There are few relationships as intimate and powerful as those between a professional musician and a beloved instrument. Yet every instrument demands from its player a unique type of relationship. In the stories that follow, five faculty share the highs, the lows, the challenges, and the rewards that come with finding, coddling, and coaxing transcendently beautiful music from the instruments they play.
By Geoff Brown | Photography by Jennifer Bishop
"You think you've found the holy grail of horns, only to find, a few months later, another one." |  |
"When I opened my eyes, all the security guards started clapping, they just loved it." |  |
The Bass with Surprising Lineage "It looked like someone had taken an awl and punched and scraped it." |  |
An Organ That Makes Friends Very Easily "This organ can sound very French, very English, and it always sounds very American." |  |
"At London's Wigmore Hall, they have a nine-foot Steinway, and it felt like I was playing a Rolls Royce." |  |
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