younger player. But once you get the hang of it, once you get past a certain level of getting technique and memorizing the fingering and everything, I think all instruments become equally difficult once you get past the first part of the learning curve.
GDD: Are all horns similar to play?
SC: Not really. I can make a sound on those other instruments, but I can’t play them. I did grow up with a father who played the tuba, and we had an old German tuba that I would play occasionally. The way you support the sound in a trumpet is totally different than the way you support the sound, lung capacity or air-wise, on the horn. And they all have their distinct differences. Some jazz players can switch instruments very quickly, but that’s mainly in the woodwinds. So, for example, saxophone players might also play the clarinet and the flute. But in orchestras, it is a different deal, and you specialize in a certain instrument. I always like to tell the students that I am still learning how to play the horn, and you really never stop learning. With Teddy, we do a lot of modern music, but everything brings new challenges. And that’s part of the fun, the challenge of it.
GDD: Fifty years is quite the career. When the day comes to “hang up the horn” and retire, what will you miss the most about performing with the Louisville Orchestra?
SC: The people, definitely. And, playing music is such a thrill, I mean, there’s really nothing like it. I won’t say that every concert or every day is as exciting as the next, but there’s nothing like playing for people, whether it’s a full audience, or whether you’re playing with a small group in the schools or teaching somebody. When I’ve stopped with the orchestra, I will miss the people, and I hope that I’ll be able to continue teaching. I know I’ll be singing in the choir, so there you have it. But retirement comes to everybody, and it will for me, too. I just don’t have that part figured out yet.
Steve Causey. Photo by O'Neil Arnold.
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