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If you do a simple search of the topic “rethinking how we teach”, you will find a number of people reconsidering various aspects of pedagogy in relation to the pandemic and the changing times.
Is it time to ditch Kopprasch?
I would propose that it is time horn teachers should rethink several elements of standard horn teaching. Do we just do things because we do them? Simply repeating the way we were taught? Are the materials actually effective? Are they just familiar and available?
Of course, as teachers, we try to be effective, and the materials we use are part of that equation. In my own case, I recently realized that my use of teaching materials has changed in recent years in several ways.
Wildly different teaching styles
In the bigger picture, there are some wildly different teaching styles out there. Some are objectively rather extreme styles.
One style I really question is the type of teacher that focuses lessons on just a few exercises that to an outsider would look like warmup exercises. Weeks, months, even years spent focusing on just those exercises.
A related type of teacher focuses almost entirely on Kopprasch. In both cases, I think the idea is to achieve some sort of theoretical perfection in those materials (alone), and when you have mastered those singularly important (to the teacher) exercises, only then can you move on to real music.
The problem with Kopprasch
I used Kopprasch regularly in lessons for years, as part of the mix of things, but this past couple of years I have hardly used it at all. I do not miss it. Kopprasch is very predictable and is not good music. Hype and devotion to it does not make it interesting music. Gallay etudes for example are much better music. Maxime-Alphonse has wonderful moments where you can show off all sorts of nuance.
How did we get our horn teaching so tied up with Kopprasch? As a recognized “Kopprasch scholar”,** I would say because his book was the first of its type (published ca. 1832!) and worked reasonably well, at a time when we had limited options.
Eventually Kopprasch became a rite of passage for the horn student. Why? Why keep using the same, tired, old materials? For 190 years? Today we have so many other options for teaching materials. It is time to make use of them.
You do not have to be old to be an old-fashioned teacher
I’m sure that among those that have read this far into this article there are some teachers who are very dedicated to using a lot of Kopprasch. Traditional teaching has a place. Old school teaching also has a place. However, if you are a younger teacher teaching mainly out of Kopprasch there is a point (as in right now) where you need to realize that your teaching is old fashioned and perhaps a bit lazy. You could and should be more effectively addressing the same technical skills in materials written much more recently than Kopprasch.
What about using Kling? Mueller? Franz? Others?
I will just say for me, much of the older etude literature available is just not very interesting. The lone exception from the era is Gallay; he gets at some very interesting things musically and technically. I especially like to use his second horn etudes and the unmeasured preludes. Outside of that, most of the old standard etudes of this era I just mentally set aside as bad Kopprasch.
Moving into the early 20th century, Maxime-Alphonse has quite a few interesting etudes as well. He clearly is looking for some very specific things; roughly 2/3 of his etudes are well worth a good look in books 3 and 4. I can make great use of these in lessons.
Not a fan of LONG etudes
Another category of etude is the very long etude. Two pages or more, and technically challenging. I am not a fan of these as well. Yes, you can work on endurance with them, but this can also be done with better music (solo horn works, etc.).
Speaking of solo horn works, this entire category did not exist in the time of Kopprasch. We can make use of it today!
Developing a pedagogy based on shorter (and more recently published!) etudes
In my own case, I realized on reflecting on my teaching that in the past few years I have developed a teaching scheme based much more on shorter etudes than what I did in the past, also incorporating some duets as well.
This developed over time of course, but I think the two publications that most crystalized this change for me are the low horn version of my 35 Melodic Etudes and also my Modern Preparatory Etudes. I use both books a lot. One reason why short etudes such as these are great is the musical variety I can create. However, looking closer, another reason why both are good teaching material is that, being short, a student can work out the etudes relatively quickly, and then they reveal to me certain things as areas of interest. They give opportunities to expose and work on problem areas.
Kopprasch can do that too, but what happens is when one finally gets good at playing Kopprasch then you tend to play everything like Kopprasch. Moreover, many areas of technique are not addressed at all in Kopprasch, and the tonal language is very dated.
Summer project
For Horn Matters readers that teach, consider this summer searching out some new materials, and in particular consider the option of using more short etudes in your teaching scheme.
For me a summer project will be developing more formally a resource I need, a book of short transposition studies. Of course, many teachers use Kopprasch for this. I do not think these are very good for teaching transposition, as the etudes are too long and do not look like natural horn music. Again, a project for the summer.
Is it time? Yes, it is time
Good teaching materials should help you teach and help students learn. Kopprasch and similar 19th century materials might help you as a teacher as it is so familiar (to you!), but I am not convinced they help students learn at the rate they might learn from other, more effective materials. It is time to cut the cord and move on from Kopprasch as the focus of horn teaching.
**I was specifically cited as a Kopprasch scholar in the preface of the new Carl Fischer edition of these etudes, but obviously, I do not endorse it.
For more …
Check out episode 51 of the Horn Notes Podcast where I talk about Kopprasch, grad auditions, and more. I anticipate recording several new episodes in the coming months.
