Hornmasters: Farkas and Schuller on the Warm-Up

There are a number of topics where it is particularly interesting to compare and contrast the approaches of Philip Farkas and Gunther Schuller. Being contemporaries with established careers Schuller had no qualms about presenting ideas that contrasted significantly with those of Farkas. The warm-up is a good example.

For Farkas a central part of what to practice was the warm-up. He offered his own warm-up in The Art of French Horn Playing as an example. “The player may benefit from using it or incorporate parts of it that he feels useful, as each individual needs to emphasize different phases of his practice in order to strengthen weaknesses.” While intended to “limber up” the lip, in his warm-up he also tried to “incorporate all the rudiments.” This passage is especially relevant in relation to how he approached the warm-up.

The warm-up is a necessity in the morning or when first picking up the horn for the day. Although taking only from 10 to 30 minutes, it will start the embouchure off properly for the entire day. This amount of warm-up will usually suffice for the day, but occasionally, as when the lips are chapped or sluggish from overwork, the warm-up can be used to great advantage before an evening concert to limber up the embouchure, even though it has been performed earlier in the day. This warm-up has been carefully thought out to freshen the lips and not cause fatigue, so that a quick run-through before a concert or rehearsal is often very beneficial.

His warm-up is a classic, covering a wide range of exercises over all registers. I have heard teachers to say that it is the main reason that they recommend students purchase The Art of French Horn Playing. Personally I find it starts out a bit quick but I used a Farkas-based warm-up (with a more gradual starting ramp) for years and years. However, as I noted in the introductory article on understanding the Hornmasters and the warm-up, for me I prefer in a playing day to warm-up before each session rather than look at the warm-up being something I do one time that sets up the chops for the entire day.

The warm-up routine presented by Gunther Schuller in Horn Technique is markedly different than that of Farkas, as it is based on one single long tone exercise. Before getting to that however Schuller notes that

The greatest artist on the French horn that I have been privileged to hear spent a full half-hour warming up each day. It simply took that long for his embouchure and breathing apparatus to reach the degree of utter sensitivity his great artistry demanded. That was Bruno Jaenicke, a German emigrant, who for some twenty-five years was the solo horn of the New York Philharmonic.

He also notes that

If the player’s schedule calls for a heavy rehearsal in the morning, a free afternoon and a performance that night, he will do well to re-warm-up (on a reduced scale) before the evening concert. The original morning warm-up will not extend to the evening in such a case, especially after a strenuous morning rehearsal. During the afternoon the lip will tend to stiffen up, and therefore it must be loosened up and made flexible once more.

The warm-up presented by Schuller is focused on long tones and developing the perfect rhythm of the inhale. It is nothing like the “captain warm-up” style warm-up presented by Farkas. Schuller confirmed in a master class that I was present at a few years back that this was his total and essential warm-up. On the surface this might seem somewhat limited (or somewhat extreme!) but in relation to his performing career at the time, as Principal Horn in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, this emphasis on first note accuracy made great sense. And having tried it I find that the routine actually works. The conclusion being there is certainly more than one way to warm-up.

In closing from Schuller I would offer this final quote: “It is essential to avoid any undue pressure on or forcing of the lips—the idea of the warm-up being just that: to warm up gradually.”