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8 Quick Tips to Improve Your Accuracy on French Horn

John Ericson
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There are many ways to work on accuracy, but these eight are all important elements to focus upon.

1. Buzz more often on the mouthpiece alone. When you miss something, buzz it on mouthpiece right away, you will quickly see why you missed it, the centering is off.

2. Center the pitches better. There is only so far off center that you can be or you will chip the note. Check this article for some ideas how to work on centering:

3. Tune your horn again after you get your centering worked out better. Modern double horns especially basically have no bad notes. The horn can be very nearly perfectly in tune with itself which allows you to aim always at the center of the pitch. My warmup publication has a section on how to tune your horn better.

4. Warm-up better. There are many possible routines. For example The Brass Gym for horn is great for working out better pitch production, intonation, and accuracy.

5. Use great air. Too many horn players get by “under the radar” with poor breathing. Don’t be one of them.

6. Be sure you hit a good hand position. This impacts the stability of your horn, especially in the high range.

7. Think about using a descant horn or a different mouthpiece sometimes. It is not cheating to think about using a descant horn, different fingerings, or even a different mouthpiece, for certain literature.

8. Play with confidence. Sure, nobody likes making the giant clam but on the whole you will be more accurate if you go for it confidently.

Background on editing The Brass Gym for Horn

John Ericson
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Very early in my tenure at ASU I realized that Sam Pilafian was accomplishing some very interesting things with his breathing/warm-up class and warm-up materials in the tuba/euphonium studio. I was aware of these materials before I arrived at ASU– unpublished versions of his warm-up materials had been circulating for years in bass clef. I knew that the bass clef version was interesting but still, seeing it in bass clef, it was somewhat difficult to visualize on the horn as to how it would feel or was supposed to feel on the face.

Luckily for horn players, following up on the success of The Breathing Gym, Sam along with co-author Pat Sheridan put together The Brass Gym: A Comprehensive Daily Routine for Brass Players. Initially available for only tuba and euphonium, my first look at the treble clef euphonium book almost two years ago was extremely interesting. Presented as it was in treble clef I immediately could see that there was much in this routine that would with only minor adjustments work very well on horn.

I spent nearly a year working over the materials and feel strongly that the new version of this publication (“The Horn Gym”) is a very significant new publication for the horn player. The Brass Gym includes a 108 page book and a 78 minute play-along CD featuring the two authors on tuba. Warming-up with the CD is great for developing and solidifying breathing and pitch production. I believe the authors intentions are preserved well in the horn version and that, if well practiced, this routine will help any horn player reach new, higher levels of performance, especially in the development of range, flexibility, articulations, and a consistent tone. I am honored to have been associated with them in the editing of this volume.

Thoughts on Playing a Double Wagner Tuba

John Ericson
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I am playing extra horn this week with The Phoenix Symphony, seventh horn and Wagner tuba on The Rite of Spring. It has made this week especially busy but I enjoy briefly playing in orchestra again on these large works.

Paxman double Wagner tubaThe one notable experience of the week is this is my first performance in some years on a double Wagner tuba. A little background information: the Wagner tuba is an instrument first used in the Ring cycle of operas of Wagner. He scored for a quartet of instruments, two tenors in B-flat and two basses in F. This instrumentation is standard in basically every significant work that uses Wagner tubas; The Rite of Spring is an exception, calling for two tenor Wagner tubas only.

A double Wagner tuba is in a way a good idea but I find it has one major disadvantage; it is neither a tenor nor a bass. On the whole it is more like a tenor and if I stay on the B-flat side, as I am doing this week, it seems to play the best, with a tone only a little heavier than that of a true tenor. If I were playing a low part such as fourth Wagner tuba on Bruckner 7 I would certainly however want to have a true bass in F, not a double.

I have performed Wagner tuba a number of times professionally, and this summer one project was the expansion of my notes on Wagner tuba into a larger publication; be looking for more details on this publication project soon.

It is always interesting playing with the symphony. The concert should be a good one to hear if you are in the Phoenix area. One note from a performance side would be that while I would like to play really on top of the beat my sense is the conductor does not really want or expect the orchestra to play right on top of the beat he gives. Orchestra members are used to his style; only an outside player would tend to notice. One extra player in another section was singled out for playing a little ahead of his beat today and my reaction was that player was actually playing right on top of his beat like a pro should. Something to think about in relation to the conductors you play with as well.

