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Cruel Teacher, or Demanding Teacher?

John Ericson
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Following up on the recent posts from Bruce Hembd, the topic of the CT (Cruel Teacher) is one that has resonated with many horn players and has brought some thoughts to greater clarity for myself. I think in this current time of stresses and struggles, it is a particularly important topic to look at as we all reflect on the past and look ahead to new things.

Many of us have had a CT at some point. In my own case, I did not have one until grad school, and having gone to a small college for undergrad (and having started as a music business major) I did not come into that program wrapped up in the harder edge world of performance and private teachers of this type. I did work hard and learn a lot from the CT, but it was at the same time a difficult time that led to me burning out, leaving college for a year and a half, and a recovery of my own with other teachers helping me keep my horn playing on track.

The part of the topic I’d like to focus on today is about how the CTs of the past and present view themselves, and what we can learn from this and apply to our own horn playing and recovery.

Is being demanding cruel?

The line between being demanding and being cruel is a fine line. Of course, any good teacher is demanding to some extent.

But there is a category of teacher that stakes their reputation on being very demanding of their students. Those demands, to their mind, are simply part of their teaching methodology. No cruel intentions; student success is the goal. But that methodology begins to be cruel if it includes over the top things such as:

  • Recommending that students do something perfectly 100 to 200 times in a row
  • Starting every freshman in Maxime-Alphonse book IV regardless of actual playing level
  • Giving excessively hard assignments such as sophomores learning long modern etudes in E horn
  • Required warmup materials of excessive difficulty level
  • Requiring students to memorize a solo before bringing it into the first lesson
  • Telling a student that they will never have “the X factor”
  • Telling a student that they are simply cruising on talent rather than working hard enough
  • Mind games like asking a music ed student what their favorite methods instrument was, and offering to contact the teacher of that instrument about changing your major instrument to that
  • Assigning Kopprasch 10 in every lesson for months, rather than work on the same skills in other materials

All of these (real) examples I believe were meant to be motivators, to make you work harder and filter out the weak. Some students have the (false) idea that this type of CT is exactly what they need. Let go of that mindset, it is not a good one.

Sometimes students just want the wrong type of teacher

Some students at the very least think they need a teacher that will “kick their a**” and make them work. This creates some actual market demand for the CT.

One thing you need from any teacher is honest feedback. Another thing you need is for them to show some level of problem solving skills to help you get better. The teacher is there to help you progress toward your goals in some systematic and effective way.

On the other hand, something the CT needs are very talented students, so talented and lacking in problems that they can’t screw them up. Be cautious, there is a category of teacher that is well-known but in reality has a very limited range as a teacher. They may have a system, a great system even, but they really only understand their own system, and you may not fit in and never really make any real progress. Not to mention they may be cold or uncaring (it’s not their problem that you can’t play Maxime-Alphonse book IV!) or have too much going on in their life and career to help you much. Don’t be a cog in their machine.

Aside: If you don’t get in the studio of the famous teacher, is it time to quit horn?

This idea is a variation of something I have written about before. My personal perspective is a lot different, as I was not a real hot prospect out of high school. With my embouchure problems I would never have been accepted to say Eastman as an undergrad. And here I am now, full Professor of horn at Arizona State. Don’t quit if you stumble due to a teacher or a school not accepting you. Being around optimistic people is more important in the big picture. 

Is it just business?

Another thing to be aware is for some teachers, teaching is just business. A thing they do, a thing they have been doing for a long time. “The teaching gig.” They have lost some of the sense of responsibility they have as mentors to treat every student as being important — that every single one is an individual worthy of your attention, someone that loved music when they started studies with you and should still love it when the studies end.

On the other hand, as a student you might, to be honest, do better to look at lessons as just business. Don’t wrap up your identity in how each lesson goes. Focus on how these lessons help you toward your goals overall. Draw out the good and forget the bad. Let the lesson experience just be what it is.

