Horn Matters | A French Horn and Brass Site and Resource | John Ericson and Bruce Hembd

By design I have not quoted much in this series from recent publications. I am a firm believer in actually reading books and especially so for recent publications that are in print; you should buy them!

With that said one author that stands out from the crowd among horn players that have written books is David Kaslow. In Living Dangerously with the Horn he says things really differently than Farkas. Thus, certain concepts will resonate with certain readers in very different ways, and there are entire topic areas he gets to that other writers barely touch.

One such topic is that of support and in particular the concept of compression. According to Kaslow, “Air support is the key technical element of horn playing.” He explains that

For the hornist, wind player, or singer, optimum air support consists of (1) taking the fullest possible breath, whether or not we plan to use all of it and (2) employing the breath appropriately, with sensitivity to all of the air column’s aspects that operate in tandem, such as quantity, compression, and velocity….

Many fine texts address air support…. We must beware, however, that in many otherwise excellent texts the term “air support” is sometimes used in a limited sense, referring only to quantity of air, ignoring the several other aspects of the concept mentioned here. This limited usage renders the phrase nearly meaningless—similar to describing what we are wearing as “clothes,” or what we are eating as “food.” In reading about air support, the, we ought to first strive to understand the writers’ particular interpretation, and then to compare that with our own definition: the fullest possible breath, and the appropriate use of all aspects of the air column.

The first aspect Kaslow examines is that of quantity. His approach is that “We must provide the largest possible quantity of support appropriate to every note.” He explains that “an abundance of potential energy—air support—yields the finest and most characteristic horn tone.”

The second aspect is compression.

Air compression is produced by the controlled contraction of the abdominal and back muscles. Air compression, like air quantity, plays a part in producing both dynamic levels and the large range of notes available on the horn. Soft notes require a higher degree of compression than do loud ones; high notes require a higher degree of compression than do low notes. Adjustments in both air quantity and compression must constantly be made, based upon the amount of air support needed for a particular range and dynamic.

The third aspect of support for Kaslow is velocity.

Velocity is simply the speed at which the air is driven through the instrument, and its most important role is in the production of dynamic levels. Soft playing requires slowly-moving air and loud playing requires quickly-moving air. Using air velocity to regulate dynamic levels assures the production of a consistent tone quality throughout the range of the horn.

Pondering compression

I was particularly interested to read his comments on compression, as it is an interesting take on the topic and one not often addressed.

Some years back now I played in groups regularly for several years with a colleague that often referred when it was not a great playing day that they could not get good compression. To this day I am not exactly sure what they meant, if it was truly a physiological thing they felt or more psychological in nature, but I feel sure it had something to do with the ideas in the quotations above.

As it is a fairly recent publication I won’t be quoting much from Kaslow in this series. My point being again to please support authors of recent books! Living Dangerously with the Horn is available from the publisher Birdalone Books, which was the source of the cover image linked here as well.

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Return to horn pedagogy course week 5

Etude practice has long been a standard way to train and cross-train horn technique. The thing to think about though is the topic of are these actually effective materials or do we just keep using them because our teachers used them? Are there newer materials that would be better choices?

Conventional wisdom …

As to etudes Philip Farkas in The Art of French Horn Playing wrote that

…the study of etudes should occupy a large part of the practice time. The second hour or session of each day is undoubtedly the proper time to study these, as the embouchure should be at its best…. There are many fine etude books…. For instance, if a student were to study in one day from the Kopprasch, Gallay, and Maxime-Alphonse books, he would obtain a bit of Kopprasch’s careful mechanical discipline – Gallay’s melodious style and phrasing – and Maxime-Alphonse’s modern tonalities and rhythmic difficulties. Again, when there is a specific problem, the etudes chosen should be pointed directly at that problem. If staccato playing is difficult, by all means use a preponderance of etudes which contain staccato passages; legato etudes if legato playing needs improvement. As elementary as this suggestion may be, it is quite necessary to mention. Many students shy away from their difficulties, because the quality of their playing in their more successful techniques encourages them. However, this solves no problems.

