Tempo choice is always an interpretation question.
At the 2019 IWBC Gail Williams performed the Hindemith Sonata on her recital, and told a story about what tempo Hindemith wanted.
The story is actually a Farkas story. Hindemith was a frequent (and favorite) guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony, and at one point, riding on the train to Milwaukee for a run out concert, Farkas was chatting with Hindemith and the topic of tempos and his horn sonata came up.
What Hindemith wanted was for all the movements to be at nearly the same base tempo, just with different characters. As printed the first movement is around 100, the second movement around 96, and the last movement is 92-100. Compared to typical tempos, the first movement is often performed a bit faster at around 108, the second movement often slower at around 80, and the last movement I think is typically around 100. With recordings varying, of course.
Tempos of all movements being nearly the same is what Williams aimed for in the IWBC performance, and also in her Summit recording, which was the source of the story — Farkas had heard that she would be recording the work soon, and relayed this important information from Hindemith.
In the case of the IWBC performance, it was a wonderful and intimate performance, avoiding the temptation to be overly aggressive, as I have sometimes heard done. And it was a wonderful conference with a great, supportive atmosphere; if you have the chance to go to an upcoming IWBC you most certainly should.
I’ve had phases where I made much use of a B.E.R.P. device for buzzing on the mouthpiece to work on improvement of accuracy. But there is another type of device; during his recent horn day visit at ASU Richard Seraphinoff mentioned that he has all his students use a buzz pipe, cut from about a foot of brass tube with a hole drilled in the side.
This caught my interest, as I tried to use a buzz pipe that I had cut from a broken leadpipe and found it was unusable, there was an obvious harmonic that I had to fight against right in the middle of my upper range. What I wanted was something that did not have that harmonic to fight, something that offered a bit stronger playing experience than buzzing on a mouthpiece alone.
One drawback of this homemade version on the B.E.R.P is that at some point in the high range (depending on length), the buzzing lips crash into what I presume are the fundamental overtones of the tube itself.
Something goes really wonky and the F.H.A.R.T. hits a fan. Or something.
For my 3-inch design, this happens around top line G in the treble clef staff. At this point I must remove the tube and buzz without it. With the B.E.R.P. this is not an issue – its advanced design overcomes this problem.
One solution for this upper range constipation is to heat a large nail and burn a clean, small hole in the vinyl tubing.
I decided to carry the science a bit further with making four variations of design. Cutting to the chase, the best design is a longer tube (around 1 foot) with a hole cut in it about 3 inches from the mouthpiece end (I used metal cutting shears to cut the tube quickly and easily). The hole seems to eliminate the harmonic that you otherwise on every other version have to fight against into the upper range.
In the photo also seen is a trombone mouthpiece (I’m using Kelley plastic mouthpieces in my buzz pipes) which I tried using as a “bell,” but it was not a good idea, it further reinforced the harmonic “slot” in the upper range.
Overall the experience is different than using a B.E.R.P. If I had to pick a word, I’d say it has more depth than the B.E.R.P. or a mouthpiece alone.
I should mention also, there are makers who sell these devices! (Do a google search). But if you have never tried a buzzing device give it a try, they are a great practice aid and I think more practical than the Hosaphone travel horn I made a few years ago (more here)… the tubing I used is actually cut off the corpus of that horn….
Those familiar with my teaching know that I almost never use the term “support,” and when I do I add disclaimers about the word and what I mean. I have felt it to be too much of a vague term to use often, and one that means different things to different people.
That is not to say, however, that I do not advocate for support and playing with a supported sound. It is something that I worked on in my studies, mainly with reference to good breathing. This is one angle to use, but now thanks to Eli Epstein I now have a better and more physiologically accurate way to describe it.
Continuing his series of videos, this new one on Breathing and Breath Support is excellent! I love the comparison to picking up a chair, that is exactly the correct feeling and a great way to visualize it. The direct video link is here. https://youtu.be/2LccA6A_M1s
While looking at videos, there are two others Epstein produced in the last year or so well worth a look:
This semester our guest for our horn day was Richard Seraphinoff. One focus was on injury and wellness, and that is a topic I have a conversation with him on in Episode 33 of the Horn Notes Podcast (available on Spotify, iTunes, etc.). If the topics of brass playing and injuries are of interest at all (and they should be!) give it a listen! The direct link is here.
