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Deeper insights 4: Being positive

John Ericson
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Working with my son these few years the thing that has recently worked the best has been a technique called “Positive Behavior Support.” Without getting way deep into that, a simple thing to remember how it works is you try to not highlight (in other words, ignore) behaviors you want to extinguish, and reinforce positively the good behaviors.

Positive behavior support

In James case, one clear example is he got to a point where he was flooding the toilet multiple times every day. The normal human reaction is punishment or negative reinforcement. That did nothing for us. What actually worked was to be super positive every time he didn’t flood the toilet. So, in the last month for example he has only flooded it a couple times which is a lot better.

There are lots of applications of this in horn playing, teaching, and life in general.

I will start with, of all things, Facebook. Clearly some people out there really are models of optimism and positive thoughts, at least based on their public posts on Facebook. You are my heroes! One thing I was taught growing up was that if you don’t have something good to say maybe better to just not say anything.

There are also some people who come off as hugely negative. They are thinking they are just informing people and perhaps trying to sway opinions on topics of the day, but really the result is to drive people off Facebook. All the “stuff” posted makes their feed unreadable. I spend more time than I would like “seeing less” of posts and people, in particular I would really prefer to look other places for political news. #stayinyourlane

Part of why social media is important to me personally in terms of horn and life now is, as noted earlier in the series, James is extremely attached to me, I have had to limit my travels and performing greatly in recent years. So I really enjoy seeing interesting tidbits about the horn and other interests online. I appreciate pages and friends who do a good job, I do enjoy seeing interesting photos and videos and such, and I don’t want to be drug down by a bunch of negative vibes.

A random, negative story

Not long ago I saw an image posted on Facebook on a page feed that I felt was offensive. As I thought at the least there was no reason to be so negative in that particular feed, I pointed it out as gently possible to the person in charge; the deliberate choice of that particular image, even if allowed by Facebook, simply and honestly puzzled me. The short version of the conclusion of this story is that no good deed goes unpunished, I was banned from that page, controversial troll that I am! Apparently, old fuddy-duddies like me are the problem in their eyes, and to offend people like me was exactly the point they wanted to make. Well then.

Still, I stand by the idea that there really is no need to be offensive when being positive remains a valid option toward making your point. If you think it to be “edgy” it is probably at the least a microaggression against someone. It goes back to the positive behavior support idea, if there is something you want to change in the world there probably is a way to do it with positive reinforcement rather than negative reinforcement.

And back to teaching, and playing

My main memory of Verne Reynolds in lessons was him pointing out all of my mistakes with extreme clarity. He was not wrong to do that, but I would much rather point out what a student is doing right. It is a better teaching technique and will get a better result with horn players generally. As I have already noted, with my son, get negative on him he just shuts down. It does not work, and once the anxiety kicks in (him being very sensitive to the moods around him) the anxiety does not soon go away.

Stay in the here and now, keep positive, move on

Finally, one quality that my son and I clearly share. We move on. There is a point that we just don’t remember the negative things of the recent past and live in the new moment that has come rather than dwelling on the past. This skill/habit really is essential for the horn performer, you can’t dwell on mistakes or obsess about the future, you have to just keep a good optimistic attitude and keep going forward – in the moment you are in now.

To close the series the topic is quitting.

Continue to conclusion of series

Deeper insights 3: Fearless optimism

John Ericson
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Turning a bit of a corner, as time went on as a teacher I realized that there are essentially two types of confidence.

What got me initially thinking about this was a thought that there are two types of players that persist with auditions. One type is very confident, so confident that failure does not phase them. I think of that being something cultivated as part of a “fearless” approach to horn playing and to life. The other type of person that persists with auditions is someone who is persistently optimistic. In spite of low odds, difficulty, they stick with it, failures and problems are quickly forgotten. That is me.

