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And now, A Mello Catechism, third edition

John Ericson
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Of all my publications, I think the one that has mystified the most people has been the mellophone book. I even thought about dropping it from my line of publications, it badly needed updates, but it was a steady seller and, at the same time, serves a niche market that the world has otherwise ignored.

Look at it this way. From my perspective, as a horn teacher, the mellophone is a gateway instrument to the horn. As such, it needs to be better taught and needs published resources. This new third edition of A Mello Catechism** has been updated extensively. Probably 1/4 of the old content was cut, but more than 1/3 of the book is now brand new content, which has transformed it from a somewhat quirky original edition into something closer to “The Art of Mellophone Playing.”

A wide audience of potential readers (especially those new to the mellophone and hoping to build up their skills) will find much content of use to them, and it is available in affordable print and in Kindle editions.

A Mello Catechism: A Guide to the World of Mellophones and Marching Horns, third edition

The mellophone is widely used today as a substitute for the horn in marching bands and drum corps. This unique publication presents information in a question and answer format on mellophone history, related middle-brass instruments, mouthpiece choices, range development, tone quality, intonation, fingering charts, warmup, coping with marching, and much more. This updated edition also includes materials of interest to music educators and horn teachers with limited mellophone experience.

The book was updated quite extensively, and now includes for example information and exercises for multiple tonguing.

Finally, as I note in the book itself, a catechism is a “book for religious instruction, esp. by questions and answers.” This volume is a book of questions and answers on all things mellophone.

Now available: The Low Horn Boot Camp, second edition

John Ericson
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Continuing the series of updated editions, today the focus is on the updated and expanded second edition of The Low Horn Boot Camp. The original edition (2016) clearly was seeing use in the horn world, and with this update there are more Bordogni vocalises, the text is considerably longer,** and there are exercises and more! Affordably priced in print and Kindle versions from Horn Notes Edition.

The Low Horn Boot Camp, second edition

A volume of effective materials for initial low horn study, this expanded second edition includes text on low range development and a special edition of the classic Bordogni Vocalises. This version is based on a 19th century vocal edition by Ferdinand Gumbert, presented in low treble clef and low bass clef. The low bass clef version is a fourth lower than that widely used on the trombone, with the low treble clef version providing a logical stepping stone toward developing the lowest range of the horn.

Check out this book! These really are effective materials for low horn study.

**Students of mine will know, sometimes I have referred to my “big book” project. It was planned to be sort of an ultra Farkas book (at one point the working title was Beyond Farkas), which has gone through a number of drafts over more than ten years. As of now, that project is officially abandoned — and the new low horn text and exercises in this new edition are from that project. Some elements were incorporated into all the new editions actually.

Playing the Wagner Tuba, second edition

John Ericson
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A very steady seller in the Horn Notes Edition line of publications for many years now has been Playing the Wagner Tuba, a Handbook for Hornists. This is now available in an updated and affordable second edition in print and as a Kindle ePublication.

Playing the Wagner Tuba: A Handbook for Hornists, second edition

A complete, practical guide to the literature and performance techniques of the Wagner tuba, geared toward the advanced student, amateur, or young professional who needs to get up to speed quickly to perform Wagner tuba in a symphonic setting. This edition includes information on instruments and fingerings, complete parts (original notation and transposed) for Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7, excerpts from Götterdämmerung and Eine Alpensymphonie, and more.

The transposed Bruckner 7 parts are one of the selling points of this publication! Search for it on Amazon and check out this great resource.

And for more on the Wagner tuba itself see this article. 

Available now: Playing Natural Horn Today, second edition

John Ericson
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The third of six new editions of books by John Ericson is now out, the second edition of Playing Natural Horn Today. Updated for 2018, affordably priced, and available in print and Kindle versions through Horn Notes Edition.

The link to Amazon is here. 

Playing Natural Horn Today, second edition

A concise, modern method for the natural horn, developed with the needs of horn players in mind. This updated second edition is focused toward introducing the natural horn effectively for players who already play the valved horn and wish to learn the older instrument. Topics covered include equipment choices, hand positions, and much more, presented in a practical manner. Short exercises and etudes are included to build technique, making this an ideal resource for learning to play the natural horn.

