by Eldon Matlick T he Viennese tradition of rehears- ing and performing horn ensem- ble literature started in 1860, and much of the literature as well as contem- porary Austrian literature is available today. In the late 1950s German homists Max Pottag and Wendell Hoss brought the rich traditions of horn ensembles to the United States. Pottag was the second hornist of the Chicago Symphony and taught at Northwestern University, where he formed an ensemble of student and community hornists. Pottag con- ducted a horn choir of 90 members in the late 1950s at The Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, when the only available literature consisted of arran- gements of male quartets, Wagner transcriptions, and orchestral pot- pourris. The ensemble also performed arrangements of symphonic and vocal repertoire written by Pottag. The performances at the Midwest Clinic were a revelation of the expres- sive qualities of the horn ensemble, and horn clubs began to develop in various regions of the country. Their educational and musical value became evident with the formation of groups in Buffalo and Los Angeles in the 1960s. In 1956 Lowell Shaw became second hornist of the Buffalo Symphony and began teaching at the University of Buffalo a year later. Shaw had studied with Pottag and shared his idea about the horn choir as a training group. Shaw Max Pottag conducted Midwest Clinic performances and arranged works for the horn ensemble. organized groups of college students, area professionals, and high school stu- dents, that soon grew into the Buffalo Horn Club. The club was primarily a recreational organization that shared information, read ensemble literature, and gave occasional performances. Shaw often arranged music for the University of Buffalo Jazz Band, which requested that he include horn parts. To teach horn students the commer- cial style, he wrote a body of works known as Fripperies, which are light- hearted introductions to the various musical styles found in jazz and com- mercial music. In the mid-1960s Shaw started The Hornist's Nest to publish his horn ensemble arrangements. To date, over 5,000 copies of his first vol- ume of Fripperies have been sold. In 1951 36 of the finest performers in Los Angeles organized a horn choir concert similar to those given by Pottag in Chicago. Led by James Decker and Wendell Hoss, the group performed for the Music Educators National Conference at the Musician's Union Concert Hall in Hollywood with guest conductor Max Pottag. The audience responded enthusiastically, and executive officers Alfred Brain, Wendell Hoss, Arthur Franz, and James Decker organized regular meetings. At this time, studio and free-lance hornists under contract to various motion picture, radio, and recording studios could not perform in other stu- dios. The Los Angeles Horn Club gave these performers an opportunity to play with other hornists and give regu- lar concerts. The organization was a boon to film composers as well. Many times a film composer experimented with different sounds and textures on original music for the ensemble. The Horn Club agreed to copy the'music and guaranteed at least one perfor- mance of each work. During the 1950s the first solo recordings of horn music became available. The marketing success of these novel recordings led Capitol Records producer Robert Meyers to contact the Los Angeles group about an album of horn ensemble music. Through the efforts of Wendell Hoss, several leading studio and film com- posers wrote original music arrange- ments. The project was completed in 1960, and another recording followed in 1970. Both recordings have since been re-released on compact disc under the EMI label. In the mid-1950s Leigh Martinet organized a horn club in Baltimore and since the 1970s has written many transcriptions for multiple horns. The group consisted of musicians from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and free-lance players. Martinet studied with Charles Lenuty, hornist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Jerry Knop of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He enlisted in the Air Force and was a member of the Air Force Band along with Arthur Berv, John Barrows, and Harry Shapiro. At the time that the Baltimore Horn Club was formed, publications for horn choirs were scarce, and available works included the quartets of Grumpert, Tcherepnine, and arrangements by Pottag. Martinet began producing new material for the group, and the club met every other Friday for recreational playing and socializing. Martinet had some of his arrangements published by Lowell Shaw, and eventually started his own publishing house called The Baltimore Horn Club. A solid horn section within a musical ensemble has a cohesive blend of tone, intonation, and style. The horn's nat- ural sound is warm and expressive, simi- lar to that of a vocalist. Horn ensemble music will help players develop a unified tone with good intonation, articulation, balance, and blend. As students work on ensemble blend, the intonation will also improve. Groups should warm-up on octave scales, lip slurs, and interval practice. Verne Reynold's Intonation Exercises far Two Horns is a good choice for intervallic work on ensemble intona- tion. The following examples are based on Reynolds studies. Intervallic Tuning unison, 4th tS -e- =#= 3 -- ,5th. & Ktave "** ** - -!