In terms of horn playing I knew I was a “fearless” performer by the way people would think of it, but also knew that was not it at all. I am no stunt man. It is more like I get into my zone and trust that things are going to work. That trust is based substantially on preparation and being warmed up and ready to go. I think to others it looks like it could be fearlessness, but really the approach is based on optimism.

Some things you will never realize about yourself until you are in some specific situation where it becomes clear. I certainly did not think myself to be an eternal optimist, but instead more of a realist. But self-perceptions can be and are often are off.

Fearless optimism

The point when I realized the high level of optimism in my heart was an interesting one. He is doing better now, but the time frame where this became clear was around the time my son turned 19 and we were having all sorts of issues. He refused to go to school any longer, would not see therapists or doctors, and his anxieties and obsessions had really ramped up. We had many difficult days in a row. Some of the worst days his meds were clearly not right and he was barely sleeping and breaking things every day! Not to mention hitting us, etc.; I kept my left up at all times, to defend my face and glasses which he constantly went for. It was tough and not a way to live. But at the end of a tough day, talking with my wife, I was the always the one that looked at tomorrow as a new day that was going to be better.

And what got me though 25 auditions for full time jobs before I won third horn in Nashville? What got me beyond that to ASU? Honestly, I think you might be better off cultivating optimism and faith in your life rather than “fearlessness.”

How are you wired?

Fine horn performers are often described as being fearless, but I wonder if that really is the case. It would be interesting if someone did a proper psychological study on this topic, but I believe thinking in terms of optimism might be a better fit for many horn players.

I don’t know if there is a way to package and market optimism such has been done with fearlessness. Maybe you have to be born with it, but I think we as teachers can foster an environment that promotes a sense of optimism in performance over pessimism or realism. This is not to knock fearlessness either, but for some the idea of fearlessness simply does not resonate, it does not fit your personality. Fearlessness just seems like a fake, manufactured opposite of pessimism.

If you are feeling optimistic one thing that will be absent from your thinking is bitterness and envy. I will say, with James I can’t detect any hint that he is bitter about his life or envious of others in any way. The closer we all can be to that way of thinking the better off we are.

A final element of optimism I want to mention is encouragement. I am not perfect on this, but certainly try to be encouraging in my life activities in spite of all the negative thoughts that can fill our world. We can all apply this to our teaching and performing. More on that as the series continues.

Continue reading in series

Deeper insights 2: Anxiety

John Ericson
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Some things I have learned on a deeper level over the course of raising my son. When he was little it was more to do with how people learn. As he got bigger, past age 19, things really changed. The big issue now is anxiety and the close companion of anxiety, obsessive thoughts.

Looking back, my lessons with Verne Reynolds were very anxiety inducing, but clearly not on a level like James experiences anxiety. For Reynolds, it was a teaching technique–I hope!–to nearly break students and see who survives. It worked to a point, as to this day I rarely get anxious in any performance situation, but it is not a good teaching technique, “old school” and thankfully little seen today. (A broader look at what I learned from Reynolds may be found here.)

In James case, it is different in that much of his life is driven by anxiety. He obviously worries about all sorts of things every day. At one point, when things were the worst, among other things he was extremely obsessed about his cheese omelette for breakfast. He likes certain comfort foods a lot, but you would think the routine of the day would be pretty clear? At that point, he had so much anxiety that it was over a level that allowed for any quality of life for any of us. Now, so long as he knows we have eggs in the refrigerator, he trusts his omelette will be made every morning.

Routines help

To get to more of a quality life meds have helped and we have to keep him on routines. This point we can all apply to our performances, actually. We are less anxious when we have routines and stick to them. Over time you develop different tracks and parallel routines. Concert days have their track that is different than a practice day.

As to the meds part of it, one bottom line realized was that without meds helping take the edge off things James really could not cope. When things were the worst he was literally breaking things every day and a danger to us and himself. It is not a sign of failure if meds really are necessary.

