As quick background (described in more depth in the articles linked above) Georg Kopprasch published two volumes of etudes. The Op. 6 low horn etudes are the ones we know and love that have been through many editions. The little used Op. 5 high horn etudes are similar but focused in a higher range.

The new development for 2011 is that trombonist Benny Sluchin has now made available an edition of the 60 Etudes, Opus 5, in a version for bass trombone, and it is available as a free download on the website of bass trombonist Doug Yeo! There he writes,

When Benny published his Brass Urtext critical edition of the two volumes of Koppprasch Etudes, adopted for tenor trombone in 2000 (now out of print, but soon to be available from Warwick Music), I was surprised to learn of the Opus 5 Etudes which were previously unknown to me. Originally for high horn (Cor Alto – premier horn), they are very different than the better known Opus 6 Etudes which were written for low horn (Cor Basse – second cor). Originally published in two volumes, each with 30 etudes, the 60 Etudes, Opus 5 were an important addition to my trombone music library. Over the years, as I worked on these “new” etudes – which are higher in tessitura than the Opus 6 Etudes and are all in tenor clef in Benny’s edition – I thought it might be useful to have a printing of these exercises an octave lower than the original, thereby making them more suitable for bass trombone. I contacted Benny to ask him if he would be willing to prepare another edition of the Kopprasch Etudes, Opus 5 for bass trombone. Not only did he agree, but he has offered to offer them at no cost to players who would like to use these fine Etudes. Benny and I both feel that the Kopprasch Etudes are a very important part of the “daily diet” of technical exercises every trombonist should use each day. With Benny generously offering his new edition of Kopprasch Etudes to players for free, I told him I would be willing to host them on my website, thereby giving players around the world access to this resource. We all owe Benny our heartiest thanks for his preparation of this edition, and for making them available at no cost to players and teachers.

More information is here as is the downloadable version as a PDF.

This new bass trombone version will work GREAT for low horn study. The tessitura is perfect (reading in “new notation” bass clef only a couple notes here and there are too low to play) and another neat thing for us in the horn world as well is that musically they are very similar to the standard version but none of them are the same, they will keep you on your toes! I will be making use of these in the studio this year; this version is certainly one for hornists to check out.

And while you are at the Doug Yeo website do look around a bit, it is a classic site and one of the very best ever put out in our brass world.

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You know who you are; your low range is not good enough. Why don’t you work it out? Maybe work it into your warm-up or something?

Oh, it is hard to play, so you don’t work on it. That makes total sense — if you don’t want to play horn well. But if you are reading this maybe you care a bit and want to get better? Even hoping to achieve the status of an international superstar?

A story might illustrate this for those that don’t yet have the memo. One player I know, he thought of himself as being a low horn player. He started taking auditions, any audition, because there were not a lot of positions open. The surprising thing was he started advancing in auditions and doing the best in high horn auditions, eventually winning a high horn position. Why? Because he learned the FULL range of the horn.

Another player I know, she thought of herself as a high horn player. Same story though, eventually won a low horn audition. Why? They learned the full range of the horn. It all needs to be good to win a job.

First horn may be where the money is, but to win a first horn job you need a great low range. Section playing even, you can’t aspire to be a section player and win a job. You need to think bigger and master it all. Sound like a superstar.

Back to that warm-up and what you practice. If your low range stinks and you know it, even if your teachers don’t push you, push yourself if you want to get somewhere on the horn. Think big and master that low range folks.

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New books? On what topics!

I have actually hinted occasionally in articles here that I am working on several more books for Horn Notes Edition, in particular a technique book and a low range book. The covers seen here are of the last test copies made before publication. I have been working with draft versions of elements of both books with my students since 2006.

A technique book? Why do we need this? Can’t I just use Pares Scales or Schantl?

You could use Pares or Schantl—I have used both in my teaching—but in using them I always felt there had to be a better way. Both are OK in their way but are repetitive and don’t cover every key well, plus don’t contain any exercises for multiple tonguing or transpositions and especially in Pares I had to ask for many things to be worked out an octave lower as it does not cover the full range of the horn well.

My new publication Ultimate Horn Technique is more comprehensive in scope. It is based on materials from 19th century horn methods, mostly exercises that are unavailable today, in particular some great materials from the early valved horn method of Joseph Meifred, but quite a variety of materials from other 19th century masters including Gallay, Kling, Gumpert, Dauprat, and Schantl.

I have arranged the materials by key and have included exercises for double and triple tonguing, exercises for working on transpositions, and more. Besides being full of great exercises I am also excited that exercises in the book are non-repetitive. While many exercises are similar, hardly any pattern is actually repeated in the whole book, which keeps you on your toes and reading them carefully. This book is intended for horn players from the intermediate to advanced level.