A big issue with the old standard materials

Gunther Schuller in Horn Technique noted

There may be other study books as effective, but I doubt if any are superior to the old stand-bys for beginners: the Oscar Franz method, the two books of Kopprasch Etudes, and the Kling studies….

My only quarrel with most of the basic study material (including the Franz, Kopprasch, and Kling etudes) is that, for our era, it favours simple keys and the conventional I-IV-V progressions far too much. Everything is in F, C, and B flat…. That is why I recommend very much using the six books of Maxime-Alphonse studies. For in these exercises all keys are thoroughly investigated, sometimes even within one study piece…. The Alphonse studies are also remarkable in their avoidance of horn study clichés. A favourite Alphonse device is to set up a pattern or sequence and then, just as the student is lulled into contented relaxation, the pattern is broken in very original and unconventional ways. This is excellent training…. From the ear-training point of view alone, the Alphonse studies are highly recommended.

Verne Reynolds includes performance notes on etudes in The Horn Handbook. He begins,

We have seen how practice can be apportioned into three flexible categories of calisthenic, technical, and musical. Etudes, by definition and by their nature, belong mainly in the technical area. The traditional horn etudes of the 19th century, such as those of Gallay, Mueller, and Kopprasch, concentrate on scales, arpeggios, or articulation patterns, and an entire etude may be devoted to just one of these technical matters.

Inching into more contemporary materials

Reynolds discusses in-depth the etudes and studies of Kopprasch, Maxime-Alphonse, Alain Weber, Charles Chaynes, Georges Barboteu, Gunther Schuller, and of course his own 48 Etudes. Of these he explains

These etudes were written during 1954-59 while I was on the faculty of the Indiana University School of Music. At that time there was nothing beyond Book 6 of Maxime-Alphonse for the technical and musical training of gifted horn players. Instead of leading the advance of technique and musicianship, the writers of etudes and method books seemed content to reseed the ground harvested by Kopprasch, Mueller, Gallay, and Kling. Several of my students at Indiana practiced the 48 Etudes as they were being written and helped confirm that they were playable after a lot of practice and were rewarding.

A big challenge

Looking at this from a different angle, as a publisher of my own etudes, I would just close that it is such a challenge to get horn teachers interested in using new materials. I would challenge any one reading this who does teach, please, find some materials written less than 100 years ago that you can work into your teaching scheme. I feel my Modern Preparatory Etudes are one good choice, and there are many others out there if you take time to look.

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While to this point this series has focused on older published sources on the horn, at this time we turn a corner toward three more recent publications, all of which are in print and I recommend serious students of the horn to purchase and read.

“To be warmed up is a state of mind”

Frøydis Ree Wekre notes in Thoughts on Playing the Horn Well that there are two extremes when it comes to warm-up.

Brass players are often more obsessed with the physical side of playing than other musicians. Many “warm up” for many hours, and their daily total of playing hours consists of much more exercises than actual musical material. A few brass players, however, say that, “To be warmed up is a state of mind,” and they do live it, as well. I feel very much in between these two extremes. On one hand I can see and have also experienced for myself the need for physical training and some warm up. On the other hand, it is possible, and sometimes necessary, to start playing directly after a long interval. The best solution, in my opinion, is to be flexible and have some discipline, but keep all sorts of rules, such as “always’es” and “never’s”, from running your life….

Usually it is pleasant to start the day with some kind of warm up. Once in a while, surprise yourself by just picking up the horn and playing something before—or instead of—warming up….

Many players like to practise exactly the same things every day. That way, they claim, they can “measure” what shape they are in for the day as well as their progress. I feel somewhat restricted by this idea. On “heavier” days, when the lips are strange from too much or too little playing, or from the weather, the food, the drinking, the mood, the lack of sleep or whatever, I find it better to play something easy and pleasant to boost the self-confidence first.

Play long tones, but not in your warmup

Wekre also felt that long tones were important but she did not do them as a part of her morning warm-up routine.

Long tones can be practised in many different ways. Some people find them boring and stiffening, but I find them interesting and strengthening. I do prefer them, however, in the evening rather than in the morning.