You can practice for years and not get any better.
This is absolutely the case. We tend to think of practice being something that should directly lead to constant and linear improvement in your playing ability. However, it is no guarantee of progress, and the results of your practice will vary due to potentially multiple factors. In other words, your playing can absolutely stall out and never get better – if you do not practice correctly, or get some key suggestions on how to fix your problems and go beyond your present issues.
Part of the solution is to practice in a way that works to solve problems. Which is easy to say but hard to do sometimes, and then you get stuck. Repetitions at some point only reinforce the problems rather than providing insights toward solutions.
If you are stuck a fact is that you are not likely to fix the issue working only on your own. It may take a number of lessons with multiple teachers in fact to figure out what the key thing is that is missing, what is holding you back.
Over the summer I often tell students that you can make a semester of improvement over the break from school. I feel sure I did probably every summer, but that was the result of not only practice but lessons with competent teachers. Do your best to find those teachers, get insights into how to improve, and practice in an effective manner that confronts your weaknesses. It will certainly pay off with better horn playing.
I have noticed something, confirmed by current students and a former student teaching at another school, the words used today to describe missed notes have changed.
Back when I was a student, in the 1980s, I recall people describing concerts where many notes were missed in the horns as being a “clambake” or “clamfest.” I have always referred to missed notes as clams; this was a normal, standard word in the horn world for me. Coming from that same world, they have for years had the “Clammy” award at the Kendall Betts Horn Camp, and we even have an award in Horn Matters called the Golden Clam, our highest honor.
However, what about out there in the real horn world of today? As far as I can tell, they are mostly called “cracked notes” or by the more straightforward (but less imaginative) term “missed notes.” I put together a quick Twitter poll, and the results are in the graphic below.
Cracked notes and missed notes are the leading terms, followed by clams, frack (a variation on crack), chipped notes, split notes, and spleaah.
Worth noting is that I learned after the survey that many players have separate meanings for cracked and missed notes. Cracked notes are the ones with a chipped attack but you were aiming at the right note, but a missed note is not even playing the correct note at all.
There are a lot of possible terms, really. I have also wondered if clam was more of a term used in American horn (and brass) playing. I know other languages use other terms. For example, my understanding is that in French a missed note is called a “canard” which translates as duck (which makes more sense than clam, in that ducks make a quacking noise).
And really, my horn students are correct, the term “clam” does not actually make sense. What did bivalve mollusks have to do with the sound of a missed note, or how it physically feels? Cracking, on the other hand, makes sense; part of the note cracked off into a different place than the correct harmonic. Chips, fracking, split notes, all are variations on this theme.
So there you have it. Probably not my next research direction, but I will be retiring the term clam from my lexicon.
Anyone who teaches lessons to young horn players knows already, not only are there limited materials easily available to teach from, but also they are rather dated in approach. Myself, I have made the venerable Rubank and Pottag-Hovey books work when I have had young students, but with adjustments. From my perspective it seems very clear that there is a huge need for more and better materials to use with young horn players.
There are several reasons why new materials are so lacking for young horn students. Besides the limited market, big name players and teachers also lack the experience working with young students to develop updated and practical materials. Additionally, I have known teachers who made extensive use of materials they had developed on their own for their students, good practical materials, but those materials never were published, possibly because they felt they had limited visibility in the field or were perceived as such by potential publishers.
Fortunately for us, Karen Houghton and Janet B. Nye, both very experienced teachers of younger horn students, have stepped up and created a substantial new 2019 method book for young players, Recipe for Success: A balanced curriculum for young horn players. Published by Houghton Horns, for this review I was given a late draft of this 250 page method to examine.