Aside: Can you have a conversation with another horn player and not talk horn?

At one point between degrees there was a time I met with another student of my CT for dinner. Pasta with red sauce! She set down a rule that we could talk about anything other than horn. It was difficult at first but actually really healing and memorable, a turning point for me. We would do better to talk less horn and more everything else.

More to life than music

I’ve talked about this elsewhere in Horn Matters, but a story is worth sharing again. Years ago in The Horn Call I read an interview with a famous horn teacher. One question they were asked was about their hobbies, and the answer they gave was that their hobby was self-improvement. Honestly, this is the definition of someone that needs a hobby.

Advocating that students are to live the music, breathe the music, eat, sleep, and literally be the music 24 hours a day is very problematic. I remember the first time I met someone with this type of mindset when I was a student, a flute player, and it just puzzled me. Horn playing (music) is something you do, but it is not your entire life. You need friendships, hobbies, faith, and interests outside music. Balance! Even Verne Reynolds had a real hobby!

Some people will find it helpful to keep your music side in sort of a mental box. You do music when you do music. Do it well! When not doing music, you put the music away in the box and live life like a regular person. A lot of professional musicians live like this in reality.

Is it a teacher persona?

This is a good question. I’m convinced some teachers develop and carefully project a CT persona that is different than their real persona. At least I hope it is just a persona! My assumption is that they must have friends they can be completely real with, because if what I’ve interacted with is their real personality I have questions.

Coda: The overly positive teacher can also be cruel

Be aware too that there is an opposite teacher personality, that while much more enjoyable to be around, is also one to avoid: the overly positive teacher.

This loops back again to the topic of honest feedback. The danger is that the overly positive teacher is at some point just telling you what they think you want to hear instead of giving an honest feedback.

One teacher I knew well, beloved in many ways, was prone to telling a student overly positive things. Such as they are right there, going to win an audition very soon, etc. Later the student would figure out the reality that they were further away from their goals than they thought.

Fine?

This is a big topic and I’ll be back with more. For now I’d like to close with the idea that there is an art to giving helpful criticism in an honest and helpful way. I’m not perfect, no teacher is, but the best overall teachers work to find that balance. As you ponder the topic of the CT, be looking for that balance.

Other posts in this series:

Music-Making and Personal Identity

Bruce Hembd
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In a previous article, I told the story of how I came to study with my mentor, Milan Yancich.

At the time I felt broken, both as a musician and human being. Worth exploring further is an overview of the events that lead to this, and how it might relate to others in current times.

Ups and downs

When I was a young kid learning to play the horn, my identity became quickly wrapped up and connected to my horn playing. It was my refuge from a troubled home life, like a warm blanket giving comfort on a cold night.

The picture above is the home where I grew up. It is from Google Maps, and the house looks almost exactly how I left it in the 1980’s – a small home, with paper-thin walls.

When I was starting out on the horn, my mother was still recovering from a difficult divorce. Above and beyond this, the whole family was continually learning on how to support a sister who was born with severe physical and intellectual disabilities.

Over time, my practice sessions evolved into an escape from reality – a coping mechanism.

I would hide myself in my room, playing Kopprasch studies and Mozart concertos. I would burrow myself in the first volume of the 335 Selected Melodious Progressive & Technical Studies for Horn. I would listen to recordings borrowed from local libraries, for hours on end.

This was all that I had in terms of study materials. Fortunately for me however, I also had an active imagination. Sometimes I would compose my own etudes and solos, spending hours (or days) working on them.

These materials, while limited, went a long way towards expanding my mind as a budding musician.

An encounter with a bully

Taking my horn home on the school bus would sometimes paint me as a target for bullies – the trouble-makers that sat in the back of the bus with nothing better to do.

One time a bully and his gang exited the bus at my stop and followed me home. The leader taunted me along the way with comments like “hey kid… what’s that? A tuba, or a toilet?”

