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PDF Duets and Etudes by Gallay from the Grand Method for the French Horn by Meifred, Gallay and Dauprat

Publications

John Ericson

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Jan 11, 2015

Concluding for now this series of PDF downloads from 19th century method books are a pair of great downloads from a publication with a great title, the Grand Method for the French Horn by Meifred, Gallay and Dauprat.

While the title makes it sound like the great horn teachers Joseph Emile Meifred, Louis François Dauprat, and Jacques François Gallay all sat down together and worked out a big book of exercises and such, in reality this was put together by a publisher in London around 1880. If they had proper permission or if they just stole the materials from the method books of the three I don’t know. Copyright laws back then were not quite what they are today.

The best of the materials, in terms of use on the modern horn, are these two PDF packets of duets and etudes. These originated in the Gallay Méthode pour le Cor, Op.54, which was published in 1843. The duets and etudes show the melodic gift of this prolific composer of horn music well. It was all intended for the natural horn, but the etudes in particular will still be a challenge for the modern horn player.

Among all the PDFs I have posted recently these musically are the best. The only negative I would note are the French style rests. You will get the hang of reading them pretty quickly, though, and in terms of the rests the musical context is always clear.

PDFs of this public domain music may be accessed from our PDF download library or from the links directly below:

The 12 etudes are actually two groups of six; first up are six melodies followed by six characteristic studies. Note also there are two duets (exercises) and then 12 duets. Those are also from the Gallay Méthode, presented in the same location preceding the duets.

For more on Gallay please see this prior Horn Matters article on his Unmeasured Preludes. There I offer this brief introductory biographical info as well:

One of the most recognized nineteenth-century horn teachers is Jacques-François Gallay (1795-1864). Gallay studied with Louis-François Dauprat (1787-1868) at the Paris Conservatory, entering his studio at the relatively late age of 25. In addition to performing as an operatic and chamber musician, Gallay succeeded Dauprat at the Conservatory, serving on the faculty from 1842 until his death in 1864.

PDF Etudes from the Oscar Franz Method

Publications

John Ericson

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Jan 7, 2015

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Oscar Franz (1843-1886) was one of the most prominent teachers and performers of the horn in the late nineteenth century. Franz spent most of his career in Dresden, where he taught at the Dresden Conservatory and performed Principal Horn in the court orchestra. Franz was well respected in his time, and it is to him that Richard Strauss (1864-1949) dedicated the orchestral score of his Horn Concerto No. 1, Op. 11 (1883).

Oscar Franz wrote a number of teaching materials for the horn. His Grosse theoretisch-practische Waldhorn-Schule [Complete Theoretical and Practical Horn Method] was first published around 1880. In this method Franz put forth many of his ideas for performing on the horn.

In terms of useful materials today, the most useful are the etudes from the method. They fall in two sections in the “Newly Revised and Enlarged Edition” that I referenced, which is copyrighted 1906. Pages 60-82 contain 29 etudes that I would rate as easy to difficult enough to be of use with an advanced student, and pages 86-102 contain the “10 Grand Concert Studies,” difficult etudes which have also been published separately from the method.

I have created PDF versions of both of these sections to make them more of use to the horn community today. They are all pretty usable in lesson situations and for personal practice, and I believe teachers will find them especially handy “filler teaching materials” to have around in situations where students are new or between books. The PDFs may be accessed from our PDF download library or from the links directly below:

To close, the difficult horn part that may have cost him his life (!) was the topic of a prior article in Horn Matters, well worth a quick read as you start into the more difficult etudes of the above:

The Deadliest Horn Part

PDF Horn Duets from the Henri Kling Horn-Schule

Publications

John Ericson

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Jan 4, 2015

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Henri Kling (1842-1918) spent most of his career in Geneva, where he was professor of horn and solfège at the Geneva Conservatory from 1865 until his death.

Kling’s Horn-Schule was, according to his obituary, first published in 1865. However, the work was not listed in Hofmeister’s Handbuch until the 1874-79 edition, indicating a possibly later date of original publication. In any event, the Horn-Schule is musically progressive, beginning with easy études and moving to difficult études and orchestral excerpts.

Of the materials in the method, among the more useful materials today are the duets. This set of 31 starts easy and ends with a group of attractive duets from operas of Mozart and Mehul. The first 20 are suited to the natural horn, and the remaining 11 are more suited to the valved horn. The duets may be accessed from our PDF download library or from the link directly below:

Henri Kling – 31 Duets from the Horn-Schule

For more, also enjoy this short, humorous Kling quotation in Horn Matters:

Quote of the Week–Kling on Condensation

Review: Good Vibrations – Masterclasses for Brass Players

Reviews

John Ericson

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Dec 30, 2014

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For a final book review of 2014 we have a new publication from Randy C. Gardner, Good Vibrations – Masterclasses for Brass Players. This publication is a substantial 156 pages, spiral bound. All the musical examples are drawn from standard horn literature and the tips given all are extremely applicable to the horn.

