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Among a growing library of publications from Mountain Peak Music are a pair of books – Daily Routines for Horn and Daily Routines for the Student Horn Player by Marian Hesse. Inspired by routines presented by David Vining in the trombone version of this publication, several things set these apart from other publications of this type.
First, these are very nicely printed. Sometimes I read reviews of horn publications other places, then get the book and think hey, what about this low quality printing and cover and binding?? Mountain Peak has hit a very professional level of publication quality with a great cover and paper and is to be commended for this; it is a standard every publisher should strive for.
Inside each book you will find eight routines laid out in full which are fresh and not warmed over versions of other routines you have seen. The blurb in their sales page tells the story:
Daily Routines provides a systematic way to develop and improve fundamentals. There are 8 routines, each divided into skill categories: long tones, crescendo/diminuendo, flexibility, subito dynamics, resonant low playing, tonguing on one note, tonguing and moving around, high range and low warm-down. Each of the 8 routines is devoted to a particular broad topic, such as Range. Players need only play one routine a day to develop and maintain fundamental skills.
The version for student horn players is similar but aimed at younger students. I have worked over several of those routines with my two younger students and have worked over the larger version myself. What I have actually enjoyed the most is an ability to mix and match exercises to make my own routine different every time, as there is no reason you can’t do the first exercise from the third routine and then the second exercise from the seventh routine, etc. It is a very flexible publication.
As to the version for younger students in particular this is a great option. Few publications of this type have ever been specifically aimed at younger students; teachers who work with younger horn students should check out this collection.
In addition the publisher has set up a separate website featuring these new publications, http://hornroutines.com/. This is a great marketing idea and from either their sales page or from the hornroutines site you can access sample pages.
As we head into a long summer it can be a great time to experiment with some new routines. If you are looking for new exercises these publications are excellent resources that I will enjoy working with this summer.