Also related to anxiety is the topic of triggers. Certain things will trigger anxiety, especially changes of routines, but also, he is sensitive to the moods around him as well. Understanding the things that trigger him has been important, and understanding what triggers you or your students is something that will help achieve better performances.

Keep on a schedule, but don’t obsess about it

One way we try to help James is with a visual schedule. We keep it simple, but he needs no surprises! For the same reason, visualization for the hornist is also important. I was not a fan of this for years, actually, but the value is you can reduce or eliminate anxiety if you have a good idea what is coming in your day. Keep surprises in your performing days to a minimum.

But there is a negative. We have to control the visual schedule carefully with James as it is so easy for him to obsess about things, which leads to anxiety.

The application there is as performers keep the surprises to a minimum but also make sure you don’t obsess about things either. Trust yourself, keep optimistic.

And when the series continues the topic is optimism.

Continue in series

Deeper insights 1: Teaching

John Ericson
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One topic I have only rarely touched on here in Horn Matters is something that has impacted my life and teaching in rather deep ways over the past 23 years. Out of that experience there are some deeper insights that Horn Matters readers might find applicable; at the least you will know better what makes John Ericson tick.

My son is handicapped. He was born when I was still playing full time in Nashville, James has Down syndrome and also autism. Considering the dual diagnosis, he was doing pretty well up to age 19. However, these past few years I have had to limit my travel and performing to assist at home.

Some of the problems we are helping him with are problems but also a window into the normal. For example, he has a lot of anxiety, but don’t we all have some? His is just more on the surface.

One of the first places I could see raising him was impacting me professionally was in my teaching. A key thing you do to try to help a child with Down syndrome is early intervention. You do various things to try to stimulate learning but, in the process, you also really break things down into little steps.

Little steps, breaking things down

Learning any skill is actually the result of many steps of learning. In a simple sense, we know you have to crawl before you walk before you run. But there is more to it than that.

In short if you were to compare my teaching say 25 years ago and today I am a lot more aware of breaking down the steps along the way to learning skills. I have said elsewhere in this site that one key thing that good teachers have is problem solving skills. Adding on that thought, it is not just solving problems but figuring out logical steps that can help you out of playing problems, scoping out the mechanical things that are not being done correctly, recognizing how conventional wisdom has failed the student, etc.

High ability, low ability

I recently saw (on Facebook) some references to the Dunning-Kruger effect. It was described relatively recently, 1999, but relates to the above. From the Wikipedia, “the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias, wherein persons of low ability suffer from illusory superiority when they mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is.” However, I think more related to us in the horn world is the following: “…the corollary to the Dunning–Kruger effect indicates that persons of high-ability tend to underestimate their relative competence, and erroneously presume that tasks that are easy for them to perform also are easy for other people to perform.”

Where this ties into James is as horn teachers we are high-ability people that generally teach people of lower ability. The potential is there that we can’t see how it is not as easy for the student as it was for us. In my case, I have spent many hours working with someone of much lower ability, breaking things down into tiny baby steps to work toward developmental goals, something I continue to do on a daily basis. This is what any good teacher has to do.

When the series returns the topic is anxiety.

Continue reading in series

A new video podcast, and a look at MRI Horn resources as of summer, 2017

John Ericson
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Regular readers will know already that I am very interested in the recent (and still ongoing) MRI horn studies led by Dr. Peter Iltis of Gordon College, in conjunction with the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany. Real-time magnetic resonance imaging (RT-MRI) technology has, for the first time, allowed a clear view of the soft tissue motions involved in horn playing.

This is a big deal because many of the specifics of the mechanics and motions of the tongue and throat in horn playing were not understood until very recently; we now have important, empirical information to reference, rather than the visualizations found in most publications to date.

I have highlighted elements of these game-changing studies in my recent online writings, in conference presentations, and in podcast episodes last summer, as I work to bring them to a wider audience. For example, my most recent conference presentation, given at the Southwest Horn Conference, was titled “Ten Insights you can apply to your playing from the MRI Horn Studies.”