To learn more about the Wagner tuba and my publication see this article 

Remembering Milan Yancich (1921-2007)

John Ericson
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Over the weekend I learned of the passing on Friday of Milan Yancich at the age of 86. A longtime faculty member at Eastman, member of The Rochester Philharmonic, and publisher (Wind Music), his name may not be familiar to some readers, but to those who knew him he has his place in memory for sure. Biographies of Milan Yancich and one of his sons may be found here. While he was not my major professor at Eastman, I did play many concerts with him in the Rochester Philharmonic where I was a frequent extra player. After I graduated from Eastman I took several lessons with him as part of preparation for auditions–approaches he used in those lessons still come up often in lessons I teach–and I also played in a horn quartet with him, Pete Kurau, and Dave Angus when the RPO was on strike. He was a strong player with an amazing high range. After I left Rochester I always enjoyed seeing Milan at workshops.

If you are unfamiliar with his publications, his autobiographical An Orchestra Musican’s Odyssey: A View from the Rear is a great read where he lays out a lot of details of his career plainly, even reproducing the letter that Szell wrote to fire him from the Cleveland Orchestra. I also highly recommend his Practical Guide to French Horn Playing. Quite a bit of the content is unique or presents things in a different manner than that seen in other horn publications. It is where I learned to double tongue, for example.

His son will, I am sure, continue the company he founded with Farkas, Wind Music, for some time, as they developed a number of solid publications. Check out their catalog. If you make a purchase from them, I also highly recommend Farkas, The Art of Musicianship. This book is not read often enough, and is a Wind Music exclusive.

UPDATE: Two quotes from his obituary:

“He practiced every day,” said Mark Yancich of his father. “I woke up to hearing him practice before I went off to school … The horn warmups, the scales coming up through the radiators … He was a great player, but he was also a great teacher. I think that’s where the legacy is.”

Mr. Yancich’s daughter, Nicki, saw him the day before he died and remembers he was practicing his horn.

How do you Clean the Leadpipe if there is a Valve in the Middle of it?

John Ericson
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This question was posed to me today and I realized there is nothing in my writings that address this question, one that does come up. You don’t want a lot to build up and cake in there over years of use on any horn but especially on a triple or descant that has a valve in the leadpipe.

Many if not most models of descant and triple horns have a valve in the leadpipe. You should not snake this type of leadpipe as you would the leadpipe of a standard instrument. Instead I suggest using a Q-tip carefully up at the receiver to clean out the junk there (try not to push crud down into the horn in the process) then blow water through the leadpipe to remove the rest of the crud. If you do this often at all things will stay pretty clean.

Developing a Summer Excerpt Project

John Ericson
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A recent E-mail from David Wakefield reminded me a summer where I had a “special project,” an excerpt project, a great project for any student reading this during the summer who is not off at a summer festival or event.

It was the summer between my Freshman and Sophomore years of college. I was playing in the Emporia Municipal Band, taking private lessons with Susan Rankin in the Kansas City area, and helping at the farm, but I had recently read in The Horn Call a pair of articles on audition excerpts. A version of one of these was posted in the IHS site as “Audition Excerpt List” by Brian Thomas and Seth Orgel.

I’ve got two versions of checklists (PDF) that will be of help to readers:

That summer what I did was locate recordings and parts for as many of the frequently requested works on the Orgel/Thomas list as possible and learned them. I am sure this work at that time on excerpts was a part of what won me my job in Nashville. There is no reason to wait to study excerpts; if you wait to be “ready” you will probably never be ready. While you must “cross train” in etudes and other literature, ultimately you learn the skills you need to learn to play excerpts well by actually working on excerpts.

My main suggestion for students is to build up a library of recordings and get the complete parts and learn them. But where to get the parts?

Heldenleben-snipIn the “old days” when I was a student we used excerpt books and Xeroxed parts ourselves. This is still a workable tactic (I have a file drawer full of horn parts I refer to often) but there are alternatives. Whatever your sources, get going and don’t wait to learn excerpts if orchestral playing is your goal.

UPDATE 2013: Of course check our PDF horn excerpts at Horn Matters.

F or Bb — What Horn Best Suits Beginners?

John Ericson
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The standard line for many teachers is single F horn is the best for beginners, traditional tone, etc. Is this pedagogical approach stuck in the 1950s?

For some years I have said that a light double horn is best, if the player can manage to hold it. I did not begin on single horn; I switched to horn as a freshman in high school from trumpet and started directly on double horn.

I still really like double horns (!) but in the past few years I have come around to the idea that the single B-flat would in fact be a great horn to start a true beginner on. One reason is it is lighter and easier to hold, but the bigger reason is initial success. It is easier to play.

Last year I was speaking with a music educator who told me that the horn was the instrument that students were most likely to quit in band. This statistic is sadly probably true. Most single F horns are bottom of the line instruments which does not make starting on the horn any easier.

Also my daughter hit fourth grade last year. Lots of students start horn in fourth to sixth grade. There is no way my daughter could manage a double horn yet.

Then I borrowed and later purchased a simple, three valve single B-flat. This I feel is the way to go as we enter this new century.

