RE: [Hornlist] pedagogy / horn singing
Thanks to all who posted their views and helped me out with this project. I'm still finishing it up, but if I end up using any of your info I will be sure to recognize you as the author. Thanks, Matt Menger -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 9:16 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Hornlist] pedagogy / horn singing In response the question about : "pedagogy . . . different viewpoints on various > aspects of . buzzing . . . lip buzzing . . . air . . . articulation" I am a student of the late Earl Saxton. Who had been influenced by Victor C. Kress ( see the brass anthology), the trumpeter from the San Francisco Symphony in the 1950's. Earl made his students sight sing in their lessons. A moderately annoying thing for a high school aged horn player, but of course he was the teacher and we did it. It took me over 20 years to really get a deep understanding of his concept. Quoting from "A singing approach to horn playing" Earl Saxton's Masters thesis, San Francisco State University 1959,: "Unfortunately many of us persist in the theory that concentration upon varying tensions of the lips under air pressure from the lungs in great quantities is the answer to the tone production problem. I struggled with the partial truth for many years before learning that this is a mechanical conception, which, in its state of incompleteness and "cart before the horse" approach is more frustrating than successful." (page B a 1) "Singing on the horn means letting the lips act as vocal cords, and, instead of tightening them muscularly as a primary action and secondarily blowing air across them, think of using exactly the same amount of air to cause those lip vocal cords to resonate as you would use to sing the same tone with your voice. When you are about the sing a tone with your larynx you do not think, "Now I must tighten this to a certain felling, then blow air to make tone come." No, you simply take a breath, think of the tone you want and sing it. Certain involuntary muscular tensions take place - but they are secondary to your thought of the pitch, timbre and volume that you want." - Earl Saxon 1959 One of the important concepts Earl relayed to me was that buzzing on the mouthpiece without the horn uses more tension in the lips that actual horn playing. Once again, you don't tighten your larynx to the right pitch and then blow. Keep your lips relaxed, think of the tone, breath naturally, and play. I think there are many fine players who stress buzzing, but once you learn it, recognize that it is way more tension than we ever would need actually playing the horn. I have found that loud playing and high register play requires quite a bit of practice as you first learn the horn singing method. As soon as you find that you can keep a relaxed embouchure your ability to produce the desired tone increases greatly. In general a natural flow of air from the whole body in a relaxed way is a big part of horn singing, but first is the internal concept of pitch, timbre and volume that you want. Richard Burdick 1st Horn Regina Symphony Orchestra, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada ___ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/menger%40sbcglobal.net ___ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
[Hornlist] pedagogy / horn singing
Hand P offered the following opinion Dynamic: well see Richards letter & the pre-last paragraph I DEFANGED_have DEFANGED_found DEFANGED_that DEFANGED_loud DEFANGED_playing DEFANGED_and DEFANGED_high DEFANGED_register DEFANGED_play DEFANGED_requires DEFANGED_quite DEFANGED_a DEFANGED_bit DEFANGED_of DEFANGED_practice DEFANGED_as DEFANGED_you DEFANGED_first DEFANGED_learn DEFANGED_the DEFANGED_horn DEFANGED_singing method. DEFANGED_As DEFANGED_soonDEFANGED_as DEFANGED_you DEFANGED_find DEFANGED_that DEFANGED_you DEFANGED_can DEFANGED_keep DEFANGED_a DEFANGED_relaxed DEFANGED_embouchure DEFANGED_your DEFANGED_ability DEFANGED_to DEFANGED_produce DEFANGED_theDEFANGED_desired DEFANGED_tone DEFANGED_increases greatly. I can just confirm this. *** Fangs a lot, Hans. (Or, as Beckmesser says, Fanget an!) Gotta go, Cabbage ___ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
RE: [Hornlist] pedagogy / horn singing
Richard, your letter nears a lot of true facts, as do the writings by Earl Saxton, whom I remember well from several meetings weh ad. Singing is the essential of most instrumental playing, no matter what kind of instrument you use. The instrument is just a certain tool to achieve a certain characteristic of the tone, like a megaphone. The singing in the high school choir or the music academy choir or church choir is the best way to learn right sound emission & phrasing (together with learning a bow instrument like viola or violin). If the neck muscles & larynx are not relaxed, no fine tone "might escape the cage of your teeth", like ancient Greeks would say so well. So, why should solfeging (singing la-la-la ) be annoying ? If you have difficulties playing & phrasing a piece, sing it before playing it. It works perfectly. Combined with ear-training. No better way. Buzzing, well, it requires too much tension in the neck & larynx & is not so good for the tone production. Buzing can make the lips too relaxed for exact pitching. Also, BLOWING AIR through the instrument is of evil resulting in a perