Start on the Natural Horn?

That last post “Is the real horn the F horn?” started a virtual avalanche of messages to my inbox on the topic of starting beginners on the natural horn. For purposes of balance we have again invited back Professor Ichabod F. van Horn IV, acclaimed Professor of F horn in the preparatory division of the East Coast Institute for Highly Advanced Horn Studies and Assistant Principal Utility Horn of the Freeway Philharmonic Symphonic Society Orchestra and Chorus.

Prof. Van Horn IV: The loose talk seen in this “blog” and elsewhere of starting hornists on horns other than single F horns is dodgy at best. This has all made me re-think my pedagogy and I have come to the inescapable conclusion that beginners should from now until the end of time start on the natural horn. Some of you out there might suppose that this is years out of touch, but the actuality is that this is cutting edge, post-modern horn instruction at its best. Students should not fool around on a valved horn until they have proven themselves worthy to play the instrument. The natural horn preserves the noble, unbroken tradition of horn playing from the days of Punto and Gallay. In all my most recent lessons, working mostly with decidedly clever third graders, I have seen much accomplishment.

Prof Ericson: Ummm, won’t students quit when they figure out that they can hardly play anything? I suppose they are lighter than a single B-flat and could be made cheaply but…

The natural horn is light and easy on the pocket! Most of mine are constructed from old single F horns purchased on eBay with the valve section detached, and my students’ now play exclusively on pre-1970 Giardinelli C-1 mouthpieces, the perfect counterpart for the perfect horn.

Yikes! That will either make him or her man up or quit I suppose, if that is the goal–a C-1 is too big for virtually every player. At least they are the classic, old Giandinelli mouthpieces; the newer ones are not as good as the classics.

I envision a world chock-full of young natural horn players on stage in glorious horn ensembles. Visualize a world full of horns performing “twinkle twinkle” variations on their natural horns. It is too splendid an apparition to disregard!

I personally would just LOVE to see a world full of young hornists taught by competent teachers who also play at a high level.

Well I am the man! I am a player, performing as I do Assistant Principal Utility Horn of the Freeway Philharmonic Symphonic Society Orchestra and Chorus. With all due respect to the geniuses behind the Horn Notes Blog, I have a big problem with horn “professors.” True hornists are PLAYERS, not teachers. In my own illustrious performing career I have always principally been a player, and I teach sporadically for extra income when I have the time, mostly all state audition materials and random solos. Either you can play or you can’t play. The best hornists all go to east coast schools. Those that don’t make it there become professors.

Now we get to part of the problem. There is a category of teacher that sort of exists in his or her own little world, away from the realities the rest of us experience. I am guessing that Professor van Horn IV did not make it into a top east coast school as an undergrad. Neither did I, I went to a small college in Kansas. But I worked hard with competent teachers and made it further than most of the players who go to famous, east coast schools.

A second rebuttal point would be that those that don’t have an interest in teaching shouldn’t be teaching. Sure, you want to study with a player, and if possible one with real professional experience (I for example performed full time in the Nashville Symphony, have two solo CDs out on the Summit label, etc.). But you are wasting your time studying with a teacher that can’t teach even if they are rock-star famous in the horn world.

The larger problem is that many horn players never take even one lesson with a competent horn teacher before they quit horn. Even those that do basically only work on random materials, such as all-state audition materials or movements of solos or maybe jump around a little in the “big blue book.” Reality is there are a lot of nuts and bolts of horn playing to work over if you want a student to reach a high level as a player, and it can’t be just random lessons taught for the purpose of extra income or all state auditions.

In the end I don’t have a big problem with teachers that have strong opinions about some technical matters. We can agree to disagree. But I do have a problem with teachers who don’t teach; they do not help the growth of horn playing in the schools. And I also have a problem with teachers who are dinosaurs of our field, who advocate out of date, old school approaches and also appear to have never even tried any more modern approach. Any real advocate for the single F that has never even held a single B-flat in their hands I don’t think is competent to comment on the topic.

As the New Year starts the resolution I would suggest would be to only teach well if you teach horn students, to make the effort to figure out how to help your students achieve better success on the horn, and to make a difference toward building the horn community up. It is an important thought for the New Year.