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A Quick Look at a Nickel Silver Kruspe Single F

John Ericson
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Recently I was able to borrow locally this great nickel silver Kruspe single F. It is in the collection, for now, of one of my current students (Jesse Boyd), who provided the nice photos.

Kruspe? Single F? Nickel Silver?

First, I should mention that the word “Kruspe” has become firmly associated in an American context today with a specific type of double horn. Which is unfortunate, as Kruspe the firm made a number of different models of horns, the Horner Model that was copied by Conn (for their 8D) is just one of them.

In addition to double horns, they made a variety of single horns. This one is notable not just for being a single F but also being all nickel silver. Nickel silver is an alloy similar to brass but with at least 10% nickel added, which colors the material to look like silver. This horn has a lovely look, from an era when NS horns were a rarity. Only a large shop like Kruspe could have made it in that time frame.

What is up with the main slide?

You might think that is an Eb slide, but actually the horn stands in F. I have found that single horns made with this style of main slide often play much better than you might expect, and this one does play well! Which makes sense, as at the time there were professionals using horns of this design.

How old is it?

There are a few ways to estimate age on Kruspe horns. In the case of this one, the engraving on the bell includes the word “Hoflieferant.” This is a reference to Kruspe being purveyors to the court. This then means the horn has to date to before 1918, as Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated in 1918.

UPDATE: As this article will be found on searches about Kruspe horns, I’d add this item from a 2020 article on another Kruspe horn:

The majority of Kruspe horns you will run into were made between the world wars. Several things confirm this a being a post-war product, one prime thing being that the engraving lacks a DRGM number. The use of these numbers (they are the German patent numbers of their horn designs) ended with the fall of the Reich in 1945.

An action item for me

Finally, I would mention that I built a similar horn during my sabbatical – one that I plan to modify to better match this Kruspe. My horn, I eyeballed things too much. I have done the measurements, and my horn with a Mirafone bell is a full 3 inches shorter! No wonder I have to pull the main slide so far. My project will be to make a longer leadpipe and a longer main slide, aiming for the same proportions as the Kruspe.

UPDATE: I made the modifications to better match the Kruspe, happy with the results! More on that here. 

Continue reading about Kruspe horns

Fundamentals 3. Tuning: in general and extremes (use chromatic tuner)

John Ericson
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Tuning is fundamental! In general, to my mind there are two main problems, related often. Your horn is likely not in tune with itself, and you are used to it being out of tune so it doesn’t really sound wrong. With an additional issue of tuning in ensembles ….

Tuning your horn

There is a kind of classic method for tuning your horn in the Farkas book, but it is kind of overkill. I also present my version of a system in the back of my warmup book, which I would suggest for the advancing player as reference. But there is a very short version of how to do it.

The number 1, first thing to do on a double horn is to balance the two sides of your double horn. On third space C, thumb down and open the pitch level should be the same!

At this point people often get stumped as they know the Bb horn is too sharp, but there is no separate Bb horn tuning slide on most horns. The key thing then is to raise the F side to match the Bb side and then pull the whole horn down with the main slide.

In any case, that is the main issue. But also note on most horns all or almost all the valve slides need to be pulled out something like a quarter to a half inch. If they are all pushed in, that can’t be right, horns are not made that way.

Chromatic tuner compared to your ear

Of course, in some ideal world your ear would have such perfect pitch you can hear everything. However, in the real world your ear is easy to fool. You get used to how things sound, especially when practicing by yourself. So the reality is that a tuner app is essential for everyone, so that you get used to being in tune all the time. It will help a lot, as if you are always very close to being in tune, to be exactly in tune is just a fine adjustment you can almost make automatically.

Ranges should match by now

For many players the ranges being in tune is taken care of by the two sides of the horn being in tune with each other. Sometimes, though, there are issues that remain, and sometimes the cause is a mismatch of your horn and mouthpiece. Or, in the context of our present horn world with cheap horns from China all over, just a bad horn!

Thankfully, for most players, again, if you have the two sides of your horn in balance that will totally fix the biggest intonation issues.

What about playing extreme dynamics in tune?