I would issue this challenge to anyone in doubt; try playing anything on a single F and then repeat the same passage on single B-flat. The single B-flat will be the clear winner, better accuracy, better articulations, clearer tone, etc. I don’t believe you will go back to single F for true beginners after you hear the back to back comparison.

There is a better way than single F horn; give the single B-flat a try for young beginners too small to manage a double horn.

UPDATE: But I would add that the solution is to get players on double horns as soon as possible.

UPDATE II: Also, horn players still read music in F even if playing a B-flat horn. A double horn is in F/Bb, we just think of the fingerings being different on each side of the horn. Beginners on a single Bb would just use the Bb fingerings as they would on the Bb side of a double horn. This is all laid out in more depth in my book Introducing the Horn.

Mailbag: Is a Heavy Mouthpiece Better?

John Ericson
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A blog reader, a high school student, wrote in after reading the recent mellophone mouthpiece series asking about heavy mouthpieces. Are they better? The question was in reference to the IYM heavy mouthpieces, available for a number of brass instruments including horn and mellophone.

I have experimented with weight a good bit. First the obvious; change any aspect of horn/mouthpiece design and there are results that will be heard by the discerning ear and felt by a fine player. A couple years ago I was using a stem weight. Very interesting; on the mouthpiece I was using at that time I perceived a difference in articulation clarity.

The theory behind the heavy mouthpiece is it is like hitting a nail with a bigger hammer. The sound will project more easily and the tonal color holds together longer before it spreads at high dynamics. This is the main “pro” of this type of mouthpiece.

There is a downside: if too heavy the sound can become on horn for example euphonium-like and impossible to bring down to a very soft dynamic. It may produce a heavy, covering type of sound. This is the main “con” for this type of mouthpiece.

Not only does this trend hold for mouthpieces but also for horns. A light horn may feel very responsive and easy to play but it may lack projection and depth of tone color. A heavy horn may feel very stable and secure but may also produce a sound that “dominates” a bit too much with a dull tone color.

Having more or less tried it all, I feel my current horn, my Paxman model 83 compensating triple, really does well. As a compensating horn with titanium valves it is lighter than most triples and only a little heavier than most double horns. In terms of sound I feel it sounds great in all ranges. Even the low range on the high F side sounds pretty good, not as full as with the “normal” fingerings, but it is certainly bigger sounding to my ear than a mellophone in the same range as the weight of the instrument is a part of what makes the tone color.

Another major component of sound is the tube length of the instrument being played. A descant horn usually has a lighter sound than a double horn or a triple horn; this is a function of having less tubing. On many pitches on descant you will be playing on less tubing than the same pitches on double horn and it is just a lighter instrument. However, descants have been made heavy with a large bell and those models have a sound that more closely mimics that of double horn.

This is the same effect that the extra heavy mellophone mouthpiece is trying to produce as well. So, jumping back a couple posts, the combination of the tube length issue and the weight issue is what makes me perceive the typical B-flat marching horn as having a bigger sound than the typical mellophone.

To finally answer the actual question, a mouthpiece of medium dimensions of good quality will get you far on the horn. I have been very happy recently with my Laskey 80G, and I often suggest the slightly smaller Laskey 75G to students. I would try this model before I would experiment with an exotic, heavy mouthpiece.

Horn study impressions after a visit to Shanghai

John Ericson
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As I write I am back in Taiwan after a week in Shanghai. A most interesting week, which we started arranging late last summer when we met several younger faculty members from the Shanghai Conservatory.

What was ultimately arranged was a series of five master classes and a solo recital. I heard a total of sixteen horn students play, plus coached two horn quartets. While I can speak Chinese and have taught in Chinese before, I was grateful that Taylor Wu was visiting Shanghai also and translated in several of the sessions. He is a masters degree student at Juilliard now, but is a former student of the principal horn professor at the Shanghai Conservatory, Fuming Yao.

Overall the impression is that there are some talented horn players in China! They are very near the end of their semester right now so what I heard students play were mostly big solo works that they were preparing for performance exams, standards like Strauss 1 and Strauss 2, Mozart, the Gliere concerto, and the Adagio and Allegro.

As always the level varies somewhat from student to student but a common denominator, especially among the students of Professor Yao, was a good tone. One thing I often say is if a student has a good tone they are probably doing a number of things correctly, a reflection of good fundamental teaching (and talent).

As to other specifics of playing, accuracy was very good along with typically very strong high ranges. Use of air was mostly good; low range ability was somewhat variable and for some students needs more attention, as did dynamic contrasts and bringing out the phrases. These issues are common everywhere.

The instruments that students used is an interesting topic. Alexander horns were obviously the horn of choice in China, with about half the studio playing Alexander. Of the remainder the rest were about evenly divided between Paxman, Yamaha, and Holton. (Curiously, this is almost exactly what I observed in Taiwan as well, among advanced students). Mouthpieces were mostly Schmid. I am not terribly familiar with them but I know them to be of good quality and well-suited to Alexander horns.