At one point, he yanked the horn case from my hands and set it upright on the ground with the bell area facing upwards. He sat on the bell area and starting making flatulent noises, as if he were using the toilet.

It was a terrible thing at the time but in another universe, it could make great material for a comedy-based television series. I have to hand it to the kid – it was a creative insult.

Eyes wide shut

Moving on to my freshman year at a major music conservatory, my identity as a person had become completely intertwined with my instrument. Playing my horn was an escape from the world, a defense mechanism to help me cope with adversity.

I imagine that for some young people, who might feel lost in the woods for one reason or another, this idea might resonate.

When I was eventually rejected by my CT (“Cruel Teacher”), I mistakenly equated failure on the horn with failure as a human being. Because these two things were inextricably connected in my mind at the time, I was devastated.

In hindsight, I now realize how extremely fortunate I was to have landed in Milan Yancich’s studio. The man quite literally saved my soul, with a well thought-out method, kind words, and a terrific sense of humor.

Final thoughts

The negative events that I mention above are far behind me now. I write about them here not to elicit sympathy so much as to illustrate how complex a young person’s life might be when they seek out help and guidance from a mentor.

This train of thought might also apply to adults who have reached a point in their lives where reflection, and perhaps even change, is needed.

For teachers:
Be aware that students who come to you for guidance may have personal issues under the surface that are affecting their music performance. While the lesson studio is definitely not an appropriate place for mental health therapy, it can function as a safe place where students can feel free to talk about what is going on inside their heads.

Beyond this, most schools and universities these days have mental health counseling services. If you feel that your college-aged student needs these services, it is your duty as their mentor to guide them in that direction. If the student is of high school age or younger, a private discussion with a parent might be appropriate.

For students:
A supportive teacher, that has your best interests in mind, may ask if you are OK and may perhaps even guide you on how to distance yourself as a person from your music-making. If they don’t ask, you should perhaps think about bringing it up yourself.

If this stimulates a thoughtful and supportive conversation, you are in a good place. If you feel ignored, patronized, or belittled, do not doubt your feelings. It may be a signal to move on.

A few other ideas to think about:

  • Take a day off per week from practicing and do something else: hang out with your friends, take a hike in the woods, go see a movie in a theatre, enjoy a nice meal, etc.
  • Consider a taking up a hobby – something interesting and captivating that will occupy your mind with a different passion. A good example of this is a certain friend and colleague of mine, who loves his trains.

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NEXT: The Enduring Enigma of Dale Clevenger

Other posts in this series:

On Mentorship and Recovery from Abuse

Bruce Hembd
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Milan Yancich
Milan Yancich

This photo and the memories associated with it are among my most prized possessions.

This is Milan Yancich, the man who saved my creative soul. There is a bit of a story to tell, but it has a valuable lesson to share about recovering from abuse and trusting your feelings.

The Cruel vs. Kind Teacher

I came to Milan a shattered mess. I had studied previously with a teacher that I will call “CT” (for “Cruel Teacher”). From my youthful perspective, CT was cold, impersonal, and stern.

He was not helpful with my technique, and was of the opinion that if you didn’t have it figured out by the time you got to college, it was too late. I asked him to help with my faulty embouchure, but he refused.

Over time, I became scared of him and started dreading my weekly lessons.

By contrast, Milan Yancich was a very kind man, with a methodical approach for building technique. Over the next two years, we worked on nothing but basics: scales, arpeggios, long tones, and simple, melodic etudes – the building blocks of music.

It was like therapy for me. A recovery from post-traumatic stress.

Believe in Yourself and Your Feelings

If you ever feel uncomfortable or humiliated in a private lesson, believe yourself and your feelings.

In my own case, I doubted myself and my feelings. Looking back now however, I can see how CT’s behavior was so very detrimental to me, as a budding musician and human being.

Trust your gut… your “spidey-sense.”