I was asked not long ago by a student if I have a recording of that presentation, and I do not. However, I can share a few notes (which I also shared with that student) to get anyone interested in the topic going the right direction, and I recorded a new podcast that covers the main points of the recent presentation.

As to resources and links, first, these are the underling published journal articles on the current studies:

  • “Real-time MRI comparisons of brass players: A methodological pilot study” (Human Movement Science, 2015)
  • “High-speed real-time magnetic resonance imaging of fast tongue movements in elite horn players” (Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery, 2015)
  • “Inefficiencies in Motor Strategies of Horn Players with Embouchure Dystonia” (Medical Problems of Performing Artists, 2016)

A notable predecessor study worth referencing, using X-ray technology, was documented in Trumpet Technique by Frank Gabriel Campos (Oxford University Press, 2005). Also, the high-speed videos of trombone lip motion done by H Lloyd Leno and also X-ray trumpet and horn videos can be found easily on YouTube. The results of that latter X-ray study were published, and may be found here:

  • “A Cinefluorographic Investigation of Brass Instrument Performance,” Lyle C. Merriman and Joseph A. Meidt, Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Spring, 1968), pp. 31-38

Of course, there is an actual YouTube channel with the two official MRI horn videos on it, and also the Sarah Willis videos as well. The official ones are here:

One book has incorporated principals discovered in these studies, reviewed here:

I also did a three-part podcast interview with Dr. Iltis last year: part I is here:

These studies are ongoing, and I know new things are being addressed in the current protocols. It can’t be stated too strongly: these studies are vitally important to the future of horn pedagogy. Elements of my teaching have certainly changed in the past ten years with the influence of the studies mentioned above. In particular, the MRI studies have caused me to go back to my book in progress and begin to work through each chapter, comparing conventional wisdom approaches to ones that accurately reflect physiological realities. Hopefully others will also see the importance of the studies and think out the same connections, taking horn pedagogy into the 21st century. It is time!

Rethinking the Warm-up, part 2

John Ericson
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Recently I was pointed toward some relatively recent research that indicates that a less strenuous warm-up gets better results. For example, this article from the New York Times:

The underlying study they reference is here. I have wondered if the LONG warm-up products out there are too much, and this study would say yes, with too much warm-up the athletes studied were not able to perform at their peak. Basically, they were too tired.

When I do The Brass Gym typically I start it as presented but by the time I get to beautiful sounds I am way ready to do some real playing. For the last several years I typically warm-up for 10-20 minutes before any playing session. Less than ten and then into real playing is not good, but if I have ten I can play pretty much anything.

Few sources present a shorter warm-up as the standard thing to do. One source that I am aware of that promotes a short warm-up is the Harry Berv book, it is certainly shorter than average and very much of the type that we might be better off using. According to Berv,

One most important rule, not only in the warm-up, but also in the practice session, is this: Do not strain or fatigue the embouchure. This can strain the muscles in the area and set the player back for an indefinite period before they are healed. The warm-up session should have a duration, at most, of ten minutes of actual playing. In this time all the areas involved should be limber enough to cope with any problems encountered in the actual practice session….

If the warm-up session is too long, it will undoubtedly cut down on your endurance. In my opinion, too many players succumb to the idea that the warm-up session should last for a half-hour or more. It becomes fixed in their minds that this is a necessity and feel they cannot function properly without it.

A bit more from Berv on the topic may be found in this article in the Hornmasters series. Give the idea a serious try, as there is an underlying point that is correct, not too intense or too long is likely better.

For Part I see this article, which rethinks the warm-up in potentially a similar way, but from a different angle….

Intonation and Vowel Shapes

John Ericson
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Since doing the interviews with Peter Iltis (MRI horn) last summer (more here) I have been pondering a related topic, horn intonation and vowel shapes.

