Seth Orgel
sorgel1@lsu.edu
(225)
578-1409
Teacher:
Seth Orgel- Phone #’s Home 272-6359, Office 578-1409,
Email: harrisorgel@cox.net
Meeting times: TBA, Room 319 School of Music.
Required
Materials:
Instrument in good working order
Mouthpiece
Metronome
Tuner
Materials (oils, lubricants, screwdriver) to maintain
instrument
Music, etudes, excerpts, solo that are assigned throughout
the semester
Music must be ordered in a timely manner
Suggested
Materials:
Playback/recording system
Breathing bag or breath building device
King, The
Brass Player’s Guide or
online sheet music services.
Course
of Study:
Rather
than set a defined course of study for each year, a
progressive approach for each student will be used
utilizing but not limited to the following methods, etudes,
solos and excerpts. All
major and minor scales must be learned as outlined in the
board exam requirements (see attached). As an initial
reference guide The
Art of French Horn Playing by
Philip Farkas is excellent. Competency in transposition and
basic technique should be established, usually with
Kopprasch
60 Etudes for horn. Basic
skills are easily practiced with Schantl
Grand Theoretical and Practical Method for Valve
Horn. Solid
incremental etudes for daily practice are
Maxime-Alphonse Deux
Cents Etudes Nouvelles Vols.
1-6. Also Brophy Technical
Studies is an
excellent source of everyday exercises. These books
are
required, others
will be assigned as necessary for each student.
Additional basic etudes include:
DeGrave Etudes
for Modern Valve Horn
Gallay 22
Studies
Gallay 24
Studies
Singer Embouchure
Building
More
Difficult Etudes:
Barboteau Etudes
Classiques
Belloli 8
Studies
Gallay
12
Etudes Brilliantes
Gallay 12
Grand Caprices
Gallay
12
Studies for Second Horn
Gallay
40
Studies
Gugel
12
Studies
Kling
40
Studies
Neuling
30
Special Studies for Low Horn
Reynolds 48
Etudes
Basic Solo Repertoire:
Beethoven Sonata
Dukas Villanelle
Glazunov Reveries
Haydn Concerti
Hindemith Sonata
Mozart Concerti and Concert Rondo
Saint-Saens Morceau
de Concert, Romance
F. Strauss Concerto
R. Strauss Concerto #1
More Difficult, Less Standard Solo Repertoire:
Berge Horn
Lokk
Bozza En
Foret, Sur Les Chimes
Buyanovsky Espana
Cherubini
Sonatas
Gliere
Concerto, Intermezzo,
Nocture, Romance
Heiden
Sonata
Hindemith Concerto
Jacob Concerto
Ketting Intrada
Larsson
Concertino
Madsen Sonata
Poulenc Elegy
Reynolds
Partita
Rosetti
Concerti
Saint-Saens Romance
in E
Schumann
Adagio
and Allegro
F. Strauss Nocturno
R. Strauss Andante,
Concerto #2
Telemann Concerto
Weber
Concertino
Orchestral
Excerpts to be taken from the following list:
* denotes very likely on auditions
(Thompson The Orchestral Audition Repertoire for Horn,
Highly recommended)
Bach
Brandenberg
Concerto #1*
Mass in b minor*
Beethoven
Symphony
#1
Symphony #2
Symphony #3*
Symphony #4
Symphony #5
Symphony #6*
Beethoven
Symphony
#7*
Symphony #8*
Symphony #9*
Overture to Fidelio*
Piano
Concerto #5
Berlioz
Symphonie
Fantastique
Scherzo “Queen
Mab”
from Romeo and Juliet*
Brahms
Symphony
#1*
Symphony #2*
Symphony #3*
Symphony #4*
Piano Concerto #1*
Piano Concerto #2*
Academic Festival Overture
Tragic Overture
Variations on Themes of Haydn
Bruckner
Symphony
#4*
Symphony #7
Symphony #8
Symphony #9
Excerpts
(cont.)
