Exploring What Students Studied Previously

Another article from the archive of the original HTML Horn Notes Blog dated 9/3/05 on a topic that I think about this time of year every year. Originally posted as “What did you study/are you studying in high school.”

First, I am very excited by the quality of the incoming Freshman horns at ASU this year, I really look forward to working with them over the coming years. One thing I find myself thinking about a lot this week is what they had studied in high school. Some really varied experiences among them which I react to internally on a range from “yes, this was great stuff they worked on in high school” to “what did they do in those lessons in high school?”

Without going into too many specifics on them (what we cover in college will be geared to build up the areas that need built up), I would rather talk about what I studied and what I would suggest be studied in preparation for college. In late high school I began serious horn lessons with Melbern Nixon, and he had me work on basically three things (plus a little solo work and good warm-up ideas):

• Pottag: Preparatory Melodies to Solo Work
• Kopprasch book 1
• Excerpts

[See this post for more detail on what materials I studied from.]

There needs to be some balance in the study, and these books or similar books are excellent for building technique. The only thing I would add to the mix would be Pares Scales which I studied as an early undergrad; something like this is excellent for sorting out and developing finger technique.

In terms of horn performance I was sort of a late starter (I started out as a music business major, in fact) but I do recognize that I had good foundations laid in my playing technique in high school. Teachers, be sure to lay those foundations and students be aware that you need to do more than band and orchestra music and stuff for solo and ensemble contest in your lessons in high school.

The thought I would add at the end of this post would be that just like for a dentist checking your teeth they can see easily your oral hygiene habits, for an experienced horn teacher they can easily tell a lot about your practice habits from how you sound. Teaching horn for as long as I have most players I hear I know what things I would want to address in a first lesson with that student and I can guess pretty much what they must have worked on in prior studies. But, at the same time, I am able to recognize strengths and it is great to work with individuals one on one to solve problems and to be a part of their musical growth process.