Topics that the students seemed the most interested to hear about related to possible study in the USA , fingerings, how to work on the low range, and how to approach the high range with the best tone.

As to fingerings, in China most players used all or close to all B-flat horn fingerings. Many players in Taiwan also play mostly B-flat horn. What I always explain when asked about fingerings is that you want to use the fingering system that most professionals use in your area. You want to blend in. So, for Asia, mostly B-flat horn is fine and fits in with the situation, but it is something to be aware of as in the USA we do use the F horn more in the lower range for what we perceive at least to be a bigger sound.

I gave a recital too! I played music of Nielsen, Madsen, Basler, and Wilder.

My collaborator for the recital Teh-Ling Chiang also presented a session on her teaching in the USA, including her work with Piano Teams, which is how we originally met our first contacts in Shanghai, at the 2006 Piano Team competition in Flagstaff Arizona.

Overall I really enjoyed meeting Professor Yao and working with the students in Shanghai briefly; I hope that I have the opportunity to do so again in the future. Our hosts were wonderful, we had many amazing meals and went to a number of interesting places. Many thanks to them and to the students and administration of the Shanghai Conservatory.

Next week at this time I will be back in the USA! This has been a great trip and I am sure has impacted my teaching and playing positively.

Summer is Heating up and the Mellophones are Coming Out

John Ericson
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This was the first post (2007) in what became a mellophone series of articles, which led me toward writing A Mello Catechism. Check out the finished product, now (2018) in a extensively revised and expanded third edition, info at www.hornnotes.com and on Amazon.

The below is still an interesting read in relation to thinking about the topic and the challenges of middle brass.   

Mellophones are a topic horn teachers don’t talk about much. Hardly anything has ever been published on the topic.

Among horn teachers I am probably more supportive than most of marching band in general. I played in marching band all four years of my undergraduate degree in fact. Back at Emporia State we used double horns in marching band, so really it was good chop time. There was no problem at all transitioning between the marching field and the concert hall.

This morning I was checking a link I received directing me to a photo of an unusual 19th century horn on a forum I had not heard of previously (Horn-u-copia—interesting forum on brass history and instruments) and there found a link to a series of podcasts (!) on mellophones! They are at The Mellocast. A quote from the summary of one of the podcasts really hits the problem on the head for me:

“Aside for the fact that they play in the same key and are brass instruments, the similarities end there.”

This is really the problem overall with mellophones for the horn player.

Why do ensembles use them at all? Mellophones are certainly really handy in the modern drum corps. Imagine this scenario. A corps has a few too many trumpet players and not enough mellophone players. Point at the bottom three, and say “you, you, and you, play mellophone.” And three more mellophone players are born. The mellophone uses trumpet fingerings and a mouthpiece similar to a trumpet mouthpiece; they are good to go. Even more typical perhaps though is mellophones are played often by woodwind players. It is the easiest brass instrument in many ways with the typical mouthpiece setup.

Another thing I constantly hear as a benefit of using mellophones is that their sound “cuts through” on the marching field. Which is, to a point, a good thing, you do need heard.

Horn teachers have tended to prefer B-flat marching French horns for their students who march. They are much more horn-like than the mellophone with a rounder sound and use a normal horn mouthpiece. Sure, they won’t feel as good as a mellophone to a trumpet or woodwind player, but, again, this is an instrument geared to horn players, not converts.

In any event mellophones are here to stay. I have heard it said that there are three options for horn players playing in marching groups that use mellophones — percussion, guard, or drum major — but there are things you can do to have a better experience. I found in my surfing this morning an interview by Scooter Pirtle in another mellophone related website, The Middle Horn Leader, with Texas Tech horn professor Christopher Smith who marched French horn bugle with the Belleville Black Knights and the Madison Scouts. His suggestion is pretty on the money.

SP: Many French horn players who are marching drum corps are being required to switch to mellophone bugles and to also switch to the mellophone “trumpet-styled” mouthpieces. For those players who make the switch, how can they best limit the damage of switching back and forth between concert French horns and mellophone bugles?

CS: The only thing I can say is that it is going to be more difficult for a player to switch over to a mellophone mouthpiece all summer and then try to pick up a French horn mouthpiece and try to sound like a French horn player. They need to take their mouthpiece, that new B.E.R.P. thing, or even an adapter to practice back and forth so they can keep the same feel of the French horn mouthpiece…Because the embouchure is completely different from a mellophone to a French horn.

One final suggestion would be to keep doing low range work on the mellophone when warming up and focus on blending with the lower brass. A mellophone will never sound like a horn but try not to sound like a trumpet.

 

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