Whether it be feelings of a teacher intimidating or belittling you or something worse, like sexual harassment, get yourself the hell out of there if necessary.

You are paying good money for those lessons and it is well within your right to get up and leave without saying a word.

Talk to someone who you trust. It may help you determine whether your feelings are real, imagined… or even a mix of both. In my case, it was a mix of both. CT’s stern behavior triggered all sorts of demons in my head, that I had no idea about until many years later.

Even if it turns out that you are completely mistaken, you can always own up and take responsibility later. If the teacher still takes offense by your mistake after apologies are made, take that as a sign to hit the road and look for a new teacher.

Be good to one another. We are all in this together.

But please be aware that, even today in this modern digital age, bad actors are still out there who might do you harm – in one way or another.

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Other posts in this series:

Brief Review: Corno da Capo: The Life and Adventures of an 18th Century Horn Player

John Ericson
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Let me get straight to the point: If you like books, you should read this book. Corno da Capo by Richard Seraphinoff is certainly the most interesting and significant horn publication to come out in many years.

With that introduction, what exactly is Corno da Capo? I hate to put too fine a point on it, but while billed as being a fantasy historical novel, there is also instructional material in relation to learning the natural horn, and much relating to historical figures of music and playing music of this time with good style. Certainly, he puts the horn and the music we play from this period into a new, fresh context.

Backing up a few steps,** I first heard Seraphioff tell a version of the plot of what became Corno da Capo around 1989, and subsequently I read an early draft of the beginning of the book at the 2013 Memphis IHS Symposium. That draft was no more than a quarter the length of the final version published, which comes in at 480 pages. The basic story outline is the same as I first heard him tell orally; a modern horn player, the third hornist of a leading American orchestra on tour in Paris, finds himself after an accident suddenly in Paris of 1770! He not only survives but develops a career as one of the most celebrated horn duo soloists of the time.

Stepping back again, modern horn students must puzzle a bit when they learn that there are quite a number of concertos for two solo horns and orchestra from this time frame (Rosetti being especially prolific). The story of two leading horn artists of the genre, and how they worked as travelling duo soloists and court musicians over a 20+ year career, brings focus to this as historical fiction. This quote gives a glimpse into the beginnings of the relationship of John (Johann) and Carl:

You were also such an enigma in your lack of knowledge of the world of today, that you either have amnesia, or you really are from some other world or time. Whatever it is, it’s intriguing, but there is another side to the whole thing. When we played those first duets last week, I thought, okay, this guy can obviously play the horn, and he’ll catch on fast and be a good orchestral player. But what has happened over the past couple of weeks has shown me that you can be one of the great high horn players of our time, and soon.

Another historical angle I love in this book is there is an element of “setting the record straight” in relation to horn and music history. No spoilers, but be looking for things to pop up that may conflict gently with what you learned in school or from record jackets. Seraphinoff in this regard has done a huge service to the horn community in this publication, with references provided in the final section of the book to the latest historical sources.

Something else that resonates with me is the whole large topic of what the pieces we play now would have sounded like to the original audiences. That is more than anything what has me interested in historic horns, playing them and imagining in the minds eye some version of the original sound and performance situation. Our hero in the book gets to experience many things we can only imagine of today.

But I think where Corno da Capo excels the most is it is in fact simply a good read, and a book of the type that you will want to read every page. Not to mention I think people who are not horn players will also find it to be a good read, and it is of a size that you could put it in your backpack and read it as time allows. Which brings me to the only, potential negative of the book – it is long, reading it all will take some commitment, but well worth the effort.

Many congratulations to Richard Seraphinoff for a wonderful publication! It is available worldwide in print and Kindle versions through Amazon.

**I must footnote that Rick has been a mentor and friend for many years. However, even if I only knew him from a distance, this book would still be an extremely important one that needs to become standard reading in our horn world.

Vintage Mellophone Bells — and Natural Horns?