Another important point is that your intonation is or can be impacted by playing very soft and very loud.

The key exercise to work on this is to play crescendo-diminuendo exercises on a single note, preferably around the bottom of treble clef. For example play 12 counts, the first six making a very even crescendo from your softest dynamic to your loudest, and then the second half is a mirror image (with no lumps!) going to your softest note.

To do this there are “adjustments” you make to your embouchure. For the loud note you may feel your lips are more open or more relaxed than for the very soft.

Getting loud you are likely to at first push notes sharp, but with practice you may find that you actually go flat when you are loud, due to subtle overcompensation. It is really important fundamental to master, playing at different dynamics at exactly the same pitch level.

BONUS: An important story about tuning in an ensemble

I frequently tell students my philosophy about tuning in orchestra, and how I arrived at it.

The short version of it is, once upon a time, I won the third horn position in the Nashville Symphony. The person before me left without coming up for tenure. The rumor I heard was that they had played persistently sharp among other things. So my goal became to find the best intonation I could.

My solution was to focus for intonation almost entirely on the principal horn and the principal clarinet. I found if I was in tune with both of them, things were all good!

In my position I periodically would play first horn as well, and in that seat, I focused almost exclusively on the principal woodwinds.

What if your woodwind principals are not in tune? Good luck! But you might try to talk to them and mention that you are keying on them and that might help.

What about the trumpets? In Nashville, they seemed to fit into the framework that we formed between the horns and woodwinds. But in some situations, you will find that you, on principal horn, will have to adjust slightly between the pitch levels of the woodwinds and brass depending on context. It’s not ideal, but it is reality.

What about the tubas? Band directors tell you to tune to them all the time but I think reality is you have to tune to high voices and especially the principal woodwinds.

Oh, and never ever tune to the strings in an ensemble! They need to tune to us. I know this may sound a bit undiplomatic, but often the biggest issue creating intonation problems in a group is the principal players drifting upward with the strings. You need to not do that.

Podcast?

For more on the topics of the first three installments of this fundamentals series, check Episode 60 of the Hornnotes Podcast. And be sure to subscribe for more episodes.

A direct link to the podcast is here.

When the series continues the topic is breathing.

Continue reading the Fundamentals series

Fundamentals 2. Fingerings: F horn, B-flat horn, and optional

John Ericson
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In terms of fundamentals and the advancing player, the thing you will need to explore is the world of alternate fingerings.

Alternate fingerings and me, and a fingering chart

Backing up a few steps, I was initially presented (by the horn playing high school band director who helped me switch to horn from trumpet) with a handwritten fingering chart of fingerings for the double horn. The first step is to just know one set of fingerings well! The fingering chart from my Introducing the Horn book will serve well.

In my own case, Verne Reynolds especially (my MM teacher) was not a fan of alternate fingerings. He said something like “a bassoonist would be overjoyed to play all the notes of their instrument with just 4 fingers on the left hand.” And he had a point, you do need to get good at standard fingerings. Confidence and consistency in your fingerings certainly helps accuracy.

But at some point, you want to learn some of the alternates and maybe change your “standard” fingerings as well. Which leads to a story.

Unethical teaching methods and the Bb horn

From multiple sources I have heard stories regarding the late Professor Louis Stout, who was some years ago the horn professor at the University of Michigan. He was a strong advocate of using Bb horn fingerings, and if a student came to his studio that did not know the Bb horn fingerings well, he would take their F horn slides (!) and put them in his desk drawer! They only got them back when they knew the Bb horn fingerings well enough. I don’t think any college teacher would do that today.

Still, that is typically the thing to learn (Bb horn into the typical F horn range), but I have found the opposite happens too – a percentage of students come in very fluent in Bb horn but don’t know F horn. In either case, you really should know both sets of fingerings, and that is a fundamental to master.

When the series continues the topic will be tuning.

Continue reading the Fundamentals series

Fundamentals 1. Playing position/posture: standing and sitting

John Ericson
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To begin this look at fundamentals, the first topic is posture and playing position, which are related.