This is a great resource on the topic, do check it out.

FAQ: Introducing Descant and Triple Horns

John Ericson
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What is a descant horn?

Although they are made in other keys, the vast majority of descant horns today are produced as double horns in B-flat/high F. They are made to stand in B-flat, the same B-flat as on a double horn, but when you put the thumb valve down the instrument goes to high F an octave shorter than the low F on a double horn. (Note: The original descant horns were single horns in high F! For a look at one of those, see this article).

The descant horn has a more secure high range than the double horn and is of great use in high horn playing. I have performed professionally many times on descant horn in orchestral and solo situations. Drawing on this experience I wrote one of the few articles that has ever been published on the descant horn, which appeared in the May, 2001 issue of The Horn Call, “Playing the Descant Horn,” and incorporated the text into my book on high horn playing. More on that in a moment.

Two instruments of mine that I used frequently at the time of writing that book were both by Paxman, an older model descant in B-flat/high F seen here and a model 83 compensating triple in F/B-flat/high F. As full triples are more commonly used, a bit later in this article another triple is to be seen, a full triple by Patterson.

What is a triple horn?

The triple horn can be thought of as a combination of a double horn and a descant horn. Essentially it is a double horn with a high F side available — or a descant horn with a low F side available.

Most commonly triples are constructed as a “full” triple in F/B-flat/high F, although one maker offers triples with a highest side in Eb. They can also be constructed as “compensating” triples; that type of triple is described further in this article. [For even more info see my article, “The Case for the Compensating Triple,” The Horn Call 36, No. 2 (February, 2006), 86-87.]

I prefer triple horns to “stand” in low F, as do (I believe) most players using these instruments in the United States. This is because for us double horns normally stand in F; set up in this manner the triple will operate very much like a double horn with a descant “on top.”

When should I start playing descant or triple horn?

I was aware of them when I was in high school, but I started making use of them as an advanced grad student. The time to really start learning about descant and triple horns is in that time frame when you are getting serious about auditions and winning a job.

Practically every full time high horn player owns either a descant or triple horn and many own both. These instruments are not a way to “cheat.” They are tools that used wisely can only enhance your ability to play difficult horn parts with freedom and artistry.

My story

In my own case, as a grad student at Eastman and then later Indiana University, I was working very hard and had made the finals for auditions but there were still certain high horn excerpts that were causing me trouble. One particular audition for principal horn in Columbus in the late 1980s was a key one for me in terms of equipment. It was a bit of an odd audition as they advanced only one player, me (!), to the semi-finals. In those semi-finals they asked me to play the excerpt from Haydn 31 that goes up to the high C-sharp. At the time I was playing a 500,000 series Conn 8D. It was really not the right horn for that excerpt, and I did not win the job.

The first instrument I owned with a high F side was the instrument seen here, purchased shortly after that audition, a Paxman full triple made in December of 1967. I did not know it at the time, but it was actually the first triple horn produced by Paxman! (For more on that see my article “Memories of the First Paxman Triple Horn,” The Horn Call 47, No. 1 (October, 2017), 39-40.]

There were things about the horn I liked (that is a much younger me holding it in the photo above, taken by my dad), the high range was really quite nice, but it was also quite heavy and the low range was rather stuffy. I recall enjoying the horn a great deal playing first horn on Mahler 9, but eventually I became afraid of the low range after using it to perform second horn on a series concert on it in the Evansville Philharmonic. I could not use that particular horn for my general playing was a bottom line.

It was replaced with a Holton descant, which served me well in auditions and when I performed third horn in Nashville. In this period I used the descant only for certain works; I primarily performed on double horn, using the descant generally for higher, lighter works. Queen Mab is wonderful on a descant!