Debussy
La
Mer
Dvorak
Symphony
#7
Symphony #9*
Cello Concerto
Frank
Symphony
in d minor
Haydn
Symphony
#31*
Hindemith
Symphony
“Mathis der Mahler”
Humperdinck
Haensel
und Gretel
Liszt
Les
Preludes
Mahler
Symphony
#1*
Symphony #2
Symphony #3
Symphony #4
Symphony #5*
Symphony #6
Symphony #7
Symphony #9*
Mendelssohn
Midsummer
Night’s Dream*
Symphony #3*
Mozart
Symphony
#29*
Symphony #39
Symphony #40*
Excerpts
(cont.):
Mussorgsky
Pictures
at an Exhibition*
Prokofieff
Symphony
#5
Romeo and Juliet Suites*
Ravel
Piano
Concerto in G*
Pavane for a Dead Princess
Rimsky-Korsakov
Scheherazade
Capriccio Espanol
Rossini
Overture to Barber
of Seville
Overture
to Semiramide
Overture
to La
Gazza Ladra
Saint-Saens
Symphony
#3*
Schubert
Symphony
#9*
Schumann
Symphony
#3*
Shostakovich
Symphony
#5*
Cello Concerto #1
Strauss
Don
Juan*
Don Quixote*
Ein Heldenleben*
Suite from Der Rosenkavalier
Salome
Till Eulenspiegel*
Excerpts(cont.):
Stravinsky
Divertimento
from Fairy’s Kiss*
Firebird Suite*
Petrouchka
The Rite of Spring
Tchaikovsky
Symphony
#1
Symphony #2
Symphony #4*
Symphony #5*
Wagner
Lohengrin
(Act
III)*
Die
Meistersinger
Overture to Das Rheingold*
Overture to The Flying Dutchman*
Siegfried (Long
Call)
Rhine
Journey (Short
Call)*
Weber
Overture to Der
Freischutz*
Overture to Oberon
All music performance majors must present a senior recital
for graduation. Music education majors are strongly
encouraged to perform a recital, especially if they plan on
continued study in their applied instrument at the graduate
level. Senior and Graduate Recitals will include solo and
chamber music representing at least three different periods
of musical history, and as many performance styles as
possible. The total length should be approximately one hour
and not less than forty-five minutes.
Additional Information
Attendance:
Attendance
at each lesson is mandatory. Students are allowed only one
absence per semester. Students who must miss a lesson must
notify me at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled lesson
to receive an excused absence. Only legitimate excuses will
be accepted. Unexcused absences will not be made up and
will lower the final grade in direct proportion to the
number of unexcused absences accumulated.
Students are encouraged to attend a great variety of
performances throughout the year. All assigned excerpts and
solos are to be studied via listening to live performances
or recordings as well as personal practice.
Grading:
Your
grade will be based upon a subjective analysis of your
effort as well as progress throughout the semester. Weekly
lessons will determine 50% of your lesson grade. The
remaining 50% of your grade for the semester comes from the
average of your scores given by the rest of the
Brass
and
Percussion area faculty during your Board Examination. The
first 50% and the second 50% average will be combined to
produce a grade for the semester.
Performances:
Students
are expected to attend their colleagues recitals and
faculty recitals whenever possible especially in the brass,
wind, and percussion areas. Attendance at piano, string,
vocal, or composition recitals is strongly encouraged.
Failure to do so may adversely affect grades.
Certain recitals throughout the semester will be mandatory.
Special
Notice:
If you have special needs as addressed by the Americans
with Disabilities Act and need special arrangements for
this class, you should contact me or the ADA Coordinator
for the School of Music at 578-3261. Reasonable efforts
will be made to accommodate your special needs.
Please read your School of Music Student Handbook.
READ AND KEEP THIS SYLLABUS.
Horn
Syllabus
Basic Breathing
Physiology
Some basic physical concepts:
1.
Lungs--your
lungs are elastic and want to collapse
2.
Diaphragm--according
to doctors your diaphragm is an involuntary muscle, much
like the heart and we may not be able to control it. If it
can be pulled downward as many of us have been taught to
do, it’s natural state is belled up and it will
automatically try to revert to that state, pushing air out
of the lungs without undue effort.
3.
Chest/external intercostals--the
external intercostals are the muscles around the ribs that
allow us(with many other muscle groups) to expand and
contract our ribcage. Once you have expanded the chest it
acts like a spring and naturally wants to contract.