Keep it simple

The simple answer is to hold the horn in a manner where your body is in the most similar position to a normal standing position, and maintain that basic setup when seated. The positions seen below are from my Introducing the Horn book, and would serve any player well.

What about playing on the leg?

I’m all for being comfortable, and if you are a new and especially if you are a young hornist, you may feel the need to adopt a playing position that is on the leg. Which is fine, I played that way for years.

But if you are too tall to play on the leg, your posture can get kind of wonky, as seen in this illustration.

The very young hornist

The very young hornist will have to work out their own compromise, the illustration below being among the options.

The right hand

The main thing I come back to students about over and over is that over time your playing position and posture needs to be reevaluated. That includes overall posture and the general right-hand position. This final illustration shows a couple generic right-hand positions — which are actually the same position, but rotated around the bell. The one on the bottom is for playing with the bell off the leg and the one on the top is a traditional option for playing on the leg.

We will talk more about the right hand when we get to the topic of stopped horn.

BONUS: Additional concerns RE: imbalances

A final posture point should be mentioned primarily in relation to adult players. What happens is your overall posture (!) will be influenced by your horn playing, as the horn playing has caused imbalances in your body.

In my own personal case, my shoulders are shifted slightly to the left relative to my hips, and I certainly overarch my back. Not to mention that my left arm/shoulder is much stronger than the right, etc. Working with a physical therapist in recent years has been helpful.

I think body imbalance issues are almost inevitable for the aging hornist. Which also speaks to if you can set up with good posture as a new hornist it will help avoid problems later.

When the series continues the topic is fingering.

Continue reading fundamentals series

Fundamentals: Introducing an Important Topic

John Ericson
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This article introduces a new series looking at fundamentals.

At the end of the spring semester this topic really came to weigh on my heart as a teacher, which continued into the summer. It is not that it was a new topic by any means, but my thinking had changed, as reflected in this article I wrote for the accuracy series (which has stalled for now with that article):

“F is for Fundamentals” remains worth a quick read to introduce the topic further. Fundamentals being very important to some teachers – but often not taught very systematically.

In this new series I plan to present information on fundamentals of use to players of all levels, with a goal of reaching a broad variety of players with helpful information to raise the level of their playing.

Fundamentals and me

I don’t at all blame my own teachers, but none of them presented to me a systematic look at fundamentals. I’m sure they covered them in various ways via etudes especially, and likely they felt I was covering what I needed to. But, looking back, I think what work I did on fundamentals was to a large extent the result of my own personal motivation and was certainly not systematic. Which is OK in a way, as a teacher you want students to be self-motivated and to solve their own problems! But many students need more of a framework, which is a goal of this series and the special focus on the topic this academic year.

Kopprasch vs. fundamentals

I should mention, some (even many) teachers persist in teaching Kopprasch etudes as a method of teaching fundamentals. I personally think this is old fashioned at best. If that is still your system as a teacher, I would encourage you to reconsider and find more effective ways to teach fundamentals. There are so many more materials you could be using today. Yes, there are things Kopprasch is great for, but the reality is that there is only so much you can work on effectively using early 19th century etudes.

Practice your fundamentals! Or, just practice in general?

In the accuracy encyclopedia article on fundamentals I used this meme, which I think represents well the beginnings of my journey with fundamentals. Whatever I did, it was largely related to practice in general and my warmup routine. But you can practice fundamentals specifically, even dedicating practice sessions to them exclusively, which will or at least can improve your overall playing in many ways.

Barrier exams can force a focus on fundamentals

The school I taught at (for three years) before Arizona State was The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. With undergrads they had a system, long established, that included a barrier exam at the end of the sophomore year. It involved playing a solo, scales at prescribed tempos, etudes, and sight-reading. At ASU we don’t have a formal system of this type, although some studios have their own internal systems. In any case, reflecting back, my teaching system is more individualized to actual students and has not been systematic with regard to fundamentals. There is something to be said for that too, but this year I’m going to explore a more systematic approach.