It is very easy to see them in the MRI videos; the vowel shapes change with range and dynamic. The thought to project forward in relation to intonation goes something like this:

  1. A new model of horn is designed to play in tune by a maker working with fine players.
  2. Those fine players have a way they do thing in terms of oral cavity shapes, and the new horn is made to play well for them.
  3. For a buyer to play that same horn in tune, they need to use a similar approach to oral cavity shapes.
  4. And how did the fine players arrive at their approach to begin with? Because the horns they played as students required that same general approach to oral cavity shapes…

I believe that some of this is brand specific due to variations in how the people the maker worked with play, but still the general approach to vowel shapes in horn (and brass) playing perpetuates itself over years.

For a concrete example, if in the high range a potential buyer uses more of an “eee” position than the horn is designed for it will be sharp. If less, it will be flat. Exactly how even very fine players approach this will have to do with what horn they are accommodated to playing.

Of course, in relation to the high range the first step is to check the relative intonation of the F and Bb horn, there is an optimal pull to all the slides! A little more on the topic is here:

But some horns are just wonky, they have construction issues like blobs of solder or really funky leadpipes or whatever that lead to intonation issues. That is why, to conclude, it is always a good idea to have a fine player check any instrument for major issues. It might not be you in other words, it could be the horn — but also you need to play it in the same manner as a would a fine player to achieve correct intonation.

Tips for Educators, and an Evolving Pedagogy

John Ericson
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Recently, as part of a session with brass colleagues at our AMEA all-state, I presented a session for music educators, “Tips to Improve your Horns.”

In preparation for this I went back to notes from a similar presentation about ten years ago, and was surprised how far my pedagogy has actually changed/evolved. One thing I especially value is physiological accuracy. Not that I did not value it before, but with more experience teaching it is clear to me things I used to say, while they seemed accurate enough, I would not say today. Preparing the session I also got out the last draft version of my “big book” project from 2011, there is a lot to change … I expect I will be doing some major editing on that again this summer.

In any case, for the session I was joined by my trombone colleague Brad Edwards and tuba colleague Deanna Swoboda, and we covered each of first four topics below plus we each had a “special” topic at the end. The notes I gave to attendees are below — hopefully useful to educators and my old students, who might note a thing or two different than I would have said in the past.

Topic 1: Holding the instrument; Posture

Players should bring the horn to their face in the place where it is naturally, without changing basic body position. This may require considering playing with the bell off the leg for taller players.

The right hand should be cupped slightly (“pay me”) and placed in the bell with the backs of the fingers touching the bell, leaving about 1 1/2 to 2 inches of opening between the palm of the hand and the bell. When held standing or off the leg, the horn should rest on the right thumb and first finger.

Topic 2: Breathing and air

We could wish that every brass player would naturally take a large breath, but many hornists do not take or use large breaths. Stated simply, just take a large breath in and start the music in one motion. It is a simple process and sometimes visualizations and explanations of how to breathe tie us in knots.

Topic 3: Embouchure

Standard horn mouthpiece placement is approximately 2/3 upper lip. Wet or moist lips are helpful in finding an ideal setting, as this practice allows the mouthpiece to settle into a natural placement without forcing the embouchure in any way. If you take a mouthpiece, wet your lips, and let the mouthpiece slide into place over the “hook” of the upper lip you will almost automatically obtain a good, natural mouthpiece placement for the horn, one that allows navigating the full range of the instrument.

[Noting, however, that this photo is of my own placement, my upper lip is a bit too heavy to fit as described above. There are exceptions to every rule.]

Adding one other element, jaw position is very important and is often neglected. The jaw should, speaking generally, be forward slightly from its position at rest in a high brass embouchure or a whole group of problems may arise. But, in the low range, the jaw drops.

Topic 4: Attack and tonguing

Besides the need for varied articulations to achieve different tonal results, an element of focus is that tongue placement in the mouth by register varies. In the high range I suggest more of a “tee” articulation, in the middle range “ta,” and in the low range more of a “toh” articulation. The same general oral cavity shapes are produced when whistling. Attempting to play in the high range with a low range articulation (or vice versa) will be a source of frustration for a player. Thinking “warm air” in the low range and “cool air” in the high may be of help.

