…my first assignment is to get in contact with other leading horn teachers at various universities.

In doing this, I am to find out what type of curriculum you have for YOUR horn students. Do you have a syllabus for lessons or horn choir or studio class? Do you have a certain set of method/etude books that you teach from? Do you have certain solos/pieces that are required?

Syllabus

Yes, I certainly have a syllabus! I think any horn teacher at any university should have a syllabus not only because our schools require us to have one (!) but also to clearly set grading policies. Frankly if a professor does not have a syllabus it should concern you as they are in fact putting you as a student at risk of not meeting hidden expectations and unspoken requirements. You need to know specifically for example how the semester grade is calculated. My syllabus for horn covers lessons and studio class, with horn ensemble being treated as an extension of studio class. Other classes I am responsible for have their own syllabi as well.

On the side topic of horn ensemble that is a part of the original question, I have in my teaching treated it as a fall semester part of studio class for some years along the model of the way horn choir was run at Eastman when I was a MM student. Especially at the beginning of the semester it is a great way to get the studio sounding more homogenous, to match pitch and articulations and such. My favorite music to do that with is music for double quartet; my first project this year is the Cantos V (music of Schubert) of Verne Reynolds using the newly published version from Prairie Dawg Press which we will perform for Brass Area in a month.

Method/Etude Books

This I answered not long ago in Horn Matters so I will for this direct those interested to read this article and the one that follows. My generic list of books I like to use may be found here as well. What any individual actually uses in lessons will vary somewhat based on what books they already own and what areas they need to work on.

Solos/Required Pieces

For these I am fairly open. Really, on horn, there is a lot of music we could play. I tend to do the most work on pieces that work well as jury pieces for obvious reasons. I could name them but what is a good jury piece will depend on the way juries are run at a school. For me the ideal works are in the 5-7 minute range.

The closest thing I have to required pieces are the works at the top section of my list of solos. The full list is here but this section is the group of “Essential solo and chamber music literature that all students of the horn should know, study, and own recordings of.”

• Beethoven: Sonata, Op. 17
• Brahms: Trio, Op. 40 for Horn, Violin, and Piano
• Britten: Serenade, Op. 31 for Tenor, Horn, and Strings
• Dukas: Villanelle
• Haydn, J.: Concerto No. 1 in D; Concerto No. 2 in D
• Hindemith: Sonata for Horn
• Mozart: Concerto No. 1 in D, K. 412; Concerto No. 2 in E-flat, K. 417; Concerto No. 3 in E-flat, K 447; Concerto No. 4 in E-flat, K. 495; Concert Rondo; Quintet for horn and strings, K. 407
• Schumann: Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70; Konzertstuck for four horns and orchestra
• Strauss, R.: Concerto No. 1, Op. 11; Concerto No. 2
• Telemann: Concerto in D

In an ideal world I would love to see a DMA student to have worked at some point on everything in this short list. And more.

Still More to Study

There is more, of course, to study in a horn curriculum, the most important element being orchestral excerpts. All college level horn students should have at least an excerpt book and I try to launch into excerpts as a part of the flow of studies as soon as we can. My suggested excerpt materials are here and for an undergrad serious about horn performance they should learn all the major excerpts from the works on the left hand side of this PDF list before they graduate.

So there we have it. In terms of a curriculum certainly there is no one way to teach lessons to advanced horn students but hopefully that is of help to readers to gauge what they are working on by comparison. I believe I am not out of the mainstream on all of this as it largely it mirrors the way I was taught by my teachers but tweaked to efficiently work on what needs covered.

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QUESTION:

I must be a total idiot, but I cannot get my spit valves to work on any horn I have tried. It seems that if I wait until I have “water-noises”, then open one or both valves and blow soft, medium, or hard, then it doesn’t seem to work. I end up with water everywhere, it takes just as long or longer then the “pull-slide(s)-and-dump.”

Am I missing something, or do they just seem mostly worthless? Is it only intended to be used during a piece where there isn’t time to actually pull a slide?

ANSWER:

I can sympathize.

I once owned an instrument with an Amado water key on the lead pipe. While these water keys profess to be acoustically much better that the traditional water key, it never worked very well. When I would blow with force to get out the condensation, it would spray everywhere — getting my hand all wet.

Here is a technique that works for me:

While holding the instrument at rest, shift the right hand into a very tight, stopped horn hand position.