As implied in the title, the book makes much use of cooking and food metaphors, dividing the contents into five “food groups,” Range & Flexibility (Fruits & Vegetables), Breathing & Tone (Dairy), Technique (Meat), Music (Grains), and Just for Fun (Dessert). Within each category there are three levels, Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner, each at a higher level of difficulty. This is all after an extended introductory section that covers a number of basics including practical discussions of posture, embouchure, etc.
Having published a number of books myself I appreciate very much the clear layout and illustrations. It is also published on quality paper stock as well, spiral bound, with pages of heavy stock between the food groups (sections of the book), making it very easy to navigate.
Also very much of note are the extensive “Chef’s Notes” spread out in the book, offering highly useful tips and wisdom. Those tips, combined with the practical music examples, make this book a great value.
To the music, Recipe for Success makes much use of familiar tunes of the type seen in typical beginning methods, but a number of the exercises are not marked with an author and are presumably by the authors, and yet others are marked as the compositions of teenagers and pre-teens, presumably written by their students in Texas. This certainly gives more melodic variety than seen in the typical method.
A final point to make is while it is structured in a way that it would be of value for a bright student working alone, Recipe for Success is designed to best be used in lessons with a competent chef, I mean horn teacher. It would also make an extremely practical reference book for music educators that work with beginning horn students.
This publication is priced very affordably at $24.95, and is available directly from Houghton Horns. Anyone who teaches young students should certainly check this out!
Years ago a friend pointed me toward Glassworks, the great 1982 album by the minimalist composer Philip Glass.
Subsequently, in my horn teaching I have been struck over the years that there are a number of horn etudes that sound like they were composed in the style of Philip Glass, but are from the 19th or early 20th century. They certainly at least can be played in that style, as if one of the voices in the ensemble on Glassworks.
What the composers actually wanted and were thinking was probably something completely different; I have always guessed that they really wanted them played freely like a Bach cello suite. At the same time, though, played like a machine, they really are passable minimalist works. And, at a minimum, it gives you an alternate way to practice these works.
As to specific examples, Kling #20 is one, but I would highlight especially among etudes I teach from frequently Maxime-Alphonse book 4 number 8, the middle section. You can play it like Bach, but also you can play it like Glass. It especially gets the sound if you repeat the bars each 2 or 4 times.
If I had unlimited time I would work out a recording or a work that incorporates this idea.
There are two topics that come up every year in the world of horn and music admissions, both of which are timely in relation to the college admissions scandal that broke last week.
Pushing early decisions
The first is that of teachers pushing students to decide on scholarships early. The NACAC/NASM deadline for decisions is May 1 for all undergraduate students, and the Council of Graduate Schools reply deadline for admissions is April 15. These deadlines mean that faculty must allow students an opportunity to make their decision, and faculty cannot indicate they will take funding away if they do not hear from an applicant by a deadline earlier than these dates.
Acceptance of an offer of financial support* (such as a graduate scholarship, fellowship, traineeship, or assistantship) for the next academic year by a prospective or enrolled graduate student completes an agreement that both student and graduate school expect to honor. In that context, the conditions affecting such offers and their acceptance must be defined carefully and understood by all parties.
Students are under no obligation to respond to offers of financial support prior to April 15; earlier deadlines for acceptance of such offers violate the intent of this Resolution. In those instances in which a student accepts an offer before April 15 and subsequently desires to withdraw that acceptance, the student may submit in writing a resignation of the appointment at any time through April 15. … It is further agreed by the institutions and organizations subscribing to the above Resolution that a copy of this Resolution or a link to the URL should accompany every scholarship, fellowship, traineeship, and assistantship offer.
College horn teachers out there who push applicants to decide earlier than April 15 for grad students and May 1 for undergraduate students may be at schools who are not signatory, but it still is of concern to me to see anyone pushed to decide early.
Of course though, if you do decide early, let the teachers know at the other schools you applied to, they may be able to move scholarship funds around to other applicants, it is a great service to them if you communicate decisions early. But I can’t and won’t push for a decision before the actual deadline.