A list from Douglas Hill

On pages 92-93 of Douglas Hill, Collected Thoughts on Teaching and Learning, Creativity, and Horn Performance he presents a list of the areas you might work on as a student of the horn. I know I gave a version of this list to my students at ASU back in 2007, but at that time it was presented more as just something to think about and reflect on. This semester, I plan to work through the list in our studio class with generally a topic each week, with additional comments on each of the topics presented here in Horn Matters.

A warmup book, a technique book …

Some readers might be thinking; didn’t you also publish a warmup book and a technique book? How do those fit in?

The warmup book I don’t use systematically in my teaching, but I plan to use it more systematically this year, as it gets at ways to work on a number of fundamentals. If you can play every exercise in the book you will be ready to play a lot of rep.

The technique book, I used it very systematically basically until the pandemic — but since then less so. I think it also can be effective for certain fundamentals and I will be using it more. Again, if you can play every exercise in this book, you will be equipped with the foundations needed to play a lot of rep.

Side note on the University of Horn Matters

As this series on fundamentals goes forward it will certainly reference articles in the University of Horn Matters pedagogy series. However, for the first time in many years I won’t be using that series in my pedagogy class! It has weighed on me for some time that there are too many readings in that class as structured, plus I have a student taking the class now as a MM student that took it as an undergrad. Instead, I’m going to use the Farkas and Hill books as our texts (hard copies please!), going back to something closer to the way I taught pedagogy in the early 2000’s. It will be a nice change honestly, and will also influence this fundamentals series as it unfolds.

The series will continue nearly weekly, be checking for more. The first topic being playing position and posture.

Continue reading the Fundamentals series

Hobbies and the Horn Player

John Ericson
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In a recent article there is a section talking about hobbies, which I know generated at least one comment out there, wondering why I went there. I believe hobbies — real hobbies! — are a key to having a healthy success as a hornist.

Note for amateur hornists

First, if you are an adult amateur especially, I hope sincerely that horn playing is a fun hobby! Because horn playing can and should be fun!

But for the professional or serious student, horn playing and music can be a source of stress.

“I’m too hard core for a hobby”

There is a line of thinking some espouse, that to achieve success in music you need to eat, sleep, and breathe music. I remember the first person I met who really was trying to do this, a flute player at a summer music festival. She puzzled me a great deal and I suspect that she did not ultimately make it in music, the mindset was not healthy.

That summer, in Aspen, I went hiking several times a week. The combination of hard work on the horn and hiking was great, you need that break to reset mentally and the mountains there are just breathtaking. I made tons of progress as a hornist the 3 summers I went to Aspen. To this day I love getting into the mountains when I can. I suspect a lot of the faculty there felt the same way.

Professional musicians, stress, and hobbies

In a recent note from my Horn Matters colleague Bruce Hembd he mentioned that he recalled an article that talked about how outside interests/hobbies can help with stress from work leeching into personal life. The article he pointed me to, “Why They’re Not Smiling: Stress and Discontent in the Orchestral Workplace” by Seymour and Robert Levine, may be accessed here (go to page 10 of the PDF, page 22 of the article). They write that

It is no coincidence, we believe, that musicians gravitate towards hobbies which provide a high degree of control. For example, it appears that far more musicians hold pilot licenses than one would expect in a randomly selected group with similar incomes and educational levels. In some orchestras, five to 10 percent of the members are pilots. Gardening, writing, and home improvement are also pursued with surprising intensity by many orchestra musicians. By contrast, team sports are not as popular with musicians—with the possible exception of serving on membership representation committees, an activity which participants also pursue with a great deal of intensity.

These strategies can successfully reduce the effects of workplace stress in musicians’ lives. However, they are less successful in reducing the levels of stress experienced at work. A very sharp bifurcation can develop, therefore, between work and the rest of life.

Horn players with pilot licenses? How about Philip Farkas. Gardens? How about Verne Reynolds. Etc.

Without revealing the names, years ago I was at a horn conference and two of the featured artists were chatting about birding. I was like, birding? Was this some euphemism? But actually, they both really were deeply interested in bird watching. What a great activity, and total opposite of horn and the stresses of performing.

