No, not the country…
This story is about artist Roy Lichtenstein, who is probably best-known for his works resembling enlarged comic book panels.
Typically, these panels capture a random, dramatic moment – a time capsule within a larger story that we do not completely understand. This setting can activate the imagination and take on many undertones.
Playing the French horn can have its dramatic moments, as this two-panel Horn Matters tribute to Lichtenstein illustrates.
Another topic that was actually groundbreaking to discuss in The Art of French Horn Playing was that of lip moisture, that is, playing with wet or dry lips. It is in reality another hot topic of horn and brass playing and most published sources are pretty strongly in favor of wet lips. Looking at them all, though, the coverage is a bit one sided.Why is that the case? I think it is because it is perceived as the right answer to say wet lips are better.
Conventional wisdom is that you will be able to negotiate ranges better if the rim is not so “stuck” to your lips. However, there are variables here and I can state with certainty that there are very fine professionals that play with dry or not very moist lips, they need the “traction” of a setup that is not so slick that it moves around on them when playing.
Your individual perceptions will vary depending on the material of the rim. At extremes, Delrin plastic is the least slippery and H-Kote is probably the most slippery. If you are used to one extreme the other extreme is going to not feel very good.
Farkas liked a gold rim with a very moist embouchure.
I prefer a gold-plated mouthpiece because it gives me just the right amount of lubrication when wet. This slippery mouthpiece achieves three things that the dry mouthpiece, sticking to the lips as it does, cannot achieve. First, it seeks the “low” spot in the embouchure, which is its natural “seat”…. Second, it allows minute adjustments of the embouchure which, of course, are necessary when progressing from one register to another…. Third, the wetted lips enable, or better yet, insist on the embouchure muscles doing their work in a correct manner…. The muscles can no longer brace themselves against the rim, using it more or less as a crutch, as they can when dry.
Gunther Schuller in Horn Technique was
…also an advocate of the moist embouchure. Although at a beginner’s stage this makes the high register harder to obtain, eventually, as the muscles strengthen and a niche for the rim is found on the lower lip, this feeling of insecurity disappears. It will then be found that a moist embouchure gives the player greatly increased flexibility, especially in slurring.
Farkas in The Art of Brass Playing discusses the topic of moist versus dry lips again at some length. He offers this observation, and while noting clearly his preference for wet lips notes briefly the advocate’s case for dry lips.
It is the decision each player must, consciously or unconsciously, make for himself as to whether he should keep his lips moist or dry while playing—for his own best results…. However, after many years of observation, I have concluded that a large majority of brass players—I would estimate about seventy-five percent—prefer to keep their lips moist while playing. This is my own preference and I would find it most disconcerting to try to start playing on dry lips. Nevertheless, the minority group would undoubtedly feel just as uncomfortable if required to change to wet lips.
The arguments presented by the dry-lip advocates are usually these. The mouthpiece “stays put” on the lips without any tendency to slip around; in other words, the mouthpiece sticks to the lips. Furthermore, this stickiness enables the player to brace the lips against the mouthpiece and thus aid the production of high notes. …the considerable ability of some of the dry-lip advocates lends weight to these reasons.
25% of fine brass players playing dry lips is not a small minority! And it is probably a larger number than that.
In a related topic, Farkas notes also that the wet lips will “start to dry and stick to the mouthpiece during a long continued musical passage.” This is not a concern for him
…when it is borne in mind that the moisture on the lips has served its purpose once the lips have been accurately positioned and the passage begun. The sensation of progressive drying can be quite disconcerting and yet cause no musical trouble. …drying lips are not detrimental once the mouthpiece is correctly placed and playing begun.
Fred Fox also addresses the topic of lip moisture in Essentials of Brass Playing. He felt that there was an underlying issue that impacts accuracy — with the advantage going to the dry lips player.
At times I have been asked if it is better to play with wet or dry lips. I have seen many players do extremely well in either situation. I have been unable to find an outstanding advantage to either method over the other.