> ^ Melodic tuning - add an octave + 6th Hornist James Decker organized and performed many concerts with the Los Angeles Horn Club. Melodic tuning Tllis unison melody develops a homogenous sound; whenever one player cannot hear anyone else, his volume is too loud. A simple unison exercise is to start on C or G and descend by half-steps, returning to the initial note before the next descent. (C-B, C-At, C-A, C-Gt, etc.) The low'er note should predominate when playing octaves, as if the upper note were an overtone. Intonation and bal- ance will improve if players listen to the entire ensemble. Another exercise is to play scalar passages in octaves. Chord exercises will develop good intonation, especially the common prob- lems of slightly flat fifths, sharp major thirds, and flat minor thirds. Persistent work will accustom players to hearing these intervals in tune. Two-part exer- cises can be used for tuning perfect fourths, fifths, thirds, and sixths. Another exercise uses three or more voices . Finally, short chorales can be used as a warm-up or for intonation practice. Have students sustain a chord until its intonation and balance are correct, and then identify the chord root. When unisons and octaves of the root IT^ ; __- - J dfcjWT'rlJiarT- \rf^- W- etc. po chromatically upwards to F and downwards to G Tuning chord members against hass (do also in minor) m 3 " -6 1 \-(m \j =E ^4f=3= etc. :r-4fil match, add the fifth and third. Players should always be able to hear the root of the chord. Harmonic Chord Tuning (do also in minor) - 33E5J t) - i ^ - 1. Go slowly 2. Hear interval before playing 3. Use pitch memory to keep root constant 4. Up &. down in half- step increments The phantom interval is a matter of acoustics and consists of summation and difference tones. Summation tones occur when the frequency levels of both resonant tones combine to produce a soft phantom note. For example, if one pitch has a frequency of 220 cycles per second (cps) and another has 330 cps, a summation tone of 550 cps may result. Likewise, if a perfect fifth (or twelfth) is played, a phantom major third will sound; if a major sixth is in tune, a phantom root will sound. Phantom Intervals: 0 550 cps J 330 cps 2 20 cps 4*-) Suimmation tone Difference tone Here the ghost note represents a differ- ence tone because the difference between the lower (330cps) and the upper notes (550cps) is a lower note of 220 cps. These additional sympathetic overtones add resonance and volume to smaller ensembles. The Treasury of Scales published by Belwin in four parts is an excellent source for working on intonation and ensemble blend. Used together, all four horn books make up complete four-part chorales in all major and minor tonalities. Consistent articulation only devel- ops with practice. To develop a clear and cutting articulation, a horn player should slow the release of the tongue slightly to get a better sound at the beginning of a note. Special articula- tion techniques such as backend tonguing in fast staccato passages help in regard to clarity and projection. The first book of Kopprasch's 60 etudes is good for practicing articulations. Advanced players can perform the studies down an octave to work on the 48 THE INSTRUMENTALIST/NOVEMBER 1999 lower range. When playing in octaves, the lower octave notes will have to be more punctuated and detached to match the higher pitches. Recom- mended articulation studies include numbers 2, 3, and 4, which can be played with optional slurs. Other rec- ommended exercises include 6, 8, 9, and 10. Fast, crisp staccatos are properly articulated by using backend tonguing. Have students slur the passage to work on air flow and finger rhythms. Once the flow has been established, the backend tongue can be used. The release of the tongue is deliberate and makes the note pop out of the instru- ment as the air is momentarily blocked by the repositioning of the tongue. For a more legato sound, the release of the tongue should be quicker. The difficulty with backend tongu- ing is that the tongue should stay down until the last second when it is reposi- tioned for the next release. The result is a full sound. Fat Chunks of Tone TO/TO TO TO TO Air tube sound (toil) will result, or there will be more silence rather than tone on the pitch. Prep study for backend tongue J. 1. Steady, wide air 2. With metronome, time the reposition of the tongue to the click 3. Air must remain constant - one note ends as another begins Slurring exercises will improve fast, technical passages because fast fingers will help the tonguing technique. The following exercises can be used as a prelude to scale work. The first scale sequence should be legato with a large, sonorous tone. After a quick breath and a normal articulation, the soft passage is played with backend tonguing, creating a clean articulation. This study can be done in ascending or descending half-step increments to facilitate key development. Articulation exercise legato Quick reposition and delib- erate tongue release For this technique to work, the tip of the tongue should barely feel the bot- tom edge of the top of the teeth. If the tongue rises too soon either a scooping Because balance problems may occur from poor ensemble seating, set a small group in a straight line or a slight arc and avoid set-ups with bells facing both to and away from the audience. WendeR Hoss helped found a Los Angeles horn ensemble that recorded original works in the 1950s-60s. New Editions - Hot Off the Press! Brass Anthology: The new 1999 edition of The Brass Anthology arrived in June and updates this collection of articles by leading brass players and teachers. Students