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With COVID, most horn players are finding themselves in an unusual situation, they have no ensembles to play in, and have not played in an ensemble in months.
One consequence of this is that, even if practicing regularly, endurance has suffered for many brass players. There is a type of endurance that is built up by regularly playing in large ensemble rehearsals and concerts. And really there is no substitute for those rehearsals and concerts, not only for endurance but also for dynamics and articulations.
But I was intrigued this week on pulling out my copy of the Standley Routine, published in 2002 but dating to the 1960s. The interesting thing is Standley presents not only the typical scale and arpeggio patterns, as he also has specific exercises in every key intended to build (or enhance) endurance. Musically they are not as interesting as etudes, but the overall concept is an important one to consider, one that could help in developing some new focus on in your practice.
I would also mention another vintage publication, Exercises for Flexible Horn Playing by Ward Fearn. Published in 1965, I wish he had explained further his actual goals, but clearly he has some ideas toward airflow and connections. Some of the exercises also generally resemble the Standley endurance studies, but with more musical interest, so it might also be worth a specific look for variety in your practice and to build endurance back up. I have at the least enjoyed exploring this book these few months, I had never looked at it seriously until I was well into the present COVID era of practice at home.
On a practical level, you can duplicate the effect of the Standley endurance studies with longer etudes with few rests by any composer. Hopefully also, just knowing that you should be playing some studies that are designed to build endurance on a daily basis might help keep your playing on better track as we hit the winter months of the year of COVID horn practice.