And a low horn book?

As I note at the sales page, it is not a secret; every horn teacher knows that developing tone and facility in the low range is the key to everything for an advancing hornist. Ultimate Low Horn is the result of a long search for practical and effective materials for low range study by intermediate to advanced students, containing focused exercises by Bordogni, De Pre, and Gallay to develop low range facility and characteristic playing.

Where can I see a sample copy?

Some sample pages are embedded in this article which give the general idea of each publication. If you want to see the full books I will have them available for purchase in the coming months at the Southeast Horn Workshop, the MidSouth Horn Workshop, and the International Symposium. Check them out at the sales table for Horn Notes Edition.

They should start shipping on Tuesday this week. They were added (with, temporarily, a black and white version of the cover image) to the Horn Notes Edition website on Friday night, and already on Saturday orders had been received. Order both books directly from Horn Notes Edition.

To conclude, while I know there should be some decent initial sales, horn teachers are generally speaking notoriously slow in adopting new products. They have a way they teach and that is the end of the story. I believe that these new books are both very good products, check them out as they are I believe very focused and practical study materials for horn players of today.

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There are two main problems commonly seen with the exhale. One is a hitch in the cycle of breathing. The other problem is over-conceptualizing the points of resistance. Both problems are often fueled unfortunately for horn players at least in part by reading what Farkas had to say on the topic.

A normal exhale outside of brass playing involves simple relaxation. In brass playing we need a more forceful outflow of air. What we want is a natural control of this outward flow guided by the ear and the sound coming out the bell.

The exhale is a natural turn-around of the inhale. Where the process breaks down is usually related to tonguing issues. The inhale, exhale, and articulation all happen in one motion and I personally suggest the thought of it being an attack rather than a release which will help avoid the development of a hesitation attack problem. For more on tonguing check this article.

Disclaimer: If you have this cycle down and have no other problems with your tone quality and range please feel free as with parts I and II of this series to skip the rest of this article. I would almost prefer that you not read what follows, as it can lead to over-conceptualizing the points of resistance.

The primary point of resistance to the general flow of air is in fact, at least for higher brass players, the tongue. There is a certain amount of air that is needed to make the lips vibrate at any given dynamic and pitch. Rather than regulating this flow of air directly at the lips or way down in the lungs and chest, the flow of air is regulated at least in part by the tongue. The tongue is a large organ and can actually stop the flow of air in multiple locations if desired—front, middle, back, and even way down at the back. That last location is commonly thought of as “the throat” but really the controlling mechanism is still the tongue.

The above may seem like a somewhat radical statement in relation to traditional pedagogy but take a second and think about your tongue. Really try to feel it in your mouth and throat. Where does it end? What directions can you move it? What shapes can it make? If things are otherwise totally open the tongue can easily regulate speed of the flow of air from nothing to full flow. One impression of how this regulation works is by changes of vowel shape in the mouth, as in the difference between “eeee” and “oooo,” but the tongue is capable of much more complicated formations of which we have total control.

Discussions of the topic of resistance usually include a discussion of the instrument and mouthpiece as a point of resistance and also the glottis or the area near the vocal chords. The instrument and mouthpiece are minor players in the process and are fixed constants. The glottis is a space next to the vocal chords which we have control of; it is the “valve” that closes when we cough or clear our throat. While it could close partially to control the general flow of air, and for some players it probably does close in this manner, it is primarily active in relation to tonguing and for purposes of this discussion of the exhale is also a minor player.

Returning to vowel sounds, the way I perceive how they work in relation to the flow of air in performance is the high range is more like “tee,” the middle “tah,” and the low “toe.” I believe this is fairly standard actually for horn players, even if players think they are doing something else. If you try to play high notes with a vowel that is very much toward “toe” you will struggle just as much as trying to play low notes with “tee.” It goes against something that is very natural for managing notes in the range we play.

In summary, the main point of resistance as I would define it in relation to the Farkas discussion of the topic that we can use to much advantage is the tongue, and it is controlled to regulate the flow of air to the lips primarily via the mechanism of what we perceive as vowel shapes in the mouth.

This is not quite the same as players of other brass instruments seem to perceive things. As I noted in part II of this series,

When you go outside the horn you can see there are even more divergent opinions on the general topic of points of resistance. My general take on the big picture of this is that the lower brass are looking at a lower resistance setup (Jacobs: “blow to the lips, not the tongue”) and higher brass are looking at the tongue arch as a key element (see for example the series of illustrations in David Hickman, Trumpet Pedagogy, of tongue arch placement and focal points in different registers).

