Blowing his own horn

If there ever was anyone to blow his own horn, it's Dan Ballard, 76, a retired California music teacher who brought more than a dozen horns from a personal collection to Seeliger Elementary School last Wednesday.

"I've been teaching music for about 50 years and I've been collecting horns as I go," he said. "I've got some anomalies. I've got horns that some of these kids have never seen."

He's been doing his program "10,000 Years of Horn Blowing" for about 20 years, and the collection he shows dates back to animal horns, used in Jericho some 8,000 years ago, all the way up to modern-day brass pieces.

"I've played in a lot of orchestras," he said. "I started out in high school playing the trumpet."

Horn blowing may have started at the time of animal domestication, he explained, when people realized a leftover animal part - the horn - was a good container for holding seed.

"When the animals died, the horn fell off and they were hollow inside," he said. "People used the horns for drinking cups, but also to hold seeds and for planting in a straight line."

When a seed was stuck in the tip of the horn, people likely tried to blow it out, he said, and he put an animal horn to his lips in explanation.

Out came a deep low sound.

"They discovered it made a noise and they began to use it to signal each other."

Ballard demonstrated sounds on other items, like the conch shell, a long hose attached to a funnel, a natural horn (one with no valves, popular before the 1600s) and the modern-day valved horn, including a soprano trombone and a slide trumpet.

John Borges, 11, was surprised to learn horns dated so far back.

"I didn't know that horns were that old like that," the fifth-grader said. "I thought they were more in the 19 and 18 centuries (sic)."

"I thought the presentation was good because we usually don' t get to see this kind of stuff," he said.

Coco Graham, a third-grade teacher, believes Ballard's horn playing might inspire students to start band when they hit fifth grade.

"I know some of the students are playing instruments now and some of them aren't, but I hope this will inspire them to learn more."

She said Ballard's piece on Louis Armstrong was particularly poignant, because her class is doing Chautauqua - where students role play historical figures - and one of them chose the jazz musician.

Gina Peacock, 9, doesn't need convincing that instruments make neat sounds. She already plans to play the flute and clarinet when she is older.

"They are my favorite instruments and they make beautiful sounds," the third-grader said. "I think today's presentation was good because he told us how you play the instruments, he included students to help him show us, and we saw instruments from all over the world."

The afternoon of horn blowing was far better that attending the typical Wednesday afternoon of math class, Gina said.

"It was worth missing," she said.

Anyone interested in having Ballard come to their school can call him at 265-4054. For video of the program, go to www.nevadaappeal.com.

• Contact reporter Maggie O'Neill at moneill@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.