The list of hobbies not yet mentioned that I have observed in the music world is long and would include especially activities with pets, bike riding, running, photography, model trains, restoring horns, sports cars, collecting various things, etc. Frankly, if you don’t have several hobbies, think about what else you could be doing to expand your interests and friendships beyond your current circle.

The end of the quote above mentions a “very sharp bifurcation can develop.” I think actually some of the healthiest orchestra musicians I know have that division worked out well. Orchestra is orchestra, and life is separate. Outside the orchestra they live like normal people with hobbies and such. Aim for that, rather than eating, sleeping, and breathing music.

Closing thoughts

When I was young, I puzzled about my parents and their hobbies. In particular my dad, a chemistry professor, he spent TONS of time working on our farm, 40 miles south of where we lived. Especially over the summer and on breaks. Now I totally understand, it had to have relieved so much stress of his job and enhanced the quality of his life. I certainly am glad I have developed a number of hobbies and recommend that readers do the same.

Brandenburg 2 sounds better on French Horn

John Ericson
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A recent thrift store find was a Phillips recording of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 performed with a horn instead of a trumpet. The hornist is Barry Tuckwell, and it is absolutely a charming recording! I found a version of it on YouTube (from a different Phillips recording), but it is not an official version, just one someone posted from the vinyl recording, so the link probably won’t last. Feel free to first listen below for a sense of that recording, and read on as to why this is not a crazy idea.

The case for horn

In our horn repertoire class in recent years I have highlighted a recording done in the same manner by Steven Gross. In his CD liner notes the case for horn instead of trumpet is laid out very well, as follows:

Concerning the Second Concerto, the question concerning the brass part always has been: trumpet or horn? Original parts are not extant and thus provide no guidance.

Dr. Gross believes that Bach had the horn in mind, and bases his decision on contextual grounds both political and aesthetic, among which are that:

1) there was considerable confusion in Bachs’ day about the use of ‘trumpet’ and ‘horn’; ‘trumpets’ could be called ‘horns’ and ‘horns’ could refer to a variety of wind instruments;

2) Bachs’ score, as copied by Christian Fredrich Penzel who had attended the Thomasschule, at Bachs’ church in Leipzig, says the part for brass instruments is to be played by ‘tromba, o vero corno da caccia’ (‘trumpet, otherwise hunting horn’);

3) when Bach wrote for horn, it was for horn in F; were a trumpet to perform the Second Brandenburg, it would be the only instance in Bach’s works of the use of a trumpet in F. For Baroque composers, the instrument of choice was trumpet in D;

4) the composition’s orchestration offers no compelling reasons to prefer trumpet over horn. By using the horn, the solo group plays in the same register and blends together. The trumpet, on the other hand, plays an octave higher and dominates the other solo players.

And it sounds better

Again, maybe I’m biased, but I think the work really does sound charming when performed on the horn instead of trumpet. The key movements of the Steven Gross recording are below, what do you think?

On the topic of a Horn Guru

John Ericson
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Unless you don’t follow much social media, you have already heard that a certain hornist recently has seen major “negative change” in their career. His local PBS/NPR affiliate headline lays it out thusly: “Music professor retires from Rice following allegations of inappropriate conduct with female students.” Pulling a few points from their article,

  • The allegations involve claims from several former students who accuse William VerMeulen of engaging in inappropriate behavior during his tenure as a professor of horn at Rice’s Shepherd School of Music.
  • There are also allegations of sexually explicit photos being sent to students.
  • … according to a classical music professor who requested anonymity, VerMeulen’s reputation has apparently been intertwined with long-running stories of alleged inappropriate behavior with female students.
  • “People were saying that he would use extremely sexual language with women students and would aggressively use sexual metaphors and things like that,” the professor said.
  • Amid the allegations, VerMeulen was reportedly suspended from his post at the Houston Symphony. A spokesperson for the Symphony told Houston Public Media that they were reviewing the allegations and will “take any actions” to ensure they’re “providing a safe environment.”