However, there is one factor that is of prime importance. The contact point between the mouthpiece and the upper lip should remain identical—as if welded together—at all times. This reduces the incidence of cracked notes because the contact point remain consistent supplies the player with a firmer base or anchor. The dry lips players have no problem in this respect because the mouthpiece cannot slip around; with wet lip players, the saliva lubrication could cause slippage, and should be watched carefully.
In A Creative Approach to the French Horn a moist lip and a gold-plated rim were the ideal combination for Harry Berv for a variety of reasons but especially catching my eye are the comments on accuracy.
The horn player seeking perfection cannot afford to dismiss as “minor” any aspect of his physical contact with the instrument. I very highly recommend playing on a moist lip. In so doing, the embouchure muscles and tensions will react more sensitively to the feel of the mouthpiece. The lips will move with greater freedom and will cope with the range of the horn more securely.
Most horn players do not have perfect pitch, but can actually feel the notes on their lip before they play them. The moistening of the lips helps facilitate the sensitive muscle tensions to a great degree. The moistening of course is done by just licking the lips slightly when they feel dry. They should always feel moist.
… I highly recommend a gold-plated rim, which, together with the moist lip, helps the coordination of the embouchure muscle tension and provides a great feeling of smoothness and cleanliness on the lips, so that together they work like a well-oiled machine….
Moistening the lips eliminates the danger of the mouthpiece being “frozen” to the lips. Remember that changes in muscle tension and movement in the embouchure are slight, and the muscles must respond with instant reflex action. Should the mouthpiece be frozen to the lips, these movements would be greatly hampered; this could invite disaster at almost any point in the player’s performance.
…Even if the mouthpiece tends to be slippery on the lips at first, the necessary compensation can be learned by practice.
Learn to get used to the moist lip and gold-plated rim. You will find that you will use less mouthpiece pressure—which will be a great addition to your comfort, security, and sensitivity.
To conclude our quotes for today, Douglas Hill also recommends moist lips in Collected Thoughts on Teaching and Learning, Creativity, and Horn Performance.
You should always lick your lips and moisten the rim of the mouthpiece before playing…. A slippery feeling is good. Without lubrication, moving parts will freeze up, but you should want a warm and fluid sound at all times.
Myself, I switched to wet lips after reading the Farkas book in high school. It was a tough few days to make the transition but I got comfortable with it. I still play with somewhat moist lips, but not so moist that things slide around.
There are some things in horn playing that truly are mysterious. One is the interaction between lip and mouthpiece and horn.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I am giving a recital in about a month where I play on several different period and modern horns. Ideally I want to minimize some of the differences between instruments with as consistent an interface as possible.
Initially I thought that interface would be several Laskey 75 series mouthpieces. These are good, solid mouthpieces but as I started gearing up I found myself back to the topic of a post about a year ago, the mouthpiece wheel of doom but with also some more recent thought to the topic of how my lip fits around the rim, something you can see in the photo in this post.
Again, it is one of those mysteries but for some reason the way the Conn 5BN rim fits on my lips it opens something up for me. I used the gold mouthpiece on the right for most of the time I played full summers of Principal Horn at the Brevard Music Center and also on both of my solo CDs. I like how the Laskey mouthpieces feel and play generally but in the end when I need my 33 1/3 LP chops going and my best accuracy there is something about the way the old Conn feels/plays on my chops that it has to be the choice for the recital.
I have two different silver, custom copies of the 5BN by Osmun, one with a standard shank and one with a European shank which I will use on some of the horns. As I say about this mouthpiece choice in the “wheel of doom” post,
A Conn 5BN?!? I know that sounds a bit hard to believe and rather random in fact, but some of these are quite good. I have three of them actually, one being not nearly as good and two of them quite close with one having an edge over the other. It is on the right in the photo, with the original Conn gold plating. I am told that these were actually produced by outside jobbers, not by Conn itself. This is why these (and other classic brands) vary so much, it always really depends on who actually made the mouthpiece and where, especially these older mouthpieces that were not machine made on computer lathes.
So there it is. I plan at this point to use a Moosewood copy of a period mouthpiece for part of the performance and on that I will use a 5BN rim. It is good to get this element settled again, it makes the practicing much more enjoyable.
