Hornmasters: What Etudes to Practice

Etude practice has long been a standard way to train and cross-train horn technique.  As to etudes Philip Farkas in The Art of French Horn Playing wrote that

…the study of etudes should occupy a large part of the practice time. The second hour or session of each day is undoubtedly the proper time to study these, as the embouchure should be at its best…. There are many fine etude books…. For instance, if a student were to study in one day from the Kopprasch, Gallay, and Maxime-Alphonse books, he would obtain a bit of Kopprasch’s careful mechanical discipline – Gallay’s melodious style and phrasing – and Maxime-Alphonse’s modern tonalities and rhythmic difficulties. Again, when there is a specific problem, the etudes chosen should be pointed directly at that problem. If staccato playing is difficult, by all means use a preponderance of etudes which contain staccato passages; legato etudes if legato playing needs improvement. As elementary as this suggestion may be, it is quite necessary to mention. Many students shy away from their difficulties, because the quality of their playing in their more successful techniques encourages them. However, this solves no problems.

Gunther Schuller in Horn Technique noted

There may be other study books as effective, but I doubt if any are superior to the old stand-bys for beginners: the Oscar Franz method, the two books of Kopprasch Etudes, and the Kling studies….

My only quarrel with most of the basic study material (including the Franz, Kopprasch, and Kling etudes) is that, for our era, it favours simple keys and the conventional I-IV-V progressions far too much. Everything is in F, C, and B flat…. That is why I recommend very much using the six books of Maxime-Alphonse studies. For in these exercises all keys are thoroughly investigated, sometimes even within one study piece…. The Alphonse studies are also remarkable in their avoidance of horn study clichés. A favourite Alphonse device is to set up a pattern or sequence and then, just as the student is lulled into contented relaxation, the pattern is broken in very original and unconventional ways. This is excellent training…. From the ear-training point of view alone, the Alphonse studies are highly recommended.

Verne Reynolds includes performance notes on etudes in The Horn Handbook. He begins,

We have seen how practice can be apportioned into three flexible categories of calisthenic, technical, and musical. Etudes, by definition and by their nature, belong mainly in the technical area. The traditional horn etudes of the 19th century, such as those of Gallay, Mueller, and Kopprasch, concentrate on scales, arpeggios, or articulation patterns, and an entire etude may be devoted to just one of these technical matters.

Reynolds discusses in-depth the etudes and studies of Kopprasch, Maxime-Alphonse, Alain Weber, Charles Chaynes, Georges Barboteu, Gunther Schuller, and of course his own 48 Etudes. Of these he explains

These etudes were written during 1954-59 while I was on the faculty of the Indiana University School of Music. At that time there was nothing beyond Book 6 of Maxime-Alphonse for the technical and musical training of gifted horn players. Instead of leading the advance of technique and musicianship, the writers of etudes and method books seemed content to reseed the ground harvested by Kopprasch, Mueller, Gallay, and Kling. Several of my students at Indiana practiced the 48 Etudes as they were being written and helped confirm that they were playable after a lot of practice and were rewarding.