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I have heard it said that we are standing on the shoulders of those that have gone before us. In terms of horn playing, this is very true, and it is something I have thought about often as I worked on cleaning old files in my office this summer. I have several articles in mind related to things that were found.
In one folder, in some materials from the late Tom Greer (of Moosewood Mouthpieces), there was a group of materials from his wife Susie, pedagogical materials saved from her studies. I can’t tell you who wrote this little document, but from the paper and handwriting I’m going to guess it was a European teacher or perhaps from their time in South Africa. The paper is that thin paper like was used for airmail letters, and the text fits neatly on two small pages of the paper. The advice below, presented in full, is thus anonymous, but is great to consider as we head into the fall and getting back into the groove of playing horn. I’ll have a few additional comments at the end.
3 main aspects of playing improvement:
- Flexibility
- Strength
- Endurance
Musical priorities:
- Tone quality
- Intonation
- Expressiveness in phrasing
- Coordination in ensemble
- Mech. [mechanical] technique
1. Flexibility: First stage of daily practice: one-minute segments arpeggios, expanding from mid-staff downwards, ½ minute rest, expanding upwards and downwards increasing range without strain, always resting in time equiv. to playing time. Play arp’s slurred and separate until full range has been covered. After 20 minutes, rest 20 minutes.
2. Strength: Second stage of daily practice: spend first 5 minutes reviewing flex. Studies, extending to high range; rest 5 minutes. Carouso [sic] studies, then rest 5-10 minutes. Etudes exploring full range and dynamics in approx. 5 min. segments with equal rest periods. Rest after 20 minutes of constant practice. 20 minutes of playing by ear, not using music except for reference (etudes, concertos. Rest 15-20 min. Etudes of non-traditional type for development of ear, dynamics and range (Schuller, Reynolds). Rest after 20 minutes.
3. Endurance: Third phase of practice, done later in the day. Emphasis is on long setting of the mouthpiece and constant use of diaphragm and face muscles. Etudes, both traditional and modern, played through from beginning to end, not allowing mouthpiece to move from the lips, not stopping to empty water or correct notes missed. Rest for equal time periods. Do no allow pressure on lips to overcome lip tension., but rather miss notes and continue regardless. Orch. Excerpts: Play these in increasingly greater sets, ie: twice through, 5X, 10X, without moving mouthpiece from lips, (perhaps) next day repeat but in a higher key, (perhaps) hold highest note 5X or 10X normal time in the excerpts. Always rest after the lips feel nearly “finished.” To practice beyond this point will damage them. They should “burn,” and feel “crampy” at the corners at the end of each etude or excerpt. Fine tone should be a high priority in this phase, but the passages must be gotten through, to the end, regardless of failure of good tone quality due to fatigue. The endurance phase of the practice should be put off on any day where a heavy playing load is expected (long & difficult performances or several rehearsals). Ideally, the endurance phase should be sufficiently strenuous to do only every other day, allowing the body to build on the off days. Too much – you go backwards in your playing.
This teacher was certainly influenced in the section on endurance by Carmine Caruso, and their comments on balance and rest should not be missed, they are a very important element of the training scheme he outlines – or you can hurt yourself.
Still, the endurance section comes across as rather hard core, and when following advice like in the above, you can become very hard on yourself. As the teacher references Caruso, I’d like to close this article with a quote from Caruso, something to think about in not only any teaching you do but also your own practice.
Instead of thinking “perfection,” encourage yourself to think in percentages, that is “it’s a percentage better than it was.” The words “perfection,” “wrong,” and “good” should have gone out with the feudal lords: they have nothing to do with the art of teaching, and often their use can be a negative factor. If a teacher says something is wrong, the student has the right to ask, “What’s wrong about it?” Then the teacher will explain, and the student asks, “Now, what do I do about it?” It is easy to dispense with all those steps if the teacher merely tells the student what to do. It’s improvement, not perfection, that the student is trying to achieve.
Verbal negativity is not encouragement to the student. Teaching is giving with love, giving in a positive manner. This is such an important concept for teachers to remember. Unfortunately, I have known many students who lost interest in their musical careers because they didn’t have a teacher who could communicate to them a love for the instrument and the art form. They may have been technical wizards, but those teachers could not translate the proper inspiration, and because of this they lost their students’ interest.