John Ericson
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My big idea project over winter break was to build the natural horn seen below, using a 1930 Conn mellophone bell I had found on eBay.

It was my second horn build of this type. My original mellophone conversion was done using a Cuesnon bell when I was a Doctoral student, working under Richard Seraphinoff. (Photos introducing all five of my previous horn conversion projects may be seen here).

Backing up a few steps, why exactly use a vintage mellophone bell? For a natural horn? The reason is the throat is small, similar to that a typical natural horn of the era when they were in use. In my book Playing Natural Horn Today (more here) I suggest a mellophone bell conversion horn is a better tactic than to convert a modern single F horn, as on those the bell (and bore overall) is much too large, making them not very ideal for natural horn playing.

Stated another way, the smallest modern horn bell is still too large to be a good natural horn bell. A vintage concert mellophone, in contrast, is right in the range of many natural horns of the late 18th century.

My original conversion horn came out well, too well really, as it is the natural horn that I’m the most likely to play of the several options I have access to. The bell is quite nice. I thought about making another when I was on sabbatical last year, and actually purchased off eBay a second Cuesnon mellophone – but the seller was a bottom feeder, they had already sold the Cuesnon (!!), and wondered if the York they sent me (!!) would be OK? It would not! They did not take returns, but had to take it back after I appealed to Amazon, they had shipped me something different than what I purchased. And the York was a tank! Heavy, hard bell, not good.

With that I let the idea sit through the long hot summer. Then in the fall I found on eBay a Conn mellophone that had been converted to a lamp. What I could tell from the photos was it had a good bell, “hand hammered” with a seam to the edge. And also it was quite inexpensive.

It required some dent repair and 8 (!) patches to correct the issues it had. The diamond shaped patches were part of the solution, some of the holes were at very visible locations, those patches needed to look artistic and intentional.

After those repairs I was on to using mostly left-over parts from my sabbatical projects. Working forward from the bell, the bore of the mellophone at the end of the first branch was large, .500 inch. To get that down to modern horn bore I used the end portion of a spare Yamaha single F horn first branch. The main slide is made from a combination of Yamaha and Mirafone parts. On the other side of the slide the tube is the end of a King (I think) leadpipe, cut to take the bore down to the .440 bore of the remaining tubes, salvaged from a Chinese natural horn crook. Those final three parts required some bending, using Cerrobend as filler. I would have liked one of the bends to be a little better. It is a learning process, and I know what my mistake was — I should have annealed that tube before the final bending. I did not need to move it far and have been able to skip that step a number of times, but should not have this time, I needed to move the tube a bit further than I could get it to go. Still, it is close, and of course fully functional as it is.

One goal was to get it playable by New Years, and I managed to hit that goal! And it plays nicely. In the photo the horn is seen with the F crook and a coupler from prior horn projects, which luckily worked perfectly with the horn body. The remaining steps are I am making new F and E crooks, and a full step coupler to achieve Eb and D. A specific goal was for the horn to be the most comfortable in the hands with a crook and one coupler, as I find students will spend much or most of their time in Eb and D working on solos (such as Mozart!). The crooks, still in progress as of this writing, utilize a few key new parts from Richard Seraphinoff and will be compatible with his instruments. There were several steps to do that I had not done since when I built the horn as a Doctoral student, happy to report that I’ve worked through those steps and should be able to finish the crooks and coupler before classes next week.

My overall goals were to relatively quickly make a good, workable instrument that a student could use and to work on my skills. Success on both counts! Plus, I’m feeling more enthusiastic about practicing on the natural horn than I have in some years.

As to future projects, I think the next horn build will be a new natural horn made to an historically accurate design from fresh parts. I probably won’t start that before the beginning of the summer, and there will be some tooling up to do and some challenges, but maybe by this time next year that one will be done as well.