Jumping ahead to more recent years, I subsequently purchased a Paxman compensating triple that was ideal for big works when I was playing principal horn at Brevard, and upgraded to a vintage Paxman descant. That horn is a sweet horn, built in 1959 by Robert Paxman himself! For a bit on that horn see this article. 

But hang onto your double horn

For me personally, in the end, for general playing and teaching horn a double horn is my main instrument. However, for sure there is a place for all three types of horns in the music performed by horn players today.

Descant and triple horns are topics that I always cover with advanced students in the ASU horn studio. It is also a topic that, along with high horn playing, about which very little has been published. This fact led me to write a book (originally published in 2007 as Playing High Horn), and then revise it extensively into the publication featured below:

UPDATE 2025: A version of the above was posted on Horn Articles Online for many years; with the demise of that site the content was updated and added to an existing article announcing the second edition of the descant triple book. A shortened version of that article is below. 

In December I looked back at a year of sales and decided it was time for some updated editions and a change in marketing strategy.

The big issue was that I felt I was missing sales opportunities due to not having a way to sell my E-books on Amazon. They were simply were not formatted for it. But any issue is an opportunity; the solution was to lay out the books, which were my best selling items, in new editions, they were all due for updates.

There were quite a few technical hurdles to overcome, but they were resolved! Check out all my titles published through Horn Notes Edition in this affordable series of publications. 

Playing Descant and Triple Horns, second edition

A practical introduction to descant and triple horns, tools available to the modern hornist for more secure high range performance. This volume covers many topics related to these instruments including fingerings, mouthpiece choices, and music to study and perform, while also touching on the history of the instruments. This second edition includes expanded coverage related to high range production along with tips and excerpts from important solos and orchestral works.

All my publications both available in print and in Kindle versions; for links to the listings on Amazon go to hornnnotes.com

Horn Matters People of the Year: Horn People

John Ericson
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The Horn Matters People of the Year award goes to Horn People, a group that has hugely impacted the horn world in recent years.

If you don’t know what Horn People is, you should check it out here:

It is a Facebook group, the largest group of all the horn groups on Facebook. The Horn People group as of this writing has over 13,000 members, that number being about 1,500 more than the number of fans of the International Horn Society on Facebook and nearly double the number of fans for Horn Matters! Not to mention also that the IHS itself actually only has 3,500+ members, Horn People has them beat by close to 10,000! Plus, if you are an older timer and remember the Yahoo Horn List (it still exists), Horn People has completely replaced the old E-mail based horn discussion groups.

Congratulations to their admins for making the group possible and for keeping it functioning well! A wide variety of topics have been covered and are covered literally every day in lively (and searchable) ongoing discussions, making it the first choice of many for horn information. Besides news and chat, people use it for free advertising and self-promotion, stuff that might have been done on websites or blogs in the recent past.

It will be interesting to watch in coming years to see how the horn world evolves. Facebook has changed the game in fact, in many ways; the days of blogs and websites (and journals, even) being prime resources are probably numbered.

To close, from the above brief commentary, it should be evident that Horn People has changed our horn world deeply, probably more deeply than readers might realize. What the future holds exactly for the horn on the Internet who knows, but in terms of today Horn People clearly are the Horn Matters People of the Year, and we congratulate them.

On teaching styles of horn teachers, and creativity

John Ericson
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Not too long ago a colleague made an offhand comment about another teacher, saying they were a “method” teacher. That observation, and looking at the Jeff Agrell book on creativity (reviewed here), were key thoughts toward this article. Essentially there are two extremes of ways you could teach the horn (or any other instrument, really).

One type is the method teacher with a long list of technical things you have to master. They will have materials they like to use to teach those things, and you have to progress from the foundational things on to higher levels, the idea being if you do it all correctly as the expert teacher instructs you then you will succeed!

I don’t consider myself a method teacher of this type, but I can see how some elements of this teaching style are there. A great low range is a foundation to advancement, great tonguing, great control of dynamics, etc. But I don’t use charts and graphs, there is no one-size-fits-all plan of horn study that I follow. Every student is an individual after all.