A cautionary tale

A primary goal of Horn Matters is educational. My overall hope in the article that follows is that students especially can reflect on this story as a cautionary tale. Just because someone is a great player or has been a highly effective teacher, that doesn’t mean they have their life and moral foundations together, with the right life priorities in place. Be very careful in your choices of teachers and inspirations, it can make a huge difference in the trajectory of your life.

(The text of the meme is two direct quotations from the bio in his personal website).

He called himself the horn guru

The “Rice Horn Guru” has been mentioned in Horn Matters a number of times, although mostly not by name directly. And Bruce and I have both had interactions with him at various times. I’ll just speak to my own – I suspect he was basically on his best behavior when I was around him. I never studied with him (he is less than 2 years older than me!), and the self-promotion and rumors I would hear about his interactions with students gave me pause.

Then also there was the whole guru and cult following thing. It is probably a coincidence, but a TV series ran not long ago on Hulu for three seasons on a fictional religious cult with a similar name to one I grew up near – their group was called The Path. Those familiar with his teaching method already know that he called his signature system of horn playing The Path. That choice of name turned me personally off to his pedagogy even more in recent years than the whole captain and crew thing he also used to connect with his students.

There were warning signs 40 years ago

An interview with him ran in the April, 1984 issue of The Horn Call. If you want to do a deeper dive, another interview may be found in the May 1994 issue, and there is an article on his pedagogy in the February 1996 issue, but I’ll focus here on the initial interview with Catherine Watson. It is fascinating in retrospect.

The interview occurred on June 10, 1983, near the end of the IHS symposium in Charleston Illinois. That was the first workshop I (at age 20!) ever attended, and the 22-year-old guru was a featured artist. He performed a Mendelssohn work for clarinet, basset horn, and piano and I mean, I was there in the hall, it was very impressive. Lots of notes! The audience went wild.

At the time he described his current positions as solo horn of the Honolulu Symphony and artist-in-residence, instructor of horn at Interlochen in the summers. From what he described as a “semi-musical family,” he grew up in Lake Forest, IL, and studied with several highly competent horn teachers in the Chicago area, including in particular for three years with Eugene Chausow (1931-2022). I highlight Chausow because, besides playing and teaching in the Chicago area, he spent a big chunk of his life, including retirement, out here in Arizona where I am presently. A Wagner tuba that belonged to him is now part of our set at ASU. While I don’t believe that I ever met him, he was well regarded here, and at one point was a predecessor of mine as horn professor at Arizona State, in the timeframe that he performed in the Phoenix Symphony. Reading his obituary, it is clear that he was a man with hobbies, very devoted to his wife and children, and a man of faith.

But the future guru idolized someone else.

Dale’s been my inspiration – I had idolized him since I was in fifth grade. Everyone else was walking around with Bobby Sherman on their school notebooks, but I had Dale Clevenger – literally, I had a Dale Clevenger notebook. … Finally[,] I was able to take lessons from him in the summer during my last couple high school years, [and] then as his first freshman student at Northwestern. During my freshman year I won a professional job. That was the first audition I’d ever taken ….

The first job was Second Horn in Kansas City, which did not suit him, and not long after that he landed in Honolulu as Principal Horn at an age when most hornists are undergraduates.

Later in the interview he states that he found Clevenger to be “super-inspirational,” and, in the same answer relating to what he attributed his success, he mentions that he is a “risky guy.” He clearly had a personal game plan or system for success that he had embraced at a young age. Taking some risks because you are optimistic of success is important — but embracing risky behaviors as a general life strategy would not be a good plan.

“What are your hobbies?”

If I were to pick one final item to highlight from this interview it would be the question on hobbies. I’ve mentioned his answer to my own students so many times; if your hobby is self-improvement, you need to find a real hobby ASAP. I have multiple hobbies, and even Verne Reynolds had a hobby, he had a large organic garden. The answer to “What are your hobbies?” is a bit unexpected.

Well, I’m really interested in advancing myself as a human being, because I believe that I’m a person first and a musician second. If I didn’t have the horn I’d still have to be a human being, so my hobby, which I know sounds like a weird hobby, is just trying to better myself as a human being, be it through studying different stress things, as I have done, or reading, or just becoming a little more of a nice guy, trying to deal with life and handle life a little better. Whereas musically I may be a little bit ahead of the game, personally I’m still a 22-year-old guy, going through all life’s ups and downs. Luckily, I’ve gone through mostly ups in my life, but you have to be prepared for the downs, and just try to live life in a beautiful way.