4.
Breathing results
from a difference in air pressure. In other words, if the
air pressure within the lungs is less than the pressure
outside of the body we would want to breathe in and vice
versa.
Abdominal
and Thoracic (chest/diaphragm):
Some important concepts to understand are that compared to
the diaphragm the chest walls contact four times as much
lung surface.
In other words, if you only think about the
diaphragm(abdomen) when breathing you are missing 80% of
your opportunity to expand the lungs.
What’s
the point?
Two very important things stand out when teaching and
learning breathing:
1. Don’t confine your breathing effort to just the
diaphragm. By far the greatest effect one can have on the
lungs is through expanding the chest walls--predominantly
by using the external intercostals.
2. Your body and lungs are set up in an extremely efficient
manner for breathing.
Once the thoracic and abdominal cavities have been expanded
they all want to collapse to move air out of the body. The
diaphragm wants to move up, chest and lungs want to
collapse and air pressure will try to equalize.
This all happens with
VERY LITTLE EFFORT! Of
course as the instrument generates more and more resistance
more effort may need to be applied. In other words, as you
move up from tuba to trumpet the instrument is more
resistant, requiring greater effort to be expended to move
the air out. While this is true, it is important to try and
emulate the most natural and unforced circumstance--the
tuba. The more pushing and forcing you do, the more tension
and effort will be conveyed in the sound.
Breathing
Exercises
1. Bend over breath
Bend
over and breathe in while standing up using an
“O” syllable
feeling the air filling both chest and
abdomen
2. Breathing using a bag
Using a
bag of between 4-6 liters, inhale and exhale, all within
the bag on measured counts. The bag helps to limit
hyperventilation. **Careful bags easily become germ
colonies**
3.
Power breathing
Blow out
bringing hands together in front of chest, blowing hard
into your hands.
Inhale while bringing hands back to wards your shoulders.
Repeat 10 times, relatively fast. Be very careful this will
make you quite dizzy.
4. Chest and abdomen practice
Place
both thumbs with palms down on your sternum.
First
concentrate on the lower half(abdomen) by breathing in and
bringing your hand down towards your hips, then the upper
half(chest) by breathing in and bringing your hand up
towards your chin. Finally both while moving hands apart.
5.
Hour glass or subdivision breathing
a. Move
your hands up over your head while inhaling and down while
exhaling in a measured count. b. stretch out one arm
straight and inhale while bringing it all the way in using
a measured count.
6. Metronome breathing
Start
with the metronome set at quarter = 60. Blow out for 3
beats, inhale for one; blow out for 7 eighths, in for one,
etc. Metronome speed can be moved up, can also be done on
mouthpiece.
7.
Paper test
Put a
piece of paper on the wall. By exhaling and inhaling
rapidly through the mouth hold it there without your hands.
8.
Steady air
Hold a
small piece of paper in front of you and using either
mouthpiece buzzing or exhaling keep it at a steady angle.
9. Reversed mouthpiece
Reverse
the mouthpiece and practice the actual articulated notes,
licks or patterns using just the air articulation.
Concentrate on the exact front and shape of note you would
like. (Doesn’t work well on trumpet mouthpieces)
10.
Exercises on steady exhalation
With the
metronome at quarter = 60 pick exact counts (10, 20, 30,
40, etc.) and empty your lungs of a full breath completely
in the allotted time. Concentrate on very steady air for
the exact allotted time(s).
Exercise
Introduction and Philosophy
These
exercises are a point of departure. Everyone is different,
with different strengths and weaknesses. Each person will
need different amounts of practice in different areas. Some
things are really best practiced everyday, lip trills for
example, others may not need everyday practice. For most of
us, consistent, thoughtful, everyday practice of all of the
aspects of playing is the key to steady improvement.
A warm-up and exercise practice can take care of setting
good fundamental habits in playing for each day, but unless
there is a lot of rehearsal/performance playing that day
more things must be practiced. Etudes, solos, excerpts,
chamber music must be worked on as a steady diet. A great
deal of learning can also take place listening to
music--all
kinds.
Finally, most of the information here is technical in
nature. Keep in mind that the goal is to utilize that
technique and forget it all to make the audience feel or
think or see something that they would not have without the
music.