One of my own teachers, Verne Reynolds, was very much a method teacher. I don’t think that he would have thought of himself to be, but clearly, he had certain things he expected you to do and had very specific materials that he used to teach those elements – and when I was at Eastman, everyone studied exactly those same materials! His etudes are actually a prime example of materials intended for method teaching. As noted in the prior article, there is absolutely nothing in the 48 etudes that you are supposed to be creative with. The whole goal is to play them exactly as written. Exactly! That is why they are written like they are written. The strong impression he left me with was that the only correct interpretation of his music in general was one that followed the markings exactly. Your job is to develop your absolute control of technique to achieve it.

Many horn teachers do something like this with Kopprasch as well, expecting a very specific interpretation of the music with a very exact control of dynamics and articulations. And there is a lot to be said for that level of attention to detail, especially as you look forward toward orchestral excerpts. Speaking generally, there is a narrow range of ways any excerpt sounds correct. Audition committees are not looking for a new, creative interpretation of Tchaik 5! Method teaching has some real applications toward this.

At the opposite extreme you have a style of teacher that is very free-form. They may not give you as a student any assignments, they simply want you to work on what you think you need to work on. Another flavor in this category would be the teacher very interested in motivating students by inspiration, so that it will propel you forward in your studies. Either flavor might work well with the right student, someone somewhat advanced and self-motivated, but then again, even then that student might appreciate some specific direction (a “method”) to help them toward solving problems and reaching their goals.

Creativity can add a spark to either type of teaching in various ways, but I can particularly see how it would help strengthen the teaching of a method teacher to enhance the interpretative ability of students, so that they can play more convincingly in general.

For example, let’s say you assign Reynolds 5 to a good student. There is a challenge to playing it as written and I believe Reynolds wanted it to stay exactly at the one dynamic he requests for the entire etude; the trap he laid was that the lines naturally tend to change dynamic and you have to counter that tendency. However, how about doing the opposite; ask the student to come up with a scheme of dynamics for the piece of their own. It really opens up the etude, and is a refreshing exercise for everyone as there is no one correct answer.

Another classic publication that I have been exploring more this semester than any prior semester, with an eye to creativity, are the Gallay unmeasured preludes, as discussed in the previous article. What is great about these is you actually can’t play them like Kopprasch. You have to be much freer in style, play it much like you might hear a fine cellist on a Bach suite. You make the phrases and dynamics work. Personally, I really am enjoying working on these on natural horn, it has made a great practice challenge for me recently.

Obviously, this article only scratches the surface of a pretty large topic, that of teaching styles. There is no one correct style but it is something to be aware of as a student. This older article has a few more thoughts on the topic, and this video provides a humorous look at the classic mean teacher. 

Creativity, Gallay, and the natural horn

John Ericson
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When I was working on the review of the new Jeff Agrell book on creativity I was struck by the idea that a lot of horn music we study is written in a way to stifle creativity. For example, one of my own teachers Verne Reynolds wrote difficult etudes, and based on my lessons with him don’t think he was looking for a creative performance of them. He was instead looking for you to pay close attention to every detail he noted in his music and to reproduce it accurately. (See, for example, item #2 in this list).

There is value to learning music in that way, of course. A lot of 20th century music responds well to this type of interpretation, and there are many skills you can hone in treating Kopprasch as exercises instead of as music. But there is also value in creativity of performance.

But what materials can you use to build creativity? One group of etudes that came to mind for me were the non-measured preludes, Op. 27 of Gallay. I describe the historical background of these here, but this time around I was inspired to really look at these with fresh eyes, with a view toward creativity in performance.

To get really understand the works I felt too that I needed to use the natural horn as well. Over time I have realized that one thing that has been lost on a lot of people is that Gallay was the natural horn professor at the Paris Conservatory from 1842 until his death in 1864, and everything he wrote is for natural horn originally. It ups the challenge level of playing the music of course, but if you have the basic natural horn skills it also opens your eyes to what he was looking for as well.