The book is full of tips, which are to be found on virtually every page. Chapter topics include breathing and embouchure, articulations, range, flexibility, endurance, lip trills, stopped horn, practice, and more. The tips flow naturally from the topics at hand.

The opening chapter, on “The Foundation,” is full of concepts that would apply to really any musician. I like very much that the book is based on tips, fleshed out with many useful exercises in much the manner that you are in a lesson or masterclass with Gardner. The general format makes it very easy apply concepts and ideas of use to you as a reader.

For a concrete example, the book has a very helpful section on double tonguing (a topic not covered at all by Farkas in The Art of French Horn Playing) which is followed by several musical examples. The first is from the Symphony No. 3 of Mendelssohn, third horn. It is one I am very familiar with as the former Third Horn in the Nashville Symphony, played it on the audition and in the orchestra! It is one that I learned single tongued. It did not even occur to me as a student to double tongue it – I only learned of this option working with students much later. Of the placement of the excerpt in the section on double tonguing Gardner notes

Some hornists have the ability to single tongue these passages at [quarter note] = 126 or faster. Most do not. Regardless, I suggest that these passages be used to assess and practice your double tonguing technique. Insist on clarity and evenness of articulation before focusing on speed! A fast version of a mess is still a mess. Perform cleanly.

That is just one bullet point of hundreds in this publication. You will find many thoughts of use to you in improving all aspects of your playing.

Helping you find those thoughts, another feature I very much appreciate is this book has an index. So for example if you are looking to work on your accuracy the relevant passages are on pages 3 and 109-115. Not all horn publications include an index, which enhances the usefulness of the publication.

There are a two minor negatives that should be mentioned to close. First, if you want to find the Mendelssohn 3 excerpt I mentioned above you won’t find Mendelssohn in the index, you will have to find the section on double tonguing and search from there. The index could be expanded (an index of musical examples would be an excellent addition) in a future edition. The other minor negative for me is the title. Good Vibrations – Masterclasses for Brass Players of course contains materials of use to any brass player, but at the same time the musical examples and even entire chapters are very much horn centered. It will be “read” at least at first glance as being a “horn book” by players of other instruments rather than a book aimed evenly at all brass instruments. Other brass players will still find much of interest if they take the time to read into the publication, and will want to reference the “Skill Assessments” presented at the end of the appendix from the CCM brass faculty. Perhaps in a future edition specific materials for players of other brass instruments could be integrated into the text more fully.

This is a great book and is one that horn players will want to pick up, it is chock full of information and a bargain at $29.95. The Amazon listing is here.

Review revised

Brief Reviews: Recent CD’s by Gross, Havlík, and Van Dreel

Reviews

John Ericson

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Dec 27, 2014

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Continuing our series of brief reviews we have two 2014 CD releases to close out the year.

First up alphabetically is a recording of double concertos, “Czech-American Horn Duo,” on the Summit label. The hornists are Steven Gross and Jiří Havlík, who perform a program of works by Joseph Reicha, Rosetti, Habermann, and “Haydn” (the latter work being almost certainly not by Haydn and likely a work of Rosetti – an issue they acknowledge in the lilner notes – my take on this topic is here). As to the CD itself, it is a great program of Classical horn double concertos, beautifully performed with an overall sound profile much as if you were out in the audience. Several of these works have rarely if ever been recorded and are well worth a look for anyone interested in the Classical double horn concerto repertoire, one that is surprisingly extensive (Rosetti alone wrote at least seven double concertos!). The listing on Amazon is here.

The other CD for today is “New Millennium Music for Horn” featuring hornist Lydia van Dreel on the Quadre Records label. This CD features a group of very new works composed 2004-12 for a variety of combinations of instruments involving horn. At first glance I was worried that it would not stand together well due to the wide variety presented, but actually the program is compelling and flows very well from piece to piece. Works range from traditional combinations such as the J. M. Gerraughty Trio for Horn, Violin, and Piano (mvt. 1 only) and the Kenji Bunch Shout Chorus for woodwind quintet, two horn quartets, and other more exotic combinations – including two works for natural horn and electronics (by Eve Beglarian and Thomas Hundemer). It is a great set, beautifully performed and produced, and I look forward to more of this type on the Quadre label. The listing on CD Baby is here.

Why is my Horn Sharp?

Horn Performance

John Ericson

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Dec 16, 2014

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One common question is that some models of horn seem to be built rather sharp, as in the main slide needs to be pulled quite a ways, perhaps so far that it is pulled as far as possible and you are still sharp. Why?

It could be your playing, but there are other factors that are part of it.

