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Like an apple a day.
Some of the best practices techniques involve thinking (and playing) outside of the box. The well-known teacher, pedagogue and performer Philip Farkas used the term “practicing in the extremes” — my own pet name is “concentrated” practice techniques.
In interpreting Farkas’ word “extreme,” please do not confuse it with just “high, fast and loud.” Glissando exercises, pitch-bending exercises and mouthpiece buzzing are examples of what I would hardly call high, fast or loud. Think of the term “concentrate” as condensed and compacted – like frozen orange juice concentrate.
Focused simplicity like this can be great “mental floss” and it does not necessarily require the trained discipline of a Buddhist monk to do them. Time spent on a single, simple aspect of playing is how I try to smooth the bumps. Not everything needs to be hard or difficult in order to improve and get solid results.
F horn
I have just prescribed one such “concentrated” technique to one student – nothing but F horn on her Kopprasch etudes for a whole semester.
Years ago a colleague of mine won a Fulbright scholarship to study in Vienna. To prepare for this, he spent 6 months using only F horn fingerings on his double horn. Inspired by this, I spent a free summer in a similar, self-imposed program of study – nothing but F horn.
To this day, the Farkas routine (from The Art of French Horn Playing) remains a staple in my routine. It is mostly arpeggios played with held, sequential fingerings on the F-side of the double horn.
Even a small amount of daily F horn practice can yield noticeable benefits. It is particularly noticed when returning to double horn fingerings — tone and accuracy are the biggest benefactors.