UPDATE 2019: While the main point here is still that practicing for a recital can clarify your mouthpiece choice, I’ve moved away from the 5BN for several years now and I’m really not likely to go back! Current mouthpiece is Houghton H-1 in brass — but with a copy of the 5BN rim …
In late September I will be playing a recital on several different period horns. I will be posting on those in the coming weeks but would first like to step back and begin with a comparison of a few important construction details of the modern horn and the hand horn that relate to the bigger picture of how to achieve an authentic, period sound.
In short modern horns and natural horns are different in significant ways other than lacking valves, and to get a realistic view of the scale of the differences you need a fairly authentic natural horn and mouthpiece. I would point to four factors to consider.
First, mouthpieces in the period were normally made of sheet metal formed over a mandrel and were quite deep. Modern mouthpieces by comparison are turned from a brass blank on a lathe and are shallow. If you hold the two types in your hand it is really easy to see and feel the differences and with the ear they are easy to hear. For more on the topic see this excellent article by Richard Seraphinoff, which is also the source of this photo. But in short the tone is different (softer/less edge) and the pitch is more flexible.
Second, we have the topic of overall bore in the central, cylindrical part of the horn. On a modern double horn this will measure .468 inch or more. On a period natural horn the bore is closer to .440 inch. This smaller bore has an impact on tonal color and overall volume.
Third, we come to the bell throat. French instruments of the period featured a relatively small bell throat, German had a relatively large bell throat, and all modern horns are bigger still. Smaller bells are easier to manage in terms of hand horn technique. This illustration is from the Gallay method and is of an instrument of the French school.
Fourth, the hand horn is made in such a way as to be somewhat looser in the harmonics. While useful for trills this is especially helpful when bending pitches for intonation purposes; there is room to bend pitches to conform to where the ear knows they have to be.
In conclusion, horn and mouthpiece complement each other as a total package. A truly “authentic sound” probably cannot be achieved with an authentic horn and an inauthentic mouthpiece and if you are using a modern mouthpiece on a period horn this is something to be aware of to try to find a compromise mouthpiece that plays as you feel you need but gets close to the authentic sound you would aspire to. More on the natural horn may be found here.
I will be making a few compromises on the recital, but hopefully getting close to the goal of authenticity.
We welcome a new advertiser at Horn Matters, David Griffin.
His new recording is enjoying brisk sales and will be receiving a review in the November/December Fanfare magazine. Here is a sneak peek:
Griffin handles the special difficulties of the low range with the assurance of, well, a good fourth-horn player, but he also soars (or sky-rockets, as the case may be) into the instrument’s stratosphere with the ease of a Dennis Brain. He maintains a lovely, pure sound evenly throughout a range of over three octaves; his middle range in particular has a haunting beauty (the instrument is a Lewis, with an Alexander flare bell).
He also demonstrates the agility of a flute or a clarinet and never gives the impression anything is in the least difficult for him. But most importantly, among prominent horn players today, Griffin is one of the most innately musical I know. This quality elevates the disc to the realm of interest for all music lovers, not just horn players.
If you missed the David Griffin interview from July 14th, it is here.
One of those “hot button” topics is that of mouthpiece placement. Last week I certainly pushed that button. With that post I also had a question come in on the topic of changing the embouchure, as a reader found a reference to an article in my website on the topic but it was not there now. It has actually been off the Horn Articles Online site for at least five years but the text will be back eventually, it has been expanded and worked into an upcoming publication.
The article that was in the site in the past had to do with telling my story of two major embouchure changes that I did during my studies. As noted yesterday, I started on trumpet so my initial setup was not really a horn embouchure setup; it was in fact about 2/3 lower lip. Early in the article I noted,
There are solid reasons why practically 100% of professional horn players play with more upper lip in the mouthpiece and the majority of professionals play with 2/3 or more upper lip in the mouthpiece. While nobody really wants to change their embouchure, for some horn players there will be nagging questions relating to tone, range, or endurance that may eventually have to be addressed with embouchure work.