In short, Gallay is nothing like Kopprasch, and if you are playing Gallay like Kopprasch at all you are really doing it wrong. Far from being etudes, the non-measured preludes are wonderful, intimate solo works to play on the horn, crying out for a free and very musical approach.

Continuing that thought, why bother with playing Bach cello suites to work on freedom in performance and musicianship skills? Instead, use these preludes and also the Gallay Grand Caprices, Op. 32. For a brief introduction to those, check out this recent video and recording by Anneke Scott:

The majority of my practice the last several weeks has been Gallay on natural horn, which has been a challenge but a great change of pace. You might guess that accuracy is the big technical challenge, but actually intonation has been the biggest challenge. I am finally getting it there with careful mouthpiece and crook choices being very helpful (along with practice!).

In addition to the above works, I have been making use of the second horn etudes, Op. 57, and also the etudes found in his Method, which are included in the free PDF packet described from this article.

Finally, if you have never explored the natural horn but have an interest, do check Playing Natural Horn Today. It is a practical introductory text for the modern hornist learning to play the natural horn, available here from Horn Notes Edition. This publication was developed with the needs of horn players in mind, and is focused toward introducing the natural horn effectively to players who already play the valved horn and wish to learn the older instrument. You will need a bit of a technical foundation to play Gallay on the natural horn, but music like the non-measured preludes makes it totally worth the effort.

Brief review: The Creative Hornist by Jeffrey Agrell

John Ericson
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Creativity. One observation I have had is that people outside of music, often they are looking for creativity, that special spark, tying that idea with the idea of innovation. Who does not want innovation? That is what moves the world forward!

People outside our musical world would tend to think we in music are creative people. We are to a point of course; we are hardworking and have our skill sets and problem-solving skills. But also we tend to turn to tried and true ways of doing things, including among other things relying on dated resources for our practice and teaching. We tend to have systems of doing things that were passed down to us that we pass on to the next generation – systems that in reality may not work that well, but we lack the some of the creative spark that would be helpful to develop a new system that might lead to doing things better.

Another observation would be that teaching systems and student goals that tend to focus on audition preparation reinforce not being creative. The person with the most creative and innovative interpretation of Tchaik 5 is not likely to win the audition! However, someone who has a greater level of creativity might be able to play it more convincingly at the audition….

Jeffrey Agrell has been working to address the issue of improving creativity in the horn world for years, through in particular a long series of articles in The Horn Call. Have you read them? People do not much read the back issues these days unless maybe researching a dissertation or something, and not everyone is in the IHS either. Online resources such as Horn Matters and books that focus on topics in depth are more likely to be read. Print journals can be a place content goes to die….

This is where the new (2017) book by Agrell comes in, The Creative Hornist. The content is based on his series of Horn Call articles, in the format of topical essays, organized by type of content.

One thing I enjoy about reading Jeff Agrell in general is he writes in a very different style than many other horn writers. What is great about that is he expresses things in a way that can open up new insights for the reader, this is not at all another Farkas book. Subtitled “Essays, Rants, and Odes for the Classical Horn Player on Creative Music Making,” this 229-page publication is a welcome addition to the horn literature.

The book contains 30 chapters divided into seven sections, with plenty of quotes and innovative ways of approaching the topics at hand. There is a comparison to make with his other recent publication, Horn Technique, reviewed here. The Creative Hornist is substantial, but at the same time a shorter and more focused publication. Ultimately, it has a focus on building technique in creative ways, toward a goal also of finding your own musical voice. In the process, you will also develop your critical thinking skills, which will help in working through problems of all types, not just horn problems.

For a little flavor of the content, Chapter 3 is based on a Horn Call column, one that Agrell summarized a few years back in a comment on Horn Matters, which we then expanded into a short article, “The Words of the Great Horn Players are not Infallible Words.” Check it here, the article relates a point I have been making for years in various ways in Horn Matters. I would offer this quote from the book version to consider:

As horn players, we are blessed with a multitude of great books, methods, teachers, and performers, and we can learn much from them all. But watch out. There are hidden dangers, and the danger increases with the level of greatness. The heart of the problem lies not in their greatness, but in that we regard them as Authorities – the special ones who have all the answers. For the Creative Hornist, the danger is that your spirit of adventure may shut down and your mind may close. Since all the answers are to be found in the Authority, you don’t have to think for yourself, since you studied with the One Who Has All the Answers, you may (subconsciously) feel that now you have them too. This attitude may kill the desire to explore new territory, take chances, invent new solutions, play outside the box, so to speak.