Special topic: Stopped horn

The most ideal open right hand position is one that allows for a player to perform stopped and open notes by merely “closing the door” with the heel of the hand. The three steps are 1) close the bell tightly with the hand (as if holding water in the horn), 2) finger the note a half step below the printed note and 3) use only F horn (“thumb off”) fingerings. Bb horn fingerings on stopped horn will be quite sharp. Low stopped horn is very difficult; a brass stopping mute [at left in photo] has a better low range and more consistent tuning.

The Future of French Horn Playing

John Ericson
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One thought I have heard (and have repeated myself) is that this is a “golden age” for the French horn. Or is it?

Before getting to some thoughts on this topic, I would like to quote a passage from an article to set the context of the discussion, from, believe it or not, Model Railroader magazine. The horn is not my only interest (no!), and notably they recently passed their 1,000th issue (since 1934). One featured article in that special issue was “The Future of Model Railroading,” and under the topic of “barriers” we read that

There are two barriers to advancement in our hobby. Technological and manufacturing capability certainly is one, but it plays much less of a role than you might think. We already have the technology to produce some game-changing products and systems. I think the biggest thing holding the hobby back is complacency with the status quo. It’s a lack of demand for superior products. This isn’t my own gut opinion, but rather feedback I consistently hear from manufacturers and leaders in the hobby.

Horn players are not usually so direct, but “complacency” and “lack of demand for superior products” are exactly our problems too. We won’t see the potentials of the future of the French horn until we address complacency and demand superior products. I have several examples in our French horn world that I want readers to consider.

One generally positive “real talk” topic would be the horns of today compared to the 1980s. Back then, honestly, a lot of horns used even by professionals were not real good. My two own major professors played horns a professional would never consider using today; Verne Reynolds at Eastman played a stock King Eroica (!) and Michael Hatfield at IU played a Lawson upgraded Holton 180 with a drilled-out Holton mouthpiece! Your only options back then were tired old Geyers and Kruspes (often with real issues — bad notes, bad intonation, bad ergonomics), factory horns by the likes of Conn and Holton (“sounds like a Holton” was not typically made as a positive comment), and also the very heavy and distinctive (but well made) Lawson horns, now off the market for some time. MANY grad students back then were playing Holtons and the like. We don’t see that today!

I recently purchased a Patterson Geyer, and frankly it was impossible to buy a horn of this quality level in the 1980s, with a beautiful sound and no funky notes! The technical advancement is that now many makers are capable of making horns far over the level of traditional factory horns. We have wonderful new options today, including even strong products from China. If you are a teacher still recommending that your students use horns and mouthpieces like people used in the 1980s you need open your eyes and take a good look at the world we are in now. Especially in the world of mouthpieces, it is SO much easier now to buy a mouthpiece that is vastly better than the options of the recent past. CNC lathes are wonderful machines, and when you have experienced the higher level products available now you really can’t go back to a generic mouthpiece.

But still, today we also have some of the worst horns and mouthpieces ever sold out there on the market. That there is a demand for the very cheap horn is understandable, but poorly made products undercut the entire horn community today. Students now really could all be playing horns and mouthpieces that are vastly better than were typically used 50 years ago. This is a huge problem. To move the horn forward we must all demand and expect better products! Closely related to that, teachers must be aware of how these new products will help their students play easier and better. Not all are aware.

Another type of product holding us back would be publications about horn playing. The Art of French Horn Playing is iconic and often referenced, but, objectively, it is very dated. While the warm-up may be OK, a surprising percentage of the content could easily be argued to be factually incorrect.

Let that last statement soak in for a second. It is a touchy subject, but one that experienced teachers know is true.