(Paid) private lessons before admissions
The other big topic – an elephant in the room! – is that of private lessons before admissions. There is a place for private study with teachers who have college studios. However, myself, I have long had a rule that if you are applying to study at ASU I want to give you a lesson at no charge as part of your audition. If it were multiple lessons and beginning long in advance of auditioning that is a different story. But if it is a lone lesson very near the date of the audition, and clearly associated with applying to study at your school, charging for that lesson could be seen as problematic.
Of course, some teachers charge for those single lessons. In our modern world, though, I’m thinking teachers need to be cautious about this practice, treating those lessons as part of what you do in your admissions process rather than an income source.
In the case of both of these topics I’ve probably got the attention of a few horn teachers out there, and maybe made a few new enemies even, but students need to be aware of best practices in these areas.
I would add just one final point. Sometime, maybe soon, some big time music professor of most likely violin or piano or voice will get busted for excessive charges for lessons related to admissions to their studio at some famous school. I have no idea who the teachers will be or where, but it is a fine line between lessons and bribery, especially the teachers that charge very large sums for lessons and then make decisions about admissions, with parents putting a lot into those admission outcomes. Horn teacher lesson charges are not nearly so steep, but it would still be a really good idea for horn teachers to be very aware of the rules of your institution, and follow them carefully.
When to decide — it pays to wait
Finally, for those reading this far, a tip. If you are an undergraduate applicant, don’t decide before April 15! Because after that date (the graduate applicant deadline) the horn teacher may be able to move some leftover funds around and improve your scholarship. Good things come to those who wait.
The latest episode of the Horn Notes Podcast is out, and the topic is Growth Mindset. Guest for this episode is Nicole Deuvall, a former student of mine at ASU who is now focusing on the topic for her Doctoral project at UMKC.
One part of Growth Mindset that is interesting to me is how it answers the questions of why some players, very talented, do not get far in a playing career, and others of maybe less basic talent actually go further. At the root, one thing to understand is that those without a Growth Mindset hit plateaus and barriers and think that is all they can do, while those with a Growth Mindset will hit the same barriers and think to themselves that this is something they just cannot do yet.
An additional initial point to mention is that the above totally illustrates how teachers have the ability to cultivate a Growth Mindset or to give students complexes and barriers to advancement. Yes, there are challenges, but you just are not able to do those things yet.
Listen to the podcast for more! This is a very interesting topic, and for me personally Growth Mindset puts an extra layer of clarity into several of my prior articles, well worth reviewing again with this new viewpoint:
At one point I did a brief survey on Twitter on the topics of Confidence, Optimism, Fearlessness, and Trusting Yourself. The images that had the results got lost in a site update, but my main text was as follows:
Personally, I feel my best performances come out of optimism and trusting myself, but I can see how words do not mean exactly the same thing to everyone. You can feel confident because of the same reasons you would feel optimistic; your chops feel good, you are well prepared, etc. You could also trust yourself (thinking “inner game” trust), and that feeling of trust would be a form of confidence as well.
Fearlessness could be viewed as being an advanced version of confidence. As such, I can see why it might lag a bit in the survey results; it lacks some of the tie-ins to the other answers. Optimism or trust can translate into confidence easily, but might not translate into fearlessness.
For more information on Nicole Deuvall and to see updates on her work with Growth Mindset visit her website: http://nicoledeuvall.weebly.com/
I have had so many conversations with people about chops lately, but, thinking back, clearly many people get their chops into a bad place this time of year. Bad chops are no good; you cannot play high, or long, or with delicate control with bad chops. You can be perfectly focused, etc., but with bad chops, the performance will not go well. They can really drag you down.
Haven’t you written about this already??
I have touched on the topic a few times in Horn Maters in various ways (as has Bruce). For me, this article from 2004 (!) has some of my most essential thoughts:
It is still worth a read, as it lays out a key tactic; I suggest very often to players who are struggling. The “short version” is this. You can play three good solid sessions a day. A session is a practice session, a rehearsal, or a concert. Before each of these three sessions you will warm-up, the warm-up is visualized as being attached to the playing session that follows. If you have particularly heavy day coming, ideally the day before or after can be a lighter day. In the following sections, I will expand on these ideas further.