To a point he probably was just a young man trying to give the “right” answer for an interview that he knew would be in The Horn Call. But the answer points out at best a developing personal/spiritual foundation, another piece of the puzzle of the path that leads to where he is today.

BRIEF UPDATE: I’ll add this on hobbies. There is a line of thought that says if you want real success on the horn that you should eat, breathe and sleep the horn 24/7. It is a type of thinking that can sound good to a student, part of being hard core into the horn, but it is not a healthy mindset. Hobbies, real hobbies, help you work out stress in your life and so much more. I’ll have more on this thought soon in an upcoming article, but self-improvement is just not a hobby. UPDATE II: That article is here.

Some very positive recent changes in our horn world

I have been so saddened and angered by the recent multiple stories of very bad actors out there in our horn world, beyond what I ever imagined.

Which is also to say that I am happy to see that among others all the big horn entities – the IHS, the IHCA, and the KBHC – have adopted very serious policies in relation to sexual harassment of all types, with background checks for all officers, etc. LONG overdue. The horn guru was for example at one point on the board of the IHCA, and now we read in their Instagram this summary of their policy:

The International Horn Competition of America is committed to providing a fully professional and safe environment for all those associated with the organization in any capacity, particularly those participating in competition events. All IHCA activities will be free from harassment or judgement based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, or classified disability.

Full policies can be found on the various organization websites. This is very positive change, and leaves me hopeful that the future in our horn world will be better. There is simply no room for old school, sexist behaviors, not to mention sexual harassment or abuse, in our horn world.

Accuracy Encyclopedia: F is for Fundamentals

John Ericson
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As we continue with the letter F, a third elephant in the room is the whole topic of fundamentals, or the study of fundamentals as part of your practice routine. For some teachers, certainly, this is one of the primary methods they use to address the development of accuracy.

But it still could be your horn, etc.

This should be evident to readers of this series already, but it is worth repeating that many things influence accuracy. Keep that in mind! Because you may think for example that you don’t have a good high range and you need to hammer away at high range fundamentals every day — but, actually, your horn maybe just doesn’t have a good high range. Fundamentals are the answer to some problems, but for other issues the solutions are going to be found elsewhere.

Fundamentals – are they Exercise, or Training?

My own horn teachers did not present fundamentals as a type of practice. Working on this article has been an interesting one for me. I am very open to enhancing the study of fundamentals in my teaching, some of which are incorporated into my warmup book and my technique book. But are they exercise or training?

For a teacher I can see how working on fundamentals is a type of training, important work that leads to improvement. However, for students I can also see that working on fundamentals has more the feel of rote exercises. Maybe good for you to do! But not that pressing or interesting.

Working on fundamentals as a type of training for real music would be a good compromise mindset. It really depends on you and how you visualize things in the big picture of your horn playing and teaching.

Kopprasch?

I know for sure there are teachers that have you work on only Kopprasch until you can do all the fundamentals encountered there perfectly. This can be effective, certainly, as you will play everything better with better technique. But on the other hand, this seems like a boring way to practice and to teach.

A digression on practice

Which brings me to the point where I have to digress briefly. As hinted at earlier in this article, anyone who has studied with me could tell you I rarely directly talk about fundamentals at all. Not that I don’t cover them in my teaching, because I certainly do, just they are not a goal in itself. My own teachers basically never spoke in terms of working on fundamentals either. Fundamentals were more integrated with work on actual music – etudes, solos, excerpts. Even the classic scale book I used as a student, Pares Scales, is structured essentially as etudes.

I do like warming up I must say. Warmup I visualize as more like exercise, although fundamentals are incorporated. But the goal is to warmup, not develop skills.

I think where working on fundamentals as a goal loses me personally is I would rather treat practice as more the experience of being in training, as that relates more to the path to giving a recital, taking an audition, performing any concert really.