Ideas
on Basics and Practice
Breathing:
Breathe in quietly and deeply—noise generally implies
some kind of tension.
Keep throat open for relaxed, free air flow.
Try to keep the breath as much like inhaling and exhaling
as possible-warm air.
Even though there is inhaling and exhaling, try to make it
into one operation, not two.
Don’t hold your breath between inhaling and starting
the note, it can make the air tight.
Set-up:
Place mouthpiece on relaxed lips
Disturb embouchure as little as possible when breathing
Air is necessary for starts not just the tongue
Keep chin very pointed and firm
The chin and area in a circle around chops or corners
should be very strong/firm.
Troubleshooting:
Sing it, buzz it, play it.
Going back and forth between the horn and the mouthpiece
can be a very
helpful
practice technique.
Sometimes, just practice the air—legato or
articulated.
Go from
mouthpiece to horn; longer and slower to faster and
shorter;
slurred
to tongued; middle range to more extremes.
Baby
steps. Start with what you can truly do and then take small
“baby
steps” towards your goal.
Buzzing Exercise
This is
a great warm-up exercise. While using easy relaxed breaths,
buzz the mouthpiece in the suggested patterns. Try for
glissandi that leave absolutely no spaces. Particularly in
the middle range there may be places where the chops do not
want to vibrate. Try to get rid of these “dead
spots.” Work to feel very constant air flow and lip
vibration while focusing the buzz as much as possible. Make
sure your breathing is relaxed and rhythmical.
Work from the middle range outward and extend the range
until as much of the playing range of the horn as possible
is covered. Air attacks are great to practice very relaxed
breathing.
Notes on Buzzing exercises:
Breath in and out with a yawn-type breath
Think of a funnel in your head
The big end back towards your throat
The small end at your chops
Use the open throat via the yawn breath to resonate the
entire inside of your head.
Make your ears itch from the inside.
Keep chin firm and pointed
Smooth slurs—gliss, don’t bump
Clear articulations—get to the vowel quickly
Don’t over use your tongue
You may cover mouthpiece a bit to aid in the low notes
Click
below to download:
Buzz
Exercise
Articulation Exercise
This
exercise is designed to facilitate easier and more
consistent articulations throughout the range of the horn.
Initial effort should be spent on making articulations with
the tongue as comfortable and relaxed as those done with an
air attack. Specifically, when using the tongue try not to
hold your breath or close the throat. A good idea is to
think of breathing, inhalation and exhalation, as one
single process rather than two. Air is must be used to make
good articulations.
Practice with just clear tounging and air with no horn
might be helpful.
Start doing this exercise in a comfortable range at a
comfortable dynamic, then gradually expand range and
dynamics. Air attacks in extreme ranges can greatly improve
security and consistency.
Click
below to download:
Articulation
Exercise
Bend
Exercise
The Bend
Exercise is helpful in developing more focus, as well as
compacting the ranges.
It also may be helpful in balancing firmness and
relaxation.
Always bend with the lips only in the quarter note pattern
G-F#-G. Use regular valve combinations for the rest, but
try to feel the same constant air flow and buzz vibration
required in the bend. Try not to move anymore than is
necessary.
Multiple keys are a good option. Practice on the mouthpiece
alone also glissing between all notes and trying to focus
the buzz as much as possible.
Click below to download:
Bend
Exercise
Legato
Slurs
This
exercise is taken directly from The
Art of French Horn Playing by
Philip Farkas.
Good legato slurs are produced by using very smooth, steady
air and keeping the ranges well connected to each other.
Using the natural harmonic fingering series
(0,2,1,12,23,13,123) play the slurs with grace notes as
printed. The grace notes should be produced smoothly as a
product of making good slurs between the octaves, not so
much in an effort to produce all of the written notes.
Mouthpiece practice of this exercise, as with many things,
can help solve problems and increase the efficiency of the
exercise. On the mouthpiece gliss between notes trying to
hit everything in-between. Maintain steady, relaxed air,
and constant, focused buzz.