Healthy musicianship compared to the “tough guy” approach
One area I see emphasized out there more and more in brass teaching is the topic of healthy musicianship. Old school brass teaching was not about this at all, it was not a positive place to work on improvement. You get a sense the idea was survival of the fittest.
It also does not help that the warm-up advice found in most of the old standard horn publications are idealized and not realistic for day-to-day use in a real world setting. I lay this topic out further in this article
Of course, pros all understand that these published warm-ups need to be individualized, but students do not know this. There is a big danger as a student to do a routine that is not a good one for you. Those routines can be the gateway to problems.
System, or cult?
Related point, some students for sure go to a teacher thinking they are a guru with answers that will lead them to success. Most if not all teachers certainly have underlying systems in their teaching. I do for sure, but at the same time, the older I get, I am very cautious at this point about presenting very specific systems of warming-up. I even thought about publishing a warm-up system at one point, but backed off. The point being to find a reasonable routine that works for you; do not force yourself to do some punishing routine presented to you by a guru.
Warm-up like a real pro
Well, at least like some professionals. It will be individual, but for most it is not like in the books. The tactic presented in print typically is a giant morning mega-warm-up. Then, after that, you are magically warmed-up for the rest of the day! However, is that reality?
Some orchestral players like to warm-up at home with something like a mini-mega routine with very light warmup at the hall, but for me that is not ideal. When I try to do that the result is you might as well punch me in the face, especially so before a second rehearsal or concert, my chops will not hold up.
My tactic in orchestral playing is I like to warm-up at the hall. Ideally, before every session I have time to do some version of my most standard 20-minute warmup, although I can feel good in ten minutes, often reverting to the simple warm-up routine presented in my book Introducing the Horn. Less than 10, I might be hurting later, and I don’t like hurting chops.
I could describe the 20-minute warm-up in some detail, but instead I will share this: my routine is almost all slurred, and begins and stays for a while in the mid and low range. That is where I start my playing session, as the point of a warm-up is to warm-up, and that range gets me there the best. Although I will slot in different exercises of a similar character for variety, I do not use my routine to work on technique. I have no daily or weekly component in it that tries to learn new things or address every possible skill. I do that when I am actually practicing, as those skills come up in actual music I’m working on.
Sure, sometimes you have to warm-up on the fly
I have of course done my share of gigs where all you could do was warm-up in the car driving to the gig, buzzing a mouthpiece. However, this should not be your habit and standard way of doing things.
Balance and pacing in your playing day
The bad news for students is that their situations are often not very good for promoting healthy chops. Typically, you are running from class to class, and you may not have a free half hour to warm up before your horn lesson or before a rehearsal. This is not good.
In addition, practice time needs some planning. Just because you have a two hour block of time open does not mean that practicing for two hours straight is a good idea. You will be better off practicing those two hours in two sessions separated by some rest. It would be worth your time to map out your schedule to include times like this, if possible.
A related thought being that, when you can, you need to assert yourself to insure you have time to be warmed-up. You do not have to start a quintet rehearsal right after a class. You do not have to put your lesson at a time when your chops are cold. Do not bend to peer pressure and other people’s logistical problems; protect your chops.
Of course, sometimes a conductor in a school situation will add a two-hour “sound check” right before a concert and they just do not understand the consequences of that on their brass players. The reality being …
You can only play so many hours without consequences
As stated earlier, I think you are best to think of your playing day having a maximum of three playing sessions. As a student, three is ideal. A playing session being a rehearsal, a practice session, or a concert. Warm-up before each one. Other systems are out there, but really, you cannot play longer than an hour of practice or a 2.5-hour rehearsal without a good solid break to recover.
At a bare minimum, the playing day needs to be thought of being made up of separated chunks of playing.
That having been said, there are other systems out there that could work for you (in athletic training much use is made of alternating heavy light workout days, for example), and endurance is about more than simply enduring and pacing. I can think of at least three things not yet presented that are relevant to mention.
