Before Farkas: Preparatory Instructor for French Horn (1937) on Tonguing

In working on a project this past year related to Philip Farkas I have had a nagging feeling that there has to be some back story, some reason why he said some of the things he said in The Art of French Horn Playing the way he did. Reading any book you know the author must have read some other books first on the topic.

I was aware of a couple possible sources he should have known by Birchard Coar and Anton Horner, which I have posted about before. For more clarity on this topic, I have with this post started a series on sources before Farkas; at the creation of this post this will be part 3 of the series.

Late this semester one of the students in the horn pedagogy class found a small book in the library to review that I don’t recall ever looking at, the Preparatory Instructor for French Hornby E. C. Moore and A. O. Sieg, published in 1937.

There are several interesting topics in this publication, and first among them I would touch on is tonguing. Before getting to the first quotes, the thing I want to note up front is that while we may initially read this description through our Farkas oriented lens and think it sounds a bit strange, the reality is I know this description is actually closer to how I tongue than the description in the Farkas book.

Their description of tonguing is initially tied up with their description of how to make a tone. Their starting point is free buzzing, a topic not at all part of the pedagogy of Farkas. For them the first three steps to “Making a Tone” are

1st The best and quickest way to learn this is to learn to “buzz” the lips without the instrument or mouthpiece…. Bring the LOWER JAW in line with the upper so that both lips will vibrate in the center.

2nd Now push the tip of the tongue slightly between the lips.

3rd Next jerk the tongue back quickly as if spitting something off its tip. At the same time blow and the lips should “buzz” against each other.

From this the authors move on to buzzing with the fingers defining the corners of the embouchure better and then mouthpiece buzzing and then finally to playing the horn.

This description of tone production sets the stage for the section on “Tongue Action.” The authors describe two methods of tonguing, with both having a place in their pedagogy; Farkas also describes both of them but one of them is labeled clearly as being “wrong” in his pedagogy.

There are two common methods of “tonguing” the brass instruments.

1st The method outlined above, namely, that of the tip of the tongue protruding slightly between the lips in the attacks.

2nd The second method consists of tonguing entirely back of the teeth as in saying “too.”

Years of experimentation and use of both methods have led the authors to the following conclusions:

1st Method number 1 is by far the best and quickest way for a young player to START because it gets both lips vibrating correctly and easily at once.

2nd Both methods are correct, and both should be learned and used.

3rd Each method produces a somewhat different type of tone

4th Method number 1 produces a somewhat more brilliant tone and enables one to produce sharp, clean attacks. This method should be used for trumpeting effects and accented or emphasized notes.

5th Method number 2 (back of the teeth) produces a more mellow, sweeter, “singing” tone and therefore should be used in legato passages, in sustained organ-like passages, and in song passages.

6th The idea that either method should be used exclusively is a great mistake. A few minutes experimentation with the brass section of an advanced band using the above suggestions will quickly demonstrate the points mentioned. Only by knowing and using the method that the type of music indicates can the full rich beauty of a brass section be utilized.

7th The proper time to teach this is as soon as the student has progressed far enough to begin to have some command of the embouchure. This usually occurs very early.

So there you have it. Reading it all these years later, Moore and Sieg were actually on the cutting edge. Both approaches to tonguing are in fact valid, but it is extremely rare to find a source that describes both. If you still are taken aback by the way they describe tonguing, it lines up pretty well with the method described by Anton Horner as well. I will have more from this book soon.