To that I would add that in terms of horn there probably are differences of approach from player to player based not only on anatomical differences of the mouth (tongue size/arch of roof of mouth/etc.) but also if a player started on horn or not. I suspect my own approach is in part influenced by having started on trumpet and having reached a reasonably high performance level on it before switching to horn. I can easily imagine I might have a bit different approach if that was not my starting point.

Finally, as repeatedly noted in the disclaimers, there is a danger in over conceptualizing all of this. If your sound is on track and you can manage your way in and out of the high register you are more than likely managing this element in a natural, correct manner. But do give vowel shapes in the mouth some thought, perhaps you will perceive things you are doing that you never previously realized. And in the end don’t look at any one book as being your Bible for horn playing. Be willing to break a rule or three and let your ear be the guide toward finding the place where your sound production is the best.

Return to PART I

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As for me, as I noted in a comment to a recent article I find that low horn embouchure set ups can be quite individualistic but dropping the jaw is a very common element of the picture as is jaw movement in general. This movement is in common practice referred to as “the break.” What seems to not work for most advanced players is an approach to low range production that includes the lips being loose with the jaw in the same position in the low range as it was in the mid and high range. Usually the set up of this type will sound fine above written middle C but descending from there the tone will get smaller and the low range may totally fade out around written low C. In response to this problem many players employ a break of some sort which may be flexible or fixed at a particular pitch (commonly written middle C), perhaps incorporating multiple flexible/fixed breaks to obtain this more open and relatively firm low embouchure that allows power in the low range.

At this point I would like to move to “Exhibit A,” the above video. These X-Ray videos of trumpet and horn players have been on the Internet for a few years now and this particular one was just featured in an article by David Wilken which he titled “X-Ray Videos of Brass Players.” As I had been planning an article on the break his article was quite timely.

Before turning to his comments on the video which relate to the horn in the lower range, I was curious, what is the actual source of these videos? With a bit of online research I found that they are part of the Ph.D. dissertation of Joseph A. Meidt, A Cinefluorographic Investigation of Oral Adjustments for Various Aspects of Brass Instrument Performance (University of Iowa, 1967). The beginning of an article that summarizes this research may be found here.

On this particular video Wilken commented,

The horn player is up first. Today it’s generally acknowledged that the level of the tongue arch should change according to the register being played so that the higher the pitch the closer the tongue position will be as if saying “ee” and the lower the closer to “oh.” Curiously, this isn’t so apparent watching the horn player. Instead, he seems to be achieving a similar shaping of the air stream inside the oral cavity by changing the position of the jaw. While this is encouraged by some brass players (drop the jaw to descend), I don’t think this is as efficient as keeping the jaw more or less the same distance (it shouldn’t be static, but the up/down motion should probably be minimized). Notice how the horn player’s lower teeth will move below the lower edge of the mouthpiece rim for the very low notes. I feel that this results in an unstable embouchure formation and makes for an inconsistent embouchure feel overall as the support structure behind the mouthpiece and lips is constantly changing. Listening closely to the quality of sound in the low register, the tone is different in the low register. I prefer the more focused quality the horn player gets when he has his jaw positioned so that the lower teeth support the lower end of the mouthpiece rim.

As to me, I will focus today on the break range. Quite a bit of jaw movement is visible in the video and I would simply comment that

• the jaw movement looks exactly like what I perceive mine to be with the teeth going below the lower edge of the mouthpiece for the lowest notes,
• it feels pretty stable to me this way, but it has been my normal approach to the low range for years and years hammered out with many repetitions,
• a firm lower lip is a key to making this work, this is what supports the embouchure and prevents collapse, and
• the tone quality may change a bit but certainly less so than if the jaw did not drop at all.

Again, this is a huge topic and one that begins to border on being a religious discussion in the horn world. There are multiple approaches to the low range of the horn out there and some strong opinions among horn teachers but solutions will be individualized. If you have low range problems, a very common complaint, think about the jaw motion seen in the video above as it is in fact typical of players who adopt the rubber face approach, such as myself. Wilken in his commentary (please check his entire article) is more aligned with what Wekre describes as the poker face approach. I will let Wekre, speaking of the rubber face approach, have the final word for today, as she describes how a lot of horn players ultimately feel about their low range.

A quote from Dale Clevenger, principal horn of the Chicago Symphony, illustrates this more pragmatic view: “Just do what you have to do.”

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I don’t know the story of who made this video. Apparently they used a clear mouthpiece and a strobe light and it has been on YouTube since 2006. Check it out, this video and the trombone video linked above could change how you think about your lips and setup in the low range.

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By the way, the other two tips in the menu for this area as it is now are good tips but not by me! My understanding is the author, a well-known horn teacher, wanted to remain anonymous. I will sign my tips as they are posted and will link from here as well.

