After Farkas in the Real World
As a continuation of the previous post, there are a lot of materials that have appeared on the market since 1956 and many are, in one way or another, reactions to Farkas and sometimes contain quite contradictory materials especially about the embouchure and tonguing. Actually, the issue is not so much that Farkas got it wrong; it is more that he presents an approach that on paper sounds middle of the road but is in reality at times over at one end of the spectrum of acceptable ways to play horn.
One of the more recent books to tackle this general issue is Real World Horn Playing by Wendell Rider. I have not blogged about this book previously at all and I do find it an interesting book. I recently added it to my list of suggested resources when I revised that page. I very much like several parts of the book, especially elements of his discussion on tonguing and mouthpieces. I don’t want to give away his secrets but there is one he gives away on his website that is really worth checking out. The PDF file is here and he describes it as follows:
This is a PDF file of some new exercises I have designed to focus specifically on the movements of the inner lip muscles. This includes special attention to the slight in and out rolling of the lips as we change notes and registers. This file is similar to some of the lip trill exercises, but it has been modified slightly to help with the exact focus and intent. Please feel free to download and print the file. I now consider this to be one of the most important concepts and methodologies that I can provide to you as a horn player.
One way I look at this article is that he gets at an entirely different way to visualize so-called aperture control than that used by Farkas. It is an interesting read and is a resource to look into further if you are interested in understanding a fuller range of horn pedagogy than that presented by Farkas.






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