Most commonly what I see students struggle with that would indicate that an embouchure change should be investigated is a very weak low register. To make it in horn performance the low register must be quite strong, and the low register is very sensitive to mouthpiece placement issues. There are things to try first and I always take a while to get to know a student and to see how far we can go without a major change. I do know how hard it can be. For example, in text recently added to the original article I note that
It is especially important to try the larger inner diameter mouthpiece as an option while you explore the low range, as it may open up the vibrating surfaces of your lips in such a way as to totally solve the problem. But if the problems are at their foundation the result of a too low basic mouthpiece placement the fact is that it may not be possible to solve the problem in any manner other than to actually change the embouchure.
Returning to my story, as I wrote in the original article a
Too-low placement of the mouthpiece was my own central embouchure problem that I had to fix as an undergraduate. I really did not want to change my embouchure; in fact, I was a bit stubborn and quite determined to make it work, and it actually did work fairly well over most of the range of the horn.
But early in college I could hardly play at all below low C; I was hardly conservatory material at that time. It is a large topic to consider carefully. I went into my changes with a clear idea of what walls were in front of me if I did not make some changes, and that the changes would be keys to reaching my goals on the horn. In a way I wish I had made the changes sooner, I would have progressed more quickly, but then again I was not ready to make the changes earlier so who knows.
Changing the embouchure will always be a difficult and very personal topic. The main things I would close with are 1) the goal should never be to make your embouchure look like a photo or a description in a book–what you need to adjust to get the results desired will be variable and related to your lips and prior setup, 2) changes should be made with clear goals in mind, and 3) remember that depending on the amount of actual change it may take you six or more months to be comfortable with the new placement. It is not something to go into lightly.
In 1973 I started sixth grade. That year I also started playing trumpet and this very book was the very first book I used: the First Division Band Method by Fred Weber. We just called it “the red book.”
My brother was sorting some music that was in storage in Kansas and sent this to me along with my original blue, gold, and purple books which are the volumes that follow the red book. I remember this book very well (note my terrible handwriting on the cover), and remember playing duets out of it and the books that followed with my dad that first year. I had no music lessons of any type before sixth grade other than singing at school and church.
I switched to horn in the 9th grade. My band director, David Hodges, was a horn player and gave me a good start on the horn when I switched instruments. I think of him very often to this day.
A side-topic I would throw out there is a topic I have observed in my teaching. Among my students over the years about half started on horn and about half started on something else. Of those, about half started on trumpet like I did and the other half started on a woodwind.
It would be interesting to see a Doctoral student do a project where they looked at what instrument professional horn players started on and when. My guess is the stats would be similar to what I just outlined, but it would be interesting to know firm data on the topic. Because how you started and on what instrument certainly has an impact on your embouchure and the potential need for an embouchure change. In my case I certainly had some major work to do, which I will elaborate on further tomorrow.
Continuing with Marc Papeghin (see Part I), I wanted to know more about how he puts together his impressive arrangements and videos. Speaking of which, here is the latest one that includes – among many other things – the blue horn at the 5:12 mark.
A: I use full orchestral scores, piano transcriptions, my own orchestral transcriptions, and my ear and memory. I eventually transcribe down every final horn part in Sibelius, using a midi keyboard to directly input the notes.
This is very handy and effective.
Well I can’t say exactly. As I arrange while recording, experimenting a lot…it’s quite a long time-consuming process .. hours and hours of (hard) work for sure !
And everything’s done in Cubase, recording with headphones and a click track.
A: Well it’s the same as a session musician, except I do everything in my own home studio and send over my parts via internet.
For example, I work with composers who do mockups – very realistic orchestral demos for movies – and instead of putting in sampled horns, they send me the score and I record the horn parts for them.
It eases their workload, plus in the end they have a true horn sound 🙂
I can also work for rock bands who for a particular song need a french horn, Instead of hiring someone, booking a studio etc… it can be easier to hand it over to me, I’ll then record it and send it back.
A:
When I do a new arrangement/video, my motto’s always to top the previous one.
The videos are quite long to produce too. Gathering all the particular segments I need ( in HD quality if possible now..) synchronizing and being creative takes a while.
I always want my videos to be as entertaining as the audio. I really want it to be a true audio-visual experience. I think it’d be quite boring to see me playing on a static chair for 10 minutes wouldn’t it ?
I’m quite perfectionist – maybe too much – so those videos took me tens and tens of hours to finish.