Brief Review: International Horn Society: The First 50 Years

John Ericson
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A very big book that came out in late 2021, International Horn Society: The First 50 Years contains an amazingly complete look at the first 50 years of the IHS.

While largely authored by Jeffrey Snedeker, among other authors I do have two brief contributions to the book, so my review will of necessity be a bit briefer than I might otherwise present on such an important publication to the horn world. But still I wanted to be sure to highlight the publication, and encourage horn enthusiasts to check it out.

To the general, big picture first, this book was a huge undertaking, and the result is very impressive. I have also organized publications on large topics; Snedeker had many choices to make, and the result is a massive, 246-page tome – hard cover and in a large format.

The physical size and weight of the book could be viewed as a strength or a weakness, to be honest. Certainly, no reasonable reader will be wanting more detail on any topic covered, this was very thoroughly researched and produced. Hundreds of articles and sections on topics including every International Horn Symposium, the various IHS programs, etc. Illustrated with what must be thousands of photos. For an example of the content, the opening by William Melton on forerunners of the International Horn Society is a fascinating read, every student of horn history should make a special effort to read this chapter.

But it is a lot to take in, and it is a book that I believe few people will want to read in full. The book is not only large and heavy, it is also contains a lot of what might be perceived to be minutiae. It is also very much a coffee table book, not one you could ever throw in your backpack and read for fun.

In the case of my own contributions, I hope that readers might especially enjoy the article on pages 122-23 on the early years of the IHS website, a site developed originally by my Horn Matters colleague Bruce Hembd. I enjoyed writing it, and it is interesting to reflect on just how far we have come in such a short amount of time. The IHS itself started in an era with no Internet and social media, and the transitions to new technologies is a part of the story I was glad to be able to tell.

Check the IHS website for information on how to purchase! It is well worth the price and highly recommended to all interested in the development of our horn community in the past 50 plus years.

Commentary: The missing articulations

John Ericson
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A topic I think about every year when I hear college auditions is that of the “missing articulations.” Often it is a function of what things your teachers emphasized and what you are able to do.

To be more specific, the missing articulations are typically either the very short or the very long articulations. Or — maybe both! Typically good students can do at least one of these.

The reasons they are missing are varied. Some teachers do not seem to have the ability to teach articulations. My guess is that their lessons are more like coaching. While maybe inspirational and helpful, it does not hide from me that your teacher let you down a bit in relation to these skills.

Then again, some students do not understand why their teachers are so hard-core about learning these very short and very long articulations. If they are trying to teach these to you it is because you are not doing them well enough. I do realize that there may be issues specific to individuals (not everyone tongues the same way, has the same physiology in their mouth, or can achieve exactly the same results).

The very short articulations I think are more recognized as an essential skill by teachers who have lots of orchestral experience, especially in good halls. In a good hall, if you do not play things crisp enough, it can all sound muddy. Kopprasch played very short is the traditional method to learn this articulation type.

The very long articulations to my mind have more to do with solo playing, especially things like the runs in the first movements of Mozart concertos. These should not sound like Kopprasch! You have to learn to use the tongue and the air very lightly, to imitate the sound a string player makes in the comparable orchestral tutti sections of these concertos. Do not use too much air!

The point of application being, the impressive player can do both! Very short and very long articulations are both essential skills, and if you are getting feedback that either or both could be better, take it seriously, fixing this skill could be the key to reaching the next level as a player.

When “more air” is too much air — and causes problems

John Ericson
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Standard issue brass playing advice – for practically any problem! – is to use “more air.” For some brass teachers (especially low brass), breathing is practically a religion, and “more air” the central creed. Is it good advice?

I have wondered that question for many years. On a recent one of his YouTube live videos Derek Wright of Houghton Horns brought up this topic as an aside, and, on thinking about it more, he is correct. Some players use too much air, which causes sound to suffer in several ways.

Too much air???