and teachers will find the last word on warm-ups, articulation, breathing, embouchure, intonation, and literature, $53. Woodwind Anthology: Back in print, the Woodwind Anthology in two volumes is the definitive source of infor- mation on these instruments in 1011 pages. Volume 1 cov- ers flute and general woodwind articles, including some drawn from the pages of Flute Talk. Volume 2 covers clar- inet, saxophone, oboe, and bassoon. These hardbound vol- umes are the heart of woodwind reference libraries and a source of ideas and solutions for teachers and students. The two-volume set is $84, or each volume is available sepa- rately for $49. Also Available: Conductors Anthology, two-volume set, 2052 pages, $89. String Anthology, one volume, 750 pages, $55. Percussion Anthology, one volume, 816 pages, $44- Order a combination set of all seven volumes for only $253, save $72. Prepayment required except schools with purchase orders. Please add $4 per volume for shipping. ($8 per volume for delivery outside the U.S.) Visa/ Mastercard accepted; include account number and expiration date. Illinois residents add 7% sales tax. The Instrumentalist Company 200 Northfield Road, Northfield, Illinois 60093 Phone: 847-446-8550, Fax: 847-446-6263 In a block seating, arrange the ensem- ble to face the audience with the first chair in a position to lead and hear the other horns clearly. If working with eight or more horns, a dual line format is best for uniform timbre and bell projection. In an antiphonal format, have the choirs sep- arated and seated in a mirror image such that the high horns face the center and the low horns play on the outside. Possible seating arrangements and antiphonal seating for horn octets 8765 4321 8743 6521 43 21 57 Horn ensemble music, though edu- cational and fun, expands the range demands of players to demonstrate the powerfully expressive and heroic qual- ity of the instrument's sound. Horn Quartets Grade 2 Quarto for Horns by Acton Ostling is in ABA form and uses the medium range of the horn (horn 1 up to Fl, horn 4 down to C). The first horn has the lead, but all parts have important moments. The A section includes short passages of sixteenth notes for the upper three horns, and the B sec- tion is a march featuring an accompa- niment of staccato quarters. This is a suitable first piece for any ensemble. (Belwin-Mills) Pottag Quartet Album by Max Pottag consists of 24 short arrangements of classical transcriptions, German folk songs, and American patriotic tunes. All parts are written in score format, and the selections are well within the capabilities of second- and third-year students. Block rhythmic movement is featured in most of the pieces. (Range demands: horn 1 up to Fl, horn 4 down to C; Belwin-Mills) Three Short Pieces by A.O. Lively These arrangements use the familiar tunes "Aura Lee," "Greensleeves," and "America, the Beautiful." The pieces are in a homophonic texture with the melody in the first horn. Written in tre- ble clef the fourth horn part is surpris- ingly low, and the ledger lines may con- fuse a young hornist. Also, the part may call for practice with good control and tone to support the rest of the ensem- ble. "Greensleeves" is arranged as a duet with two-part accompaniment, and "America, the Beautiful" features two verses with differing accompaniment styles. (Range demands: horn 1 up to G1, horn 4 down to F; Southern Music) 50 THE INSTRUMENTALIST / NOVEMBER 1999 Introducing the Music Ace Series! Music ACE Helps students succeed by providing an engaging introduction to music fundamentals and theory. Each title includes 24 lessons, 24 games and a Music Doodle Pad composition tool. Music Ace introduces note reading, ear training, major scales and more. Music Ace 2 I W lesson topics include rhythm, melody and an introduction to harmony and intervals. Home, school and studio versions of each title are available. For more information, please visit your favorite music software dealer or call Harmonic Vision at 800-644-4994 HARMONIC VISION. Sufivxirt thai Brings Music to Life?" Download a FREE DEMO at www.harmonicvision.com Heritage Tradition Excellence Music AT MERCER OUTSTANDI NG FACULTY who are specialists in their field. BROAD RANGE of large and small ensembles. UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE offerings varied for undergraduate needs. SCHOLARSHI P OPPORTUNI TI ES. Mercer University encourages students to visit the campus and attend classes and rehearsals before scheduling their audition. for Information and audition schedules, contact: Dr. John Roberts, Chairman Mercer University Department of Music 1400 Coleman Avenue Macon, Georgia 31207 1-800-MERCER-U, Ext. 2749 Roberts JN @Mercer. Edu Mercer University is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music, Mercer University is an equal educational and employment opportunity institution. Band Music Guide As you turn to the concert season, pick up a copy of the Band Music Guide to find the best music for your group. The Band Music Guide contains over 16,000 titles, divided into sec- tions according to composition type, concert band, marching band, col- lections, band methods, solos and ensembles with band, and jazz ensemble. Each entry gives the title, composer/arranger, publisher, and difficulty level of a work, where available. Order your copy for $34 (plus $4 shipping) School purchase orders will be billed; with other orders please enclosed payment. 