I’m not telling you to disregard what they say – on the contrary, you need to study hard and absorb everything they have to tell you. They have, however, one big disadvantage: they aren’t you. You have your own unique needs, desires, mental and physical characteristics, talents, likes, and dislikes. They have discovered what works for them. Much of that may work for you, but you may need more than their words from yesterday to find your way to success tomorrow. Most teachers in fact will be delighted if you show initiative and think for yourself. Surprise them with your discoveries, stand on their “musical shoulders” and surpass them.

As he says later in the chapter, “The future belongs not to those who merely try to clone the success or careers of those who came before. New tradition will come from the amalgamation of the old with the new.” There is much more to absorb in just this one chapter, not to mention the entire book, which I am enjoying reading.

The collection together has a vastly different impact than the long series of articles it is based upon. Nicely printed and bound, a print copy of The Creative Hornist is a huge bargain at only $19.99 and the E-book version is an even better deal. Check the website below for more info:

 

Footnotes on the First Triple Horn

John Ericson
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I was pleased to see my article, “Memories of the First Paxman Triple Horn,” in the October, 2017 issue of The Horn Call. It was timely, as the first Paxman triple was constructed in December of 1967 — 50 years ago this year! — as explained further in the article. I was one of the owners of this exact instrument in the late 1980s. For more details on that, see the article in The Horn Call. The photo below is of me with the horn (with hair, too).

There was one big thing left out of the article, the footnotes. In the first note in particular I attempted to address a more difficult topic, the question of when the very first triple horn was constructed. The footnote begins noting the December, 1967 date of the horn I owned was

Confirmed by Paxman in an E-mail to the author dated December 8, 2015, noting also in the same message that their first compensating triple was constructed in 1975.

Then I continued,

There is a closely related topic, beyond the scope of this article, of when the very first triple horn was constructed by any maker. The date of 1960 is given by Herbert Heyde in his publications; horn collector Richard Martz in an E-mail conversation with the author (December 7, 2015) gives the relevant quote: “Heyde (Das Ventilblasinstrument, p. 187) says … Das Triplehorn wurde von dem Hornisten Richard Merewether vorgeschlagen, zuerst 1960 von der Firma Paxman in London gebaut, im deutschen Sprachraum zuerst Helmut Finke.” In short, Heyde credits Paxman as being first, but seven years earlier than they actually produced a triple horn. Other early, experimental triple horns from around that same time frame do exist. For example, Mike Harcrow posted on 7/5/2017 to the Facebook “Horn People” group photos of a compensating triple horn built by Howard Strong (of C. G. Conn) for Thomas Newell, which is reported to date from 1965 (but was subsequently rebuilt, as it was not very successful as first constructed). Certainly, Paxman serial number 12672 was a successful instrument (I can vouch!) by what became the early leader in triple horn construction. The overall development of triple horn designs would make a great research project for an adventurous Doctoral student.

The other missing footnotes are somewhat run of the mill, but give the sources of the other quotes in the article, which are:

  • Facebook message from Richard Chenoweth, May 15, 2017.
  • Facebook message from Paul Loredo, May 26, 2017.
  • eBay listing 2542866696, referenced on July 2, 2003.
  • E-Mail from Paul Loredo dated October 3, 2003.

The big picture question of who made a triple horn first has an answer, although I personally don’t have it. Would be an interesting one to try to research out.

The other footnote would be, the bio of me at the end of the article, I did not submit that. But I do understand deadlines and space limitations, and appreciate that the article was published. Check The Horn Call for more interesting details on that very first Paxman triple.

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