Click
below to download:
Legato
Exercise
Lip
Trill Exercises
There
are two trill exercises, one to work on the quality and
evenness of the trill slurs and the other to work on trill
speed. Lip trills generally only improve over time (weeks
or months) and require very consistent, daily practice, for
a few minutes per day.
Exercise #1:
This is directly from The
Art of French Horn Playing by
Philip Farkas.
Concentrate on very even, clean slurs. Keep the air very
steady and free.
Try to reduce unnecessary facial movement. Make sure to
work trills throughout the range from written
“E” (123) up to approximately “G”
an octave higher. Strive for good sound. Use a metronome to
help gauge progress.
Exercises #2 and #3:
These exercises were suggested in conversations with a
number of my colleagues. They are intended to increase the
speed of the lip trill and also the ability to start a
trill quickly. Start with one loop (C-D-C) as fast as you
can make the notes clearly understandable--no bad tone or
slurs. When this is accomplished add another loop, and so
on until a fast easy trill is comfortable and reliable.
Everyday practice on lip trills is essential for good
progress.
Click
below to download:
Lip Trills
Exercise
Middle
Range
Again,
taken and arranged from The
Art of French Horn Playing by
Philip Farkas.
The middle range and middle low range can be a very
problematic area on the horn. As usual Farkas offers very
useful and productive ways to work. I have inverted his
patterns to facilitate making it easier to relate the
middle range to a more comfortable, settled playing range.
In other words keep relating to the range above horn middle
“C”and keep shifts to a minimum. Also, I have
slightly reordered the exercise to make the change to lower
range work more gradual.
As with lip trills, focus at first, on making very clean
accurate slurs with steady, relaxed air. Initially,
don’t play too loud. Wait for greater focus before
increasing dynamics. Practice on the mouthpiece would be
beneficial.
Click
below to download:
Mid
range
Tonguing
Exercise
This
exercise is to practice tonguing at a variety of speeds and
ranges. It is specifically helpful in developing a faster
tongue. Start in the middle range and work outward with
both range, and dynamics.
Initially, the tongue stroke should be very long and
relaxed, with the front of the note staying very clear.
Faster tongue speed can be achieved by keeping the tongue
relaxed and by gradually increasing metronome speed.
Tonguing at a given speed, than gradually increasing the
speed until failure while possibly both boring and
fatiguing can show very good results. Remember good
tonguing and articulation is a product of good relaxed
air.
Click below to download:
Tonguing
Exercise
Long
Tones
Long
tones are some of the most strenuous exercises that can be
done. Do not start doing them for too long, but gradually
increase the amount of time spent. Since long tones can
tire the chops so much, they might be better practiced at
the end of the day to avoid playing too much on tired
chops.
Cover the entire range of the instrument, arpeggios in
different keys are a good way to organize them. For
variety, try slurring up or down a half step at the peak of
the crescendo.
Set the metronome at quarter note = 60; five beats
crescendo, five beats decrescendo. Keep the tone centered
and steady at all dynamics. Keep the air free, relaxed and
steady. Try to accomplish the dynamic changes by changing
the aperture size, not the air stream.
Many times after long tones or a particularly taxing
playing day, it is good to do a short warm down to loosen
the chops, much the same as an athlete stretches after a
workout.
Click
below to download:
Long Tone
Exercise
Scale
Warm-Up Exercise
Combining
aspects of tonguing exercises, legato slurs and basic scale
practice this is an easy way to combine some basic practice
and get warmed up. Use all of the basic scales, minor or
major, and a variety of tempi. During warm-up it can be
very helpful to use a metronome early on to help develop a
strong sense of rhythm. Breathe in rhythm and try to stay
relaxed. Also try to make all ranges feel as close together
as possible.
Click below to download:
Scale
Warm-up
Warm
Down
Warming
down is something that has always been debated. I find it
very helpful when doing a lot of playing, abrupt changes in
the amount of playing, when getting back in shape, or for
sore chops.
The logic here is to simply give the lips a massage. I
prefer playing in the extreme low range for about ten
minutes as the absolute last playing of the day.
Don’t play loud, just soft relaxed noodling in the
pedal range.
Exercise #1:
This is from Embouchure
Building by
Joseph Singer It’s his extreme pedal range exercise.