448 pages, hardbound. The Instrumentalist Co. 200 Northfield Rd., Northfield, III. 60093 Fax: (847) 446-6263 Telephone: (847) 446-8550 Grade 3 Canzona by Fiorenzo Maschera, transcribed by Ronald Dishinger. The 16th-century work is written in treble clef with a modest range for all parts. The parts are equal in difficulty, but their independence may pose a prob- lem for insecure players. This selection would work well with doubled parts. (Range demands: horn 1 up to G2, horn 4 down to E; Medici Music) Cornocopia by Earl Hoffman is a three-movement work in a moderate tempo and distinctly different styles. The first movement features eighth notes passed from one horn to another and short solo passages for every part. The second movement, in triple meter, uses a homophonic texture and changes to a trio in the middle. The last movement is a syncopated chasse with accents and rests. The piece has variety and interest, and all parts are written in treble clef. (Range demands: horn 1, Gl; horn 4 down to Bh Southern) Folk Song Suite arranged by Louis Stout, edited by Christopher Leuba, consists of four short movements of moderate technical difficulty. The sec- ond and fourth horn parts use both tre- ble and bass clefs and alternate parts are written entirely in treble clef. Suitable for contest, the movements are "The Cuckoo," "Oh! Pretty Maid," "Rule Britannia," and "Gum Tree Canoe." The rhythmic interest will satisfy both audiences and performers. (Range demands: horn 1 up to A2, horn 4 down to Bl>; Southern) Four Little Pieces by Rudolph Mayer is a delightful quartet in four con- trasting, short movements. All parts are written in treble clef with mini- mal range and scoring that includes dialogues for contrasting groups of horns. Although written for a grade 3 level, the solid work is suitable for hornists of all ages and is highly rec- ommended. (Range demands: horn 1 up to Gl, horn 4 down to F; Southern) Quartet for Horns by Max Pottag is based on opera leitmotifs by Richard Wagner. As one of the earliest quartet transcriptions available in the., U.S., its difficulty lies in the sudden changes of mood and tempo. A con- ductor is useful for rehearsing, and the work is suitable for an octet. All parts are written in treble clef and familiar- ity with music from Der Ring Des Niebelungen is helpful. (Range demands: horn 1 up to Gl, horn 4 down to C; Belwin-Mills) 5 2 THE INSTRUMENTALIST / NOVEMBER 1999 Guasa". c; f / { c e a n The cho and Sho the INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC AT Office of Admission at 1-888-940-8100 4600 Sunset Ave. Indianapolis. IN 46208 Internet: http://www.butter.edu/music Graduate assistants! James Shaw. April Travers and Molly Nielsen of the Lament Chamber Music program Express yourself, Opportunities to perform abound at Lamont. Professors and students alike share the pass-ton of developing musical talent and bringing out the performance magic. Just ask anyone inside. Call (303) 871-6973, or visit our web site at www.du.edu/lamont for complete information about our Conservatory, University and Jazz & Commercial Music programs. Lamoiit School of Music U N I V E R S I T Y o f D E N V E R Where One Can Aspire To Be. Quartet Repertoire by various com- posers. This collection features a vari- ety of original quartet literature and transcriptions of vocal works by well- known composers. The pieces vary in difficulty, and are suitable for both the middle school and high school levels. The first horn leads each quartet, but all parts show imagination in texture and counterpoint. (Range demands: horn 1 up to Gl, horn 4 down to D; Rubank) Hunter's Delight by Reid Poole is in | ABA form and features the first horn. There is some independence in the treble clef fourth horn part. (Range demands: horn 1 up to Fl, horn 4 down to F; Belwin Mills) Suite for Four Horns by Frances H. McKay has five movements and will challenge younger players with part independence. The scoring stays full throughout each movement. All parts are written in treble clef, and the tempo changes may call for coaching. The first horn dominates the texture in each movement. (Range demands: horn 1 up to Gl, horn 4 down to D\>; Barnhouse) Eldon Matlick is professor of horn at the University of Oklahoma and principal hornist with the Oklahoma City Phil- harmonic Orchestra. He holds a doctorate in brass pedagogy and a master's degree from Indiana University where he studied with Philip Parkas. He received a bache- lor's degree in music education from Eastern Kentucky University. Matlick is a former finalist at the Heldenleben Inter- national Solo Horn Competition. Active as a redtalist and clinician, he appeared in a solo capacity at five international horn symposia, performed with the Nashville Symphony, Louisville, and Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestras, and has held associate or principal horn positions in the Owensboro S^mphon^, Evansville Philharmonic, Lexington Philharmonic, and Paducah Symphony Orchestras. In addition he has been the principal hornist with the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstaadt, Austria. Prior to his tenure at the University of Oklahoma, Matlick taught at Murray State University and developed a successful band program in the Crittenden Community School System in Marion, Kentucky. The majority of material for the body of this article came from conversations with Lowell Shaw, Leigh Martinet, and James Decker. Other material came from the Los Angeles Horn Club website and the Vienna Waldhom Verein Newsletter.
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