Too many people out there are very complacent in regard to horn reference materials and need to expect something that reflects recent advancements. Our understanding of the mechanics of horn playing really is vastly deeper now than it was in 1956. I wrote a LONG series of articles related to this very point, presented as the University of Horn Matters horn pedagogy course (it starts here). Maybe I was too subtle in it, and the series is probably too long. Based on the comments I read in the Horn People group (on Facebook) it is clear that old thinking dominates our horn world. I hope I have my students thinking deeper, but many people seem very complacent to just stick with old information. They don’t seem to even check Google to see if anything might have moved forward a tad.

For a specific example of this, I did a three-part video interview with Peter Iltis of the MRI horn studies, and while these studies are truly ground breaking and game-changing, the videos of that interview have really not had nearly the views they should have received by now. Curious about what you missed? More info here.

The only book to date to seriously make an attempt to use the MRI horn information to move horn pedagogy forward is the third edition of the Eli Epstein book. If you have not considered the implications of the MRI studies you need to! Curious to learn more? My review of his book is here.

A final big topic area I would like to point out, that the horn world is entirely too complacent about, is technical materials for horn study. Our typical etude materials are, you guessed it, dated and stuck in the 19th century. Of course, it seems like there are no options besides Kopprasch? Actually, there are surprisingly few choices from the past 90 years published for the horn, certainly not many at all that are easily purchased. I have attempted to fill this gap even myself with a series of contemporary etudes (an E-publication, more here), but the bottom line I have concluded is that it seems virtually impossible to get teachers to use new materials (or buy E-publications, either). It really is past time to give serious consideration to teaching from some different materials. In my own case, one possible solution I see is to make more use of contemporary solo horn literature, something I plan to explore in my teaching going forward.

One final specific example of complacency would be beginner methods for the horn. There is a huge need for something better, but my conclusion is that it probably won’t ever happen. Why? Because if you spend all the time to write and publish a great new beginning method, in the end, you will hardly sell enough copies to be worth your time. The market seems extremely complacent and happy enough using Pottag-Hovey or Rubank. They do get the job done — but seriously, some teachers need to wake up and demand superior products to teach from.

One supplemental publication you could try to use, if you dare to try to use something new with beginners, might be The Horn Player’s Songbook by Rose French. Have not heard of it? I talked to the author about it in this podcast.

Before I close, in the category of “breaking news” as I write this article, Jeffrey Agrell has a large new book just out that clearly is aimed, at least in part, at addressing the general topic of complacency with existing horn study materials. More on Horn Technique: A New Approach to an Old Instrument may be found here. It is time to move horn pedagogy forward. I hope to review this publication in the not too distant future.

So, what is our future? I do have hope, the potential for a lot of interesting and superior products for the horn is upon us, this really is a golden age! But there is not nearly enough awareness of the need, this is a huge problem. I know I will be exploring ways to promote recent advancements beyond the confines of Horn Matters, and in particular I personally want to explore further the entire topic of using technology better to solve problems in horn playing. How about you?

20th century horn favorites 3: Madsen

John Ericson
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Last up in this brief series looking at some of my favorite works for the horn from the 20th century (all included in my Canto CD) is the Sonata, Op. 24, by Trygve Madsen. This work was premiered in 1978 and was composed in homage to Franz Schubert on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his death. Most notably, the last movement is based on a theme of Schubert which occurs twice in his piano works, in the middle movement of his Sonata in A minor (D. 537) from 1817 and in the finale of his Sonata in A major, D. 959, one of his last completed compositions (1828).

Movement I: Allegro

Movement II: Quasi menuetto

Movement III: Moderato, e poco rubato

Of course there are many other works from the 20th century that could be highlighted, these are merely the ones I voted for with my time (and money!) in recording them. For better audio quality do please check them out in a format better than YouTube, and also check out other horn recordings, there are many gems out there for the horn that other players like me have invested their time in to bring them to you — works just waiting to provide you with a needed break from the ongoing dramas of politics, Facebook, etc.

Return to beginning of series.

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