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This article introduces a new series looking at fundamentals.
At the end of the spring semester this topic really came to weigh on my heart as a teacher, which continued into the summer. It is not that it was a new topic by any means, but my thinking had changed, as reflected in this article I wrote for the accuracy series (which has stalled for now with that article):
“F is for Fundamentals” remains worth a quick read to introduce the topic further. Fundamentals being very important to some teachers – but often not taught very systematically.
In this new series I plan to present information on fundamentals of use to players of all levels, with a goal of reaching a broad variety of players with helpful information to raise the level of their playing.
Fundamentals and me
I don’t at all blame my own teachers, but none of them presented to me a systematic look at fundamentals. I’m sure they covered them in various ways via etudes especially, and likely they felt I was covering what I needed to. But, looking back, I think what work I did on fundamentals was to a large extent the result of my own personal motivation and was certainly not systematic. Which is OK in a way, as a teacher you want students to be self-motivated and to solve their own problems! But many students need more of a framework, which is a goal of this series and the special focus on the topic this academic year.
Kopprasch vs. fundamentals
I should mention, some (even many) teachers persist in teaching Kopprasch etudes as a method of teaching fundamentals. I personally think this is old fashioned at best. If that is still your system as a teacher, I would encourage you to reconsider and find more effective ways to teach fundamentals. There are so many more materials you could be using today. Yes, there are things Kopprasch is great for, but the reality is that there is only so much you can work on effectively using early 19th century etudes.
Practice your fundamentals! Or, just practice in general?
In the accuracy encyclopedia article on fundamentals I used this meme, which I think represents well the beginnings of my journey with fundamentals. Whatever I did, it was largely related to practice in general and my warmup routine. But you can practice fundamentals specifically, even dedicating practice sessions to them exclusively, which will or at least can improve your overall playing in many ways.
Barrier exams can force a focus on fundamentals
The school I taught at (for three years) before Arizona State was The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. With undergrads they had a system, long established, that included a barrier exam at the end of the sophomore year. It involved playing a solo, scales at prescribed tempos, etudes, and sight-reading. At ASU we don’t have a formal system of this type, although some studios have their own internal systems. In any case, reflecting back, my teaching system is more individualized to actual students and has not been systematic with regard to fundamentals. There is something to be said for that too, but this year I’m going to explore a more systematic approach.
A list from Douglas Hill
On pages 92-93 of Douglas Hill, Collected Thoughts on Teaching and Learning, Creativity, and Horn Performance he presents a list of the areas you might work on as a student of the horn. I know I gave a version of this list to my students at ASU back in 2007, but at that time it was presented more as just something to think about and reflect on. This semester, I plan to work through the list in our studio class with generally a topic each week, with additional comments on each of the topics presented here in Horn Matters.
A warmup book, a technique book …
Some readers might be thinking; didn’t you also publish a warmup book and a technique book? How do those fit in?
The warmup book I don’t use systematically in my teaching, but I plan to use it more systematically this year, as it gets at ways to work on a number of fundamentals. If you can play every exercise in the book you will be ready to play a lot of rep.
The technique book, I used it very systematically basically until the pandemic — but since then less so. I think it also can be effective for certain fundamentals and I will be using it more. Again, if you can play every exercise in this book, you will be equipped with the foundations needed to play a lot of rep.
Side note on the University of Horn Matters
As this series on fundamentals goes forward it will certainly reference articles in the University of Horn Matters pedagogy series. However, for the first time in many years I won’t be using that series in my pedagogy class! It has weighed on me for some time that there are too many readings in that class as structured, plus I have a student taking the class now as a MM student that took it as an undergrad. Instead, I’m going to use the Farkas and Hill books as our texts (hard copies please!), going back to something closer to the way I taught pedagogy in the early 2000’s. It will be a nice change honestly, and will also influence this fundamentals series as it unfolds.
The series will continue nearly weekly, be checking for more. The first topic being playing position and posture.
Continue reading the Fundamentals series