The long tone routine she presents is to benefit air and embouchure control. Wekre additionally notes,

Take breaks between tones. Possibly combine this exercise with scales and arpeggios. Go often to your maximum low range to loosen up. Long tones can also be combined with a little reading or even watching TV between every tone!

The warmup for a beginner is very different than that of a professional player

“There are as many warm-up routines as there are players and teachers” is how Verne Reynolds begins his discussion of the warm up in The Horn Handbook.

This is as it should be. The beginner will obviously have a warm-up that differs greatly from that of the middle-aged professional. The warm-up should change and develop as the player changes and develops.

Reynolds views the warm-up as being about more than warming-up the embouchure.

The term warm-up is used here as a convenient way to encompass the mental and physical activities that precede the playing of the instrument in a musical sense. For horn players, the warm-up should gently and gradually awaken all of the elements of playing and particularly those related to response and flexibility.

It is interesting to observe the warm-up of professional tennis players. No match begins until the players have warmed up their forehands, backhands, overhands, and serves…. Athletic warm-up serves to refresh, remind, and rehearse the physical fundamentals of the game. It can also inform the player, and possibly the opponent, how the various shots feel on a particular day…. No athlete would continue with a warm-up that produces fatigue, but brass players often use a punishing ritual forced upon them by a well- meaning but rigid teacher. Athletes warm up easily and with minimum effort but practice with a controlled intensity. Athletes have a clear separation between warm-up and workout. Runners do a lot of stretching before they run so that leg and other muscles are ready for the dash or marathon; yet brass players tend to play before everything is flexible and responsive.

It should not be a punishing ritual

An aside as a former Reyonlds student reflecting on studies with him after his passing, the routine he gave students in the timeframe of my studies would I think fall into the category of being a “punishing ritual.” In any case, he further suggests that

During the training years, students with the help of their teachers should periodically examine and evaluate their warm-up. We have to find a balance between staying with a routine long enough to produce the desired results, and being willing to change when the warm-up is not satisfactory. A sixteen-year-old might have to adjust the warm-up every few months if the embouchure is gaining strength rapidly. The twenty-six year old professional might have to alter some of the patterns to conform to the demands of the job. The forty-six-year-old veteran will seek to preserve reliability and predictability and will probably be reluctant to change a routine that continues to work.

The warmup as a complete session

The introduction to the chapter titled “The Warm-Up as a Complete Session” makes the case for the extended warm-up in Douglas Hill, Collected Thoughts on Teaching and Learning, Creativity, and Horn Performance.

The original version of the following appeared as an article in The Horn Call and was written in response to an earlier published article in which the author considered most substantial warm-ups as paranoid head-trips and a waste of one’s time and endurance. My experience as a performer and teacher has taught me that such an attitude can be quite misleading, especially for the younger, developing student of the horn. We must take charge of our development as players, use our heads, and accept the physical reality that constantly requires great power and enormous subtleties from our muscles. There are no athletes or dancers who, after using their heads, would regularly perform without a workout or maintenance session. Such neglect would ruin their strength and flexibility in a very short time. As performers, we are using our facial muscles in a way that is quite contrary to what they were initially designed to do…. They require exercise—intelligent, progressive, consistent exercise. When you have learned that through your own hard work you have created a strong, dependable, and flexible set of muscles, the best of all head-trips will occur. You will have confidence, and it will be base on personal achievement.

The warm-up/maintenance session for Hill should “cover all of the basic technical needs of horn playing” and should be carefully planned and executed. He suggests use of additional equipment as well which could include “a mirror, a metronome, a chromatic tuner, a B.E.R.P. attachment for initial buzzing exercises, and occasionally a recording device.” Finally he suggests

Create your own warm-up/maintenance session. There are no magic notes that will work for everyone. If there were, we would all know them by now. We have to take this trip on our own, use our heads, learn from the patterns of others, and quickly establish some patterns based on our own successes. As you age in this profession, you will need consistent patterns to depend upon for maintenance. You will also find that the earliest patterns may need to be gradually modified as you gradually change.

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