The Gumpert Project
While this is a post from my original HTML blog from 9/16/05, it is very timely now as one of my DMA students, Derek Wright, is working on a recording project related to these transcriptions; video shot this past week is embedded at the end of this post.
All fine teachers strive to teach effectively. In every field you can find teachers who stand out for solid, effective teaching. In the horn one of the people who stands out from the past is Leipzig hornist and teacher Friedrich Gumpert (1841-1906) [see here for a note on how his name is spelled].
Gumpert has interested me ever since the time frame that I was working on my dissertation as not only did he teach several players who went on to have big careers in the USA (in particular Max Pottag, Anton Horner, and Max Hess) but he also published a lot of music. Publications by any teacher tend to reflect not only what they saw as not being available to them in their teaching but more importantly reflect clearly what they actually taught. Not only did Gumpert publish editions of Kopprasch and other etudes and excerpt books (12 volumes of them! The first ten are still in print) but also he published 44 volumes (!!) of horn solos. Clearly Gumpert was looking for the balance between etudes, excerpts, and solo works in his teaching, the type of teaching we are used to in the USA.
Long out of print (although several have been “borrowed” by other teachers in their publications), these solos are mostly transcriptions of art songs, perfect for working on phrasing and musicality. To this end, this semester at ASU I have prepared a packet of solos from this collection of transcriptions for the studio and will be working with each student to build this important aspect of musicality and musicianship. It is of course just a part of the balance needed in teaching effectively, but perhaps a part we do not teach enough today.
Be a 
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