Stepping back for a second, those that have read a lot of my writings on brass playing will note that over years I have become more and more questioning of standard brass playing advice. But the fact is we do have to look at these things critically, there is no “Bible” of brass or horn playing, and each player is an individual. Sometimes a counterintuitive approach is what is needed when there are problems to solve.

Also, with each player being an individual, you also have to think about how each person will have their own take on any instruction they hear. “Use more air” is going to mean different things to different people. Some will take that instruction much more literally than intended.

Remember Goldilocks

There is a point where it is too much air, and the suggestion to use “more air” is only causing problems.

Think of it this way. More air, to many people, means “push harder.” When you push harder, what do you then have to do? Resist the air, most likely with your embouchure and probably also your throat. That tight embouchure system then translates into a tight sound. The most difficult aspect of this issue is that the level of air pressure feels completely normal to you, you may have always played like this since you started in band. But the result is that your lips and throat are just too tight for optimal horn playing at a high level.

Of course, you may have received advice to relax your face and throat, but you actually can’t do that unless you use less air pressure.

Which is where Goldilocks fits in, with her choices of chairs, porridge, and beds. Don’t use too much air, or too little. There is a “just right” that will give you the right results.

An aside on tonguing, which is also impacted by excess air pressure

There is another issue impacted by too much air, and that is the production of fast, short articulations, and lighter articulations in general. You just have too much air bottled up and pressurized in your system to produce the needed articulations. A less pressurized air system will certainly help your ability to tongue quickly and lightly.

How do you find the correct amount of air?

There is a balance between the air pressure you generate and the embouchure. Loud or soft, there is an element of relaxed control in the embouchure. Too much air pressure can throw the balance off in the entire system.

Most good horn players find that place of balance in air quantity on their own. That is part of why the topic is so rarely discussed.

One of the best ways to find that point of relaxed control is with exercises that include breath attacks. Especially if you have trouble doing breath attacks it is well worth working on them, and observing the level of pressurization of the air. What you may find is that for the breath attacks, you use less air under less pressure, and finding a new balance in your playing closer to that of the breath attack will solve problems.

Still in doubt?

Try this. Try intentionally to use too much air. You will feel how you have to hold the air back with extra tension in your throat and embouchure and how this also creates difficulty in tonguing. For things to not be too tense and work correctly, you have to use Goldilocks air.

Just because a piece of advice is repeated endlessly does not mean it is helpful for you

Brass players can and do develop chop problems. When those problems come, the go-to advice is tried and true conventional wisdom, such as “use more air.” But do realize that this advice, while perhaps valuable for some and even for you at some point in time, may not be valuable for you at the point when you face chop problems. In other words, conventional wisdom can be a trap. Solving problems often involves thinking out of the box.

Finally, going back to my earlier disclaimer, I know the advice to consider using less air is counter to much — even most! –brass teaching. But the longer I teach I can see some beloved mantras of brass teaching cause more problems than they solve. Especially with mouthpiece pressure and air, don’t try to use too much or too little. What you need to search for is “just right,” driven by your individual playing. Above all, when you are getting the better sound, you are on track to the solutions.

A correct approach to Till, from Farkas

John Ericson
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Till is one of those essential excerpts we all learn, and it has a correct interpretation. One person who got the correct interpretation directly from a source that knew how it was meant to be played was Philip Farkas.

He was told how to play it as a young first horn player by Frederick Stock, conductor of the Chicago Symphony and student of Richard Strauss. This quote from Philip Farkas & His Horn by Nancy Jordan Fako lays it out very well:

Stock was very kind to Phil, often calling him in to discuss how certain passages should be played so that Phil would not be embarrassed at rehearsals. In March 1937, during Phil’s first season, they were to play Richard Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel. Stock had studied composition and conducting with Strauss and had first conducted Till under Strauss’ tutelage. In one of their meetings, Stock explained to Phil exactly how Strauss had intended the horn call to be played. After Stock’s death, the Chicago Symphony once again did Till Eulenspiegel, this time with the Viennese conductor Karl Böhm. Böhm was amazed and delighted at Phil’s interpretation of the call, telling him that he was the only horn player who played it correctly. Phil related to Böhm his discussion of Till with Stock, which brought an immediate laugh from the maestro, who had been in the same conducting class with Frederick Stock when Richard Strauss had explained how he wanted the horn call to be played.