Play each pass up to ten times and play the pattern to as
low as possible.
Exercise #2:
Kopprasch Etudes softly down an octave. Pick whichever ones
are comfortable and fun.
Click below to download:
Warm
Down
Major
Scales
Natural
Minor Scales
Harmonic
Minor Scales
Melodic
Minor Scales
Board
Examinations*
Brass and Percussion
1. Final
examinations, or board exams, are held at the end of each
semester during exam week. All Applied Music students are
expected to perform an exam. This performance is graded by
a panel consisting of members of the Applied Brass and
Percussion faculty of the School of Music. A time and place
will be announced at least two weeks prior to the exam. It
is the student’s responsibility to find a piano
accompanist and to sign up for a time slot for the exam.
Make certain your accompanist is available at the assigned
time. A repertoire form will be picked up in the School of
Music office and completed by the student prior to the
exam. This will be turned in at the exam.
2. In the final examination performance, the jury
may
request all or
part of the technical materials assigned over the course of
the semester as well as any scales assigned for that
semester or any previous semester. Scales for the first
three semesters will be heard and graded by the professor.
Failure to pass the semester’s scale assignments will
result in a board exam grade of no higher than a
“C”. In addition, the jury will hear the piece
assigned for that board exam. At the Junior, Senior, and
Graduate level sight-reading will also be included. A grade
is assigned by each member of the jury and these grades are
averaged (the applied teacher’s grade counts 50% of
the final grade) and a grade for the semester is given. At
the discretion of the professor, this final exam grade can
be raised or lowered by one letter grade depending upon the
professor’s objective opinion of the student’s
work over the course of the semester.
3. The final examination at the end of the sophomore year
is a barrier exam for all music performance and music
education majors. All memorized scales and an assigned solo
will be performed and passed, and an average grade of
“A” or “B” must have been
maintained throughout the four semesters of applied study
to pass the barrier exam. At the conclusion of the
examination of each prospective junior music student, the
jury will decide through discussion if the student is
capable of achieving junior standing. This decision will be
announced to the candidate soon after the completion of the
candidate’s examination. The previous awarding of
passing grades is not to be construed as a guarantee of
admission to junior standing in the School of Music, nor is
admission to the junior standing in any other division of
the University to be construed as a guarantee of admission
to junior standing in the School of Music. The decision of
the jury is an objective one and
their decision is final.
As of 8/03 barrier scale exams will be performed for a
video camera and may be taken at any time during the
students first 2 years, with the instructor’s
permission. If scales have not been passed at that time the
student will be permitted one last attempt at their barrier
jury.
*Louisiana State University brass department faculty
guidelines.
-38-
Brass
and Percussion Area Procedures for the Barrier Exam
Beginning Fall 2003 Semester
The area scale requirements will remain the same for the
Barrier exam. Each student in their fourth semester of
study must display proficiency in a random selection of the
48 possible scales (major, melodic minor, harmonic minor,
and natural minor). They must be performed in the
eight-note and sixteenth-note pattern (tongued up and
slurred down) at a minimum of quarter note = 76 beats per
minute. Percussionists will perform scales and appropriate
rudiments as determined by the Professor of Percussion.
Each student will register to take the barrier exam at
midterm time with the Area Coordinator. The exam will
happen within a two-week period of time after midterm week.
The students will perform a randomly selected set of 8
scales for a video camera in a predetermined location.
These exams will be recorded and viewed by the area
faculty. One week after the video taping of these exams,
the Area Coordinator will notify each student as to their
status on the exam. Those students passing the exam at this
point need to only play their solo in the final phase of
their barrier exam (during juries in exam week) at the end
of the semester. Students not passing their scales at
midterm time will have one final opportunity to perform
their scales in the jury at the end of the semester in
addition to their solo. Students not passing their scales
at the end of their fourth semester of study will not be
allowed to continue their studies in the brass and
percussion area.
The student must pass the barrier exam on both their scales
and their solo. If the scales are passable, but the solo is
not, the student may have until the beginning of the
following semester to improve their solo performance.
Following this do-over on their solo at the beginning of
their fifth semester, the student will either be allowed to
continue study, or be counselled out of the program
depending on the outcome of their solo performance.