A: I make these videos for several reasons:
One other goal is to show everyone the diversity and richness of the horn sound. Of all the comments I get on my YouTube videos, there are a lot saying ” I didn’t know a french horn could sound this way or this good !”
It turns out lots of people simply don’t know what a french horn is ( like mistaking it for a hunting horn)…and I’m really glad when my videos can just show that to them. Also I can’t be happier than when people tell me my videos inspired them to pick up the horn, or in some case people who weren’t motivated to play anymore but seeing my work made them change their mind.
In the end I’m really glad my videos have this motivational effect.
Finally, these videos are simply my way to pay tribute to these amazing composers…and of course…I plan on making a whole lot more 😉
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Live where you want and play what you want. What fascinates me most is how what Marc is doing redefines what horn playing can be. 15 years ago this career would have been unheard of.
Marc does a great service to the horn community in putting these videos online. Besides being highly entertaining, they are a superb recruitment tool for future generations of horn players looking to think – and jump – outside-of-the-box.
Marc Papeghin is a 25-year-old horn player and internet session musician living in Northern France, about 20km from the Belgium border, in a town called Lille. He began playing the horn when he was 8, and later went to a Conservatoire in Northern France until his 20’s where at about the same time, he began arranging for horn ensembles.
His first John Williams Tribute, scored for 12 horns, has over 153,000 views on YouTube. Compared to other horn-related videos this is simply phenomenal, practically an Internet sensation within our conically-shaped universe.
See also Part V – a personal favorite of mine. All the parts of the John Williams Tribute, I through V, can be heard on Marc Papeghin’s MySpace page.
A: I’ve been playing a Holton H179 for a good 10 years now, with a Schilke 30 mouthpiece. I record with a Behringer C-3 microphone via Cubase 5 and use Soundforge 10 to polish the final sound when needed.
For me, Sibelius 6 is just the best music notation software out there.
I should say first that my work method is particular, maybe unusual…the thing is I don’t write any notes down.
When starting a new piece, I usually already have in mind most of the themes I’d like to put in it, I just don’t have the whole structure precisely mapped out. So I’ll begin recording what I feel will be the opening theme.
(I can totally change this later.)
Usually I’ll lay down the bass part, then the melody, and then harmony, add everything else – experimenting a lot while doing it.
I work off of full-orchestral scores as well as piano transcriptions, sometimes by ear and memory. Also there were a few cases where I transcribed some orchestral scores myself.
Once the first theme is done I’ll begin to try and find the next one which will go right after. This is something I put a lot of attention to because I want everything to naturally “flow.”
The transition has to work musically and not feel forced or brutal. Once I’ve found the right theme I then record it, and so on and so forth for the next ones.
So in the case of When Dream and Horn Unite for example, the first thing I recorded was the opening theme – the “Overture” from Dream Theater’s Six Degrees album.
When I felt it was done, I then searched for another song in their catalogue which could fit. So I took into account the mood the piece was at, right at the end of the Overture, the key it was in, the tempo…and finally thought of a bit from the song “Wait For Sleep” that could perfectly fit and recorded it (always with an extra-care for the transition).
All the other segments were recorded that way – one by one.
So this of course means quite a lot of takes but it allows me to try everything I want and directly hear the final sound. It helps a lot, especially when I have to re-create rhythm/drum parts, and give the illusion of rhythm with actual notes. Directly hearing the final results really helps me to find the best way to arrange these particular parts.
A: Whether I’m arranging from a film score, a video game soundtrack or a progressive metal band like When Dream and Horn Unite, I always proceed the same way.
I have certain themes I want to include in the medley, and then it’s like a giant puzzle I have to solve. I put all the themes in the best way possible so that it feels more like a whole original piece rather than something trivial.
But that said, a lot of themes I originally wanted to put in it won’t make it in the end. There are lots of left-overs, either because they don’t fit, or sometimes because they simply do not sound great.
Nope…you can’t arrange anything and everything for a french horn ensemble 🙂
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…to be continued, later today – Part II, More on arranging for horn ensemble and on being an Internet session musician.