One possible method for practice – The rule of thirds

I have seen it suggested to divide your practice evenly between study of fundamentals, etudes, and repertoire. Morning practice might be only a fundamentals session, afternoon etudes, evening rep. This could be very effective, as it frames the fundamentals as something that leads toward playing real music better. But a gentle reminder, be sure your etude practice is not all Kopprasch!

A big topic every horn player needs to consider

This is a huge topic and one every horn player could do well to consider or reconsider. Myself, I’m approaching fundamentals differently in my current practice and I’m considering presenting the topic of fundamentals differently to my students next year. Do consider adding a few more structured and specific fundamentals exercises to your routine.

This is an installment of a series on accuracy, drawn from notes developed for a book on the same topic. The series starts here.

Accuracy Encyclopedia: F is for First Note Accuracy

John Ericson
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Continuing with this series on the letter F and accuracy on the horn, the second elephant in the room is first note accuracy.

I don’t want with this statement to give readers a complex, but, unfortunately, perhaps the most critical type of accuracy is first note accuracy. This type of note can potentially be missed for quite a variety of reasons, but very often it has to do with the mechanics of your attack.

A warmup routine for first note accuracy

At this point it is worth digressing to a story. Close to 20 years ago now we had a new president at ASU and he wanted to bring in experts, school wide. In music a decision was made to have Gunther Schuller in. So, while he had not played horn since 1962 (!!), he gave I believe three horn master classes as part of his residency.

I have long found his book Horn Technique an interesting book, very unlike the Farkas book in a good way, very worth checking out to this day. The Farkas book, of course, has a long, “captain warmup” type warmup routine. Schuller, on the other hand, on page 35, presented exactly and only this routine:

When he was here I asked him was this really his warmup? And his answer was yes it was! When he was playing Principal Horn in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra that was exactly the routine. I forget if he said 20 or 30 minutes of this exercise, but just this exercise. The text of his book (quoted here) would indicate or at least imply that he did a shorter version before later services of the day and a longer one before the first.

Stepping back then, you can actually see the genius of this routine. If you were playing Principal Horn at the Met, what do you not want to do? Miss first notes! The Schuller exercise/routine reinforces an exact set of motions used to consistently start notes, in one motion.

Another thing I always mention to students in our pedagogy class is to actually try the routine as presented. Because it is so different than how basically anyone warms up and it really does work, you will feel warmed up at the end. Thus, it is an excellent routine to work on first note accuracy.

Just say “no” to hesitation attacks, and a tale of two trumpet auditions

Here is something I seem to have not written about very directly in Horn Matters, a huge playing issue that I would call a hesitation attack. Schuller was very concerned with this topic, and on page 25 of Horn Technique gives this illustration, which also exactly illustrates the way to approach his warmup exercise.

Which brings me to a story. I used to hear ASU trumpet auditions with our prior trumpet professor (we do them separately now). One very memorable day not one but two MM trumpet auditions, back to back, the applicants both had a serious hesitation attack issue. What it looks and sounds like is that instead of breathing, setting, and playing in one continuous motion the process gets stuck at a point where, seemingly, the players are intentionally bottling up air behind their tongue.

How anyone thinks this is a good way to play a brass instrument I just don’t understand. It is not. What you need to do is breathe, set, and play in one continuous motion with no hint of a hitch of any type.

A related point — attack the note, do not think of it as a release (more here). This is the right mindset. To “release” a note is to invite hesitation attack issues.

The brass guru Carmine Caruso was also not a fan of this type of attack, thinking specifically of the rules presented at the beginning of his text, for the “six notes” exercise — more on Caruso studies generally may be found here. Another author that addressed the topic was Christopher Leuba in The Rules of the Game. He calls it a stutter or a stall; a few of his thoughts on the topic may be found here.

First note accuracy is fundamental

We play first notes all the time! They need to be consistent, something that you may also find is helped by careful work on the fundamentals of horn playing, our next topic.

This is an installment of a series on accuracy, drawn from notes developed for a book on the same topic. The series starts here.

Continue in the Accuracy series

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