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(Shameless plug–it is available through Horn Notes Edition).

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Recently the horn list was to the rescue with his dates (1897-1967) and confirmation of some basics on his career that are posted in the Wikipedia, not my favorite source but sometimes that is all we have. To quote the article there,

He was engaged for many years as a low horn player at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and taught at the Conservatorium nearby…. Neuling was also a member of the Bayreuth Wagner Festival orchestra 1931-64.

Check out the 30 etudes, especially volume 2, these will help you not only master low range production but also the reading of old notation bass clef.

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1. In the lower range of the trumpet, below the staff, he suggested sort of a pouting, rolling out of the lower lip. We horn players spend ages working on the low range. At least a good horn player does. In that range normal pedagogy involves dropping the jaw and/or a change of angle. But I always tell students in the end how they achieve the result (the goal is a result, after all) will be personalized and unique. I believe some players will be able to make some use of his rolling out suggestion on the horn.

2. Every advanced trumpet player should have at least four mouthpieces they use regularly; a normal orchestral mouthpiece, a medium small mouthpiece for lighter situations, a very small mouthpiece for light/extreme situations, and a trumpet-Flugelhorn mouthpiece for extra dark situations (yes, something like the Curry 1HTF that works for horn players on mellophone).

In relation to point 2, a lot of pretty advanced hornists are stuck on one mouthpiece. Preparing for a version of my High Horn presentation this weekend in Potsdam I tried again my Moosewood BD cup mouthpiece and will say it; everyone needs one of these for special situations. On regular music it is too shrill and cutting but it really helps the top of the horn in certain light, high situations. For those on a budget, the Yamaha 30C4 is similar and will give some of the same result.

For me there are actually four mouthpieces I use quite regularly. My regular mouthpiece right now is a Laskey 80J. I use the BD cup on descant mostly, on the type of music I would play on descant (see my book). I use a Laskey 80F on Wagner tuba for the darker tone. And finally I normally use a Stork CMA 12 on natural horn for an even darker tone.

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1. You really need to not miss the notes. Musicality, tone, and nuance are all great things, I love them, but in the end some listeners will think you are not that good if you can’t play for example the complete exposition of a Mozart concerto without any chipped notes. In the words of one of my former teachers, “110% accuracy” is the goal. If you are going to miss something, miss something that is hard while going for it, not simple entrances in the mid range.

2. Another thing we horn players don’t hear well is the tone color shifting around the break range. We get used to how we sound so we don’t hear it well. Lots of horn players don’t have the break range worked out nearly well enough. Again, non-hornists [conductors!] can hear this issue easily; the tone needs to stay basically the same above and below the break. Be very aggressive about working out the transition from the low range to middle range. It all needs to sound seamless.

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Low range work is critical to playing with a great tone. In the warm up you want to include plenty of low range work; too much focus on the high range can lead easily to a tight, trumpet-like tone. You want to keep your “center of gravity” lower than that of a trumpet player.

The embouchure in the low range will vary from person to person somewhat, but a jaw drop of some type is certainly an element of correct low range production. The drop may be gradual or may include one or more “breaks” (or a combination of both, which is what I do). Dropping the jaw is an essential key to playing well into the low range. Think “open and fairly firm,” not loose and closed which is more typical of students. To test what you are doing, take your right hand out of the bell, put your thumb on your chin, and observe what the chin does as you descend. Most students are surprised to see how little they are dropping the jaw compared to how much I drop mine.

Another key is to practice in the low range loudly. There are many ways to play in the low range softly but you have to be close to your optimal setup to play loudly in the low range.

For low range work I love the Neuling low horn etudes and also the horn version of The Brass Gym , which contains a lot of great low range exercises.

As an update on how things are going in my travels here, the first of my two solo performances with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Wind Ensemble was tonight and went well! Early next week we are off to Shanghai!

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The fingerings I actually use as “default mode” in that range however might surprise many readers as they are a little unusual. I don’t push them on students, but always demonstrate them; I learned them from David Wakefield as a student at Aspen and have used them for years and years. Starting at low C-sharp, I finger this note T23, D is T3, E-flat is 23, E is 3, and F is 1. This introduces a cross fingering but actually the tuning works out quite well on most horns. I use these fingerings in most situations, the main exception being technical low range passages.

The suggestion I always give students is in any situation avoid fingering low C-sharp or D on the F horn. The 123 and 13 combinations are terribly sharp; these notes really speak much better on the B-flat horn.

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Related articles:

1. Quote of the Week–Hill on High Range High range development is a topic that comes up with every horn student, and every horn teacher has his or...