I was recently reminded of another classic post from my original HTML blog not yet reposted to Horn Matters. Dated 3/6/05 and originally titled “Master class afterglow,” this post has some great performing and teaching tips.
As my Doctorate is in brass pedagogy I am perhaps slightly more attuned to this than others, but really any horn teacher who has hosted more than a couple guest artist master classes can attest that not all master classes are created equal. Surprisingly often you will find that you almost need to “debrief” the players that played (and the studio) after the class as though they had just passed through some ordeal. The best guests will however leave an afterglow that will be felt for weeks and lead to players making positive breakthroughs. We have had several such artists visit ASU recently and our guest artist yesterday, Gail Williams, certainly gave a class which will leave a great afterglow.
Gail Williams hardly needs any special introduction to horn players; a former member of the Chicago Symphony and founding member of Summit Brass, she is currently professor of horn at Northwestern University and has built a strong reputation as a teacher and performer. The class was full of good pedagogy and astute comments, not a surprise as I have seen her give classes twice before and actually played for her in a master class at the first Summit Brass event in 1986! More on that in a minute.
All her comments related well to the players who were playing for her and to what you could hear of their playing. So that online readers may benefit a bit as well, a few of the most significant and useful areas discussed include:
Buzzing. Gail Williams is a big proponent of buzzing. One student asked a good question, how much buzzing is enough? Do as much as you need. I am very in favor of buzzing as an effective way to work on problems.
Rhythmic bass lines. This is more of a teaching idea that caught my attention. With certain solos and excerpts she played along with the students, improvising a bass line and holding a steady rhythm (eighth notes or whatever is appropriate to the music at hand). This really helped students be aware of rhythm. I have been doing something similar to this for a while with more the idea of helping students be more aware of pitch–drones mainly, based on ideas gleaned from our tuba professor Sam Pilafian (a teacher very full of interesting teaching ideas), but I will add rhythm to the drones now as I teach. The goal is to make students aware of their rhythm which must be perfect, especially in orchestral excerpts.
Listen to lots of music. You really need to listen to many different versions of an excerpt or solo to really get it ready. http://www.hornexcerpts.org/ is a very handy source for this listening to excerpts. Also, just listen to lots of good music in general to soak up style and nuance ideas. This is why most schools require people to go to a number of artist level concerts, and why you should not only listen to horn music.
I was also able to speak with Prof. Williams afterward for a time which was also great. One topic of conversation was scales. These are so foundational, yet some advanced students seem to just never really get them down well. When I was teaching at The Crane School of Music there was (and still is) a system of “levels” exams, which are a type of barrier exam and a component is scales. So at Crane scales were kind of an automatic part of teaching but at ASU I find that I have to require a scale component in my teaching. Prof. Williams uses the Schantl book, which I also have used with students (some of my students use the Pares Scales book as an alternate, especially music education students–I have a warm spot for Pares as it is where I first really worked out my scales; Prof. Williams as a student worked from the Schantl, which I recommend for my performance students) [see this recent post and track through the series there for more on scale materials]. Ear training was another big topic. At ASU in the brass area we give an ear training test to all incoming undergraduate applicants as a part of their audition and this year began to extend this to graduate applicants as well. Anyone reading this, you do need to work to make your ear as strong as possible; take your theory classes as seriously as possible and try to go way beyond what is required. Finally, teaching effectively was another topic I would want to mention. As I have said both to prospective students and online as well I prefer schools with full time performance faculty who view teaching you to be their main job, and she clearly prefers the level she is able to reach with students now that she is working with them full time at Northwestern over the level she could reach when she was part time faculty.
When I played for her in 1986 the items I retained the longest were on buzzing and posture. One of the students who played for her yesterday received a very similar comment to one she made to me on posture, and as she said it I am sure that student realized that I had spoken of the same issue to her a number of times. But hearing someone else say a similar thing in a different way can often make things click and progress will occur. I hope much was retained by all present at the class.
Working with a number of different teachers can be very beneficial. Get to good guest artist master classes as often as you can and build your playing in the process.
The other minor footnote I would add is I was actually present at the first concert by Summit Brass! It was in 1986 in an indoor tennis court in Keystone. That is however a story for another day.