Gripping the horn tightly in the bell with that hand, open the water key with the left hand and blow gently. (Blowing hard will only make a mess. )

The air now only has one way to escape — through the open water key. The extra force from closing the bell with the hand gives a little more oomph to water drainage without making a sprayed mess.

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QUESTION:

On both occasions my tone has been better than ever for the first ten days or so, then craters for a while. I can understand the cratering, because the lip muscles are having to readjust to the new mouthpiece. What I don’t get is why the tone is so great there for a short while.

ANSWER:
This question hits on a universal mystery that is fairly typical of what happens with a new mouthpiece. Without the benefit of mind-reading powers and x-ray vision, one can only postulate on what is actually happening.

I do believe that there is combination of physical and psychological ingredients in this phenomena.

Excited with the new mouthpiece and the improved results, the player might go a little overboard with extended practice sessions or new techniques. After a period of time, the muscles rebel and the chops feel weaker instead of stronger.

As to why tone quality may be immediately improved with a mouthpiece switch, I can only explain it like this: after a steady diet of salad and steak, a switch to fish and potatoes is bound to produce a different effect on the mind and body for a period of time.

An embouchure may react to a new mouthpiece change like a change in diet. The new flavors invigorate and test out new taste buds that were not there before.

With a small change in a mouthpiece — a different rim, a slightly different diameter as examples – this improvement might just stick and the muscle memory learning curve may be fairly low. Like adding a new seasoning to the meat or changing to a different kind of salad dressing.

With a more radical change in a mouthpiece, there is a bigger learning curve for the embouchure to adjust to. It is no longer a matter of adding a little spice to a steady meal plan, but rather it is a major shift in diet.

At first the new flavors will taste and feel delicious, but in time the body’s physiological rhythms will react.  They rise and fall over a period of a few days  — or even weeks — in order to adjust to this radical change.

This is why I prefer small changes in a mouthpiece and an extended trial period. An accurate decision is difficult to make based solely on a two-minute trial period.

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QUESTION:

ANSWER:
Your choice of horn depends on your son’s intentions. If he is aiming headstrong to be a pro, without a doubt get the Hoyer. This is a professional-grade instrument.

If he does not intend to be a pro or is unsure, I would not recommend a Holton Farkas horn. At one time long ago, Holtons were considered a professional grade instrument but that is unfortunately no longer true. Even further, my candid opinion is that Holtons are no longer good student horns either.

I would instead would recommend a Yamaha. Your son can always step up later to a different instrument if he gets more serious about music or if he changes his mind.

There is no need to buy a Hoyer unless he is absolutely serious. A Yahama horn will suit him well into the college years and perhaps even beyond.

My recommendation aside, I do know of a few people who really like their MerkerMatic horns.

As a side note, my first horn was a King brand instrument and it suited me well until college. In fact, when my site co-hort John Ericson once needed a loaner instrument at Eastman while his Conn was being repaired, he used that King for a short while.

This was over 20 years ago. I have not played on any King horns recently, so I cannot speak from any authority on their current quality or standard.

John Ericson has posted something on this topic too that is worth looking at.

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QUESTION:

ANSWER:
In short, many things.

When I lived in the Midwest, I would sometimes leave my horn in the trunk (that’s the boot for UK readers). Once after a particularly cold day, I noticed that a solder point had popped loose.

The valves too were extremely sluggish for a while. The valve oil, I presume, must have congealed due to the low temperature.

This should have come as no surprise. Metal expands and contracts with heat and cold.

In the intense summer heat in Phoenix, Arizona, leaving a horn in the trunk can have serious consequences. While the valves might feel very frisky at first — the heat seems to make them very slippery — over time, the slide grease will melt and ooze into the valves.

This really gums up the works.

Heat and cold issues aside, leaving an instrument in the trunk of a car is also not a good idea in terms of security. I have known several colleagues who have had instruments stolen from their car trunks.

As if this tragedy is not enough, dealing with an insurance claim in this scenario can be very tricky.

A typical homeowner’s insurance policy will cover most stolen instrument claims. However if it is stolen from a car, the insurance company may determine that the instrument was job-related — and not a possession used in the home.

In that case the insurance company, looking to cut corners in any way that it can, will not honor your claim and will not reimburse you for the stolen instrument.

For this reason, I have a separate policy purchased through Clarion, which specializes in musical instrument insurance. I highly recommend this company to any musician who resides in the U.S.

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