The first is to use an assistant wisely. An assistant can help so much on first horn, yet the reality is most students have a limited idea how to use one effectively. I was lucky that early on, I had some great models to work with. For more on the topic see:
Another big topic is you may be using a certain mouthpiece or horn to get a certain sound or whatever, but that can be a mistake. If it is like weight lifting to play, you are working too hard! I cannot emphasize this too much; you really need to try a few to gain perspective on your mouthpiece, this one element can hugely impact your endurance. A recent article of mine might be of use to read:
A side point being I am a firm believe that a rim that is too round in profile is not great for endurance.
The final topic area is mouthpiece pressure. People worry about mouthpiece pressure far too much, and too little pressure certainly leads to more chop problems than does too much pressure. The goal is not to use too little or too much pressure but rather to use just right — enough to support your chops and provide a base for your tone production. This article by Bruce Hembd gives a great overview:
The first story is from my MM studies, early on. Heavy playing, practice, demanding ensemble placements, and very demanding teacher. Probably limited warm-up before rehearsals too. Some advice received from a former teacher was very helpful; to go back to materials like were in my normal warmup. One issue for sure was trying to do the Verne Reynolds warm-up materials, the ones he gave us, not the ones in his book, which are different and much more reasonable. I was in short trying to do a very demanding routine of the type I would never give students, six pages guaranteed to make your chops hurt! Getting the VR routine out again this past week, I still feel uneasy, I remember the bad chops. Sometimes you will be better off not doing what your teacher suggests doing.
Side point: Since when I was an undergrad I have warmed-up about the same before every practice session or concert. That routine continued to solidify and eventually I had a solid and very set routine that I did before every service for more than ten years. This worked great in relation to auditions too; I had a lot of faith that if I did the routine at the end my chops would feel good. That is the goal, right? I still do that exact routine from time to time. It works great for me, but when I give it to students I try to emphasize that it is really just an illustration of how I warm-up. What they work out for their warm-up is likely going to be different. And that is OK.
Second story is on a similar point, heavy playing. I was one of the co-principal horns in the Colorado Philharmonic (now known as the National Repertory Orchestra) the summer after I completed my MM. My chops again were taking a beating. We had three days off, and I took a road trip over to Aspen to see David Wakefield who I had studied with three previous summers. He talked me through how to manage the heavy load better, key points being holding firm to my normal and reasonable warm-up, and to always warm-down a little after each service. I was just putting the horn away as I was so tired. This was a key piece of advice that got me through the summer.
The final story comes from when I was playing in the Nashville Symphony. The orchestra was split and I played first horn on a run of Nutcrackers with no assistant. I made it by employing two tactics. One was to shift octaves with the second horn in some passages (thank you Joy!). The other was to eat Popsicles and such after each service. Ice seemed too intense; a Popsicle has air pockets and is a less intense sensation. Sometimes I used a bag of frozen peas or a cold can of soda. There is solid sports science behind this; the cold helps to prevent swelling after the heavy services.
You can only play so many notes a week without consequences
Recently I was shown a spreadsheet a teacher put together to manage the playing loads of their college students. It included not only their large ensembles but also quintets and more. The goal was that players in their studio all had balanced and manageable playing loads. I know for sure we thought about similar things when I taught at Brevard in the summers, you want to keep loads balanced, but inevitably the better students get busier than the rest, and may practice harder too. This can be OK if managed well, but be very aware that there is a line that you can cross — and the horn playing experience that results from crossing that line too often or extensively may become one that is not healthy or positive.
Promote a good mindset by playing music you enjoy
Finally, periodically a topic I bring up also with students is that playing horn should not be drudgery. I think, especially for amateur players (but really for anyone), it is important to practice music you enjoy as much as you can. Music you do not like can put you in a bad place mentally. Of course, sometimes you have to work out music you do not much enjoy playing, but try to balance it with music you enjoy.
Bottom line is that healthy chops are a product of not only managing your chops effectively but also your general mindset. If things do not feel good, healthy musicianship points to it being high time to take a day off and reevaluate things.
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