Wow! But unfortunately the book leaves the topic there, it does not reveal the correct interpretation. However, Farkas students know some version of the story, which he fortunately also related directly in a session at the 1989 Southwest Horn Workshop, held at ASU where I am horn professor. A session that was recorded on video.

The short version of what the correct interpretation is involves the initial tempo being derived from the introduction (not too fast!), the experimental nature of the accelerando (like you are composing it as you play it), and maintaining the full tempo after you achieve it (a bit sooner than marked in the part).

For more on how to play Till from Farkas, in his own words, check out Episode 50 of The Horn Notes Podcast, available on iTunes, Spotify, etc., or at the link below.

Hornnotes 50: Let’s Talk about Till and Farkas

Could the Kruspe style horn come back?

John Ericson
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At one time Kruspe style double horns (especially the Conn 8D) were a dominant horn type among professional hornists in the USA. That market has dramatically shifted in recent years to Geyer style horns. In relation to that, a question came up at the end of a recent live stream by Derek Wright of Houghton horns (below) — can the Kruspe come back?

None of us can predict the future, but I think they could come back — but not the large, nickel silver horns. I would agree with Derek on this, I think a medium bell Kruspe style horn in brass could come back, or at least has potential to come back if made at a professional level of quality.

Why are they out of fashion?

Several things have conspired to make the large nickel silver horn not as marketable today. Derek brings up several points in his livestream, including what sounds best in more recently constructed concert halls and also that people hear with their eyes. For sure, a big nickel silver horn looks like it might sound different than anything else.

I would add a couple more issues to the list.

One is that in an audition the horn player with the best sound will be the one with more “life” in the sound, a more “complex” tone. In auditions, people are heard back to back in exactly the same setup in a concert hall. A big NS horn can have a duller tone. At an extreme, some of the older players had what could be called a “woofy” tone. That is not a job-winning tone today.

The other big issue is that not very many real, professional level big nickel silver horns have been made since Conn moved from the Elkhart plant in 1968. Which is to say that most of the large NS horns out there now are to varying degrees student model horns. Even a great older horn with rebuilt valves and such is still an old horn, not a horn that a many pros would want to use.

What about a Kruspe style horn with a medium bell in brass?

Returning to Derek, he also mentions that actual Kruspe horns (made by the firm Kruspe!) from the 30s and 40s typically have medium bells. I have seen older Kruspe horns made closer to WWI that had HUGE bell throats, but my own post-war brass Kruspe, described further in this post, certainly has a medium bell. Not only that, it has a hand-hammered bell; only a tiny fraction of Kruspe style horns out there now have a bell of this quality level.

Stepping back a second, a Kruspe style horn could always have been made of brass with the typical tubing profiles of a Geyer style horn. However, more typically they are not, they are made with larger throated bells. The use of nickel silver can give the large bell a bit more life in the tone, but that is something that could also be achieved by using a smaller throated bell to begin with.

As to my own “Kruspe Kruspe,”I finally have had a chance to play a rehearsal with the horn. I like the sound of the brass medium bell; I believe it could blend with a Geyer section. In addition, it “feels” somewhere between a Geyer and a big nickel silver horn, which is a comfortable place.

To close, I will officially predict that the Kruspe style horn could come back, but only if a few players made an effort to seek and use ones constructed in brass with a high quality medium bell and other elements typical of a professional level instrument. I am personally interested to explore that angle — who knows, my next horn modification projects could be working toward capturing the best qualities of my vintage brass Kruspe, but with modern parts.

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