Issue 1 — Old School Designs

I am not going to name brands in this article, but some of the classic horn designs are often reported to be quite sharp, which I would agree with. Among the many possible reasons for this are two major factors:

They were designed originally to be played with a rather covered hand position and
They were designed to be played with a rather deep and large bore mouthpiece

To point 1, as a student in the early 1980s I was actually somewhat shocked to first hear live performances by a couple of the older, big name players of that day. They used rather covered hand positions of a type rarely heard today. A more covered hand position sounds “darker” (more muffled, really) and results in a lower pitch level for the horn.

To point 2, the large mouthpieces used in the past are not nearly so often used today. A deep mouthpiece with a large bore produces a lower overall pitch level on a horn, and a shallow mouthpiece with a small bore produces a higher overall pitch level.

The combination of these two factors has left these classic horns of older design history playing sharper and sharper in a modern context. Time has seen the horn world trend toward smaller mouthpieces and more open hand positions, aiming for a tone with more clarity and presence out in the hall.

Issue 2 – Horns Aimed at a European Market

Second, the horn market is international, and most areas outside the USA are not playing at A=440. A horn that is made in and for an area where A=442 is standard will need to be pulled out a good bit to produce A=440. Some instruments will accommodate this pitch issue better than others in terms of slide lengths.

And More …

It should also be mentioned that an older horn with leaky valves may get a bit wonky for pitch, valve rotations need to be right, no objects stuck in your horn, oral cavity shape, etc.

Know what your slides do!

And even a very good horn, if played with a mouthpiece that does not fit right or suit the horn, may have strange pitch tendencies.

This article is obviously not comprehensive, but will hopefully relieve a bit of stress if you feel your horn is constantly sharp. In short, while there could be some production problem on your end of the horn, if it is persistently sharp it is not necessarily your problem, you may need to either pull out more in general or, if that is not an option, get a different horn. Be sure in any case to try other horns and have others try your horn to know better what the tendencies are you are fighting.

For more on tuning your horn see this article.

More Random Hornist Hamster Memes

Memes & Photoshop

John Ericson

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Dec 11, 2014

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Below are yet more, somewhat random Hornist Hamster memes. Can you find the Robert Schumann quote? Enjoy!

Mistakes are made by fools like me, but …

And again, the Hornist Hamster meme theme is one of many you can generate online and is the subject of an entire website.

Commentary: A Popular Meme on Mouthpieces that is Wrong

Mouthpieces

John Ericson

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Dec 7, 2014

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I have seen the following meme go around Facebook several times:

Superman-mouthpiece-meme As a horn teacher I have to say this meme, while it sounds like good advice, is very wrong.

Sure, long tones are important, but only to a point. Yes, it is a skill to master. But essentially they are weight lifting for your chops. They end up being a part of many warm-up routines. The reality is I rarely work on long tones after the first minute or so of my warm-up routine. It is not as though you can’t achieve the same effect of training your lips by playing real music.

A mouthpiece change however can make HUGE differences in every aspect of your playing. It can take you from sounding like a good student to a pro in literally an instant. It can improve your tone, your high range, your low range, your endurance. Everything.

I really worry about teachers who don’t actively work with students to search out a better horn and a better mouthpiece, as both hugely impact the ability to reach a high level on the horn. Telling students to do long tones in this instance is just lazy teaching, ignorance. Some horns really need a European shank mouthpiece to focus the high range, for example. There are so many variables to balance and you can only get there through thoughtful, guided testing.

In short, no teacher can inspire your high Bb to speak better if it is just a bad note for your combination of horn and mouthpiece, and long tones alone won’t get you to the highest level of horn playing either. You need the right equipment.

And mouthpiece choice is a topic I think most horn students intuitively know is an important one, as one of the most popular article series ever posted on this site is the below by Bruce Hembd, on choosing a French horn mouthpiece. Get reading, there is a lot of information on the topic in Horn Matters.

Memes: Special Verne Reynolds Edition

Memes & Photoshop

John Ericson

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Dec 6, 2014

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Regular readers of Horn Matters know that Bruce Hembd and I both count Verne Reynolds among our former teachers. In an prior article I highlighted ten things I learned from Reynolds, and from that article you will note that, at least in the time frame we were at Eastman, he was certainly a stern, “old school” horn teacher.

Somewhere between then and now the “Hornist Hamsters” meme was created. There is an entire website devoted to these memes, in fact.

I have posted in Horn Matters a couple memes I generated on this theme previously, and I recently set a few of the words of Verne Reynolds with this meme. As memes go I think they are pretty effective ones, such as the following example:

With that, the following is a small collection of similar memes, respectfully submitted in memory of a man very significant in my life. They are all either direct quotes from his book The Horn Handbook or things he said in lessons around the time we were in school. Enjoy!