Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 24, 1995 TAG: 9511240081
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Thankfully for Ellen Hannan, her French horn-playing progeny, Nathan, handles that task without exhortation. She has her own spit valves to watch over, on her trombone.
That's life in a brass family like the Hannans.
Two cars in the driveway and a horn in every room.
``It wasn't like she came out and said, `You will be a musician,'' Nathan, 17, says, describing how his mom pointed him toward music. ``It was more like, `Well, there are a lot of musicians in the family' - wink, wink.''
Ellen Hannan, 39, is one of seven children who all played brass instruments. She's been playing trombone for 28 years. Don Hannan played saxophone in his high school band. He hasn't played a note since he graduated, he says.
But he'll be in the wings as a symphony volunteer Sunday when his wife and son settle into chairs a few feet apart for the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra's Holiday Pops concert at the Roanoke Civic Center.
The orchestra for this performance will be made up of a combination of Roanoke Youth Symphony members and professional musicians, accompanied by the Roanoke Choral Society. James Glazebrook will conduct a combination of sacred and secular holiday tunes, from ``Deck the Halls'' to the ``Hallelujah'' chorus.
``It's just another gig for me,'' says Nathan. Besides being the drum major for William Byrd High School's band, he's also a member of the all-state band, first chair French horn player in the All-District Symphonic Band and principal horn player in the youth symphony.
``But I get paid and you don't,'' says Mom, playfully. She recently graduated from Virginia Western Community College with a perfect 4.0 grade point average and is majoring in music education at Radford University. She's also in several bands, including the New River Valley orchestra.
``I'm sort of living my life backwards,'' she says. ``I got married and had Nathan, and now I'm going to college. ... It's like I'm living springtime now.''
The two play together often, doing duets for weddings and church functions, and they are part of a horn quintet that will play at a pair of Radford commencement gatherings in December.
And they practice in the same room - the living room of their house. You'd think the other families in their cul de sac would hate them, but Ellen says they get no complaints.
``It's not like when we were kids and my brothers and sisters and I would go out and serenade the neighborhood.'' All seven of them? Yup. All seven.
But as much as the Hannans yuck it up at home, when it comes to sitting in the orchestra together, they are all business. The jokes end when the baton goes up.
``The conductor is god when you get in there,'' Ellen says. ``That's with a little `g.'''
Holiday Pops: 4 p.m. Sunday, Roanoke Civic Center Auditorium. Tickets: $10 adults; $5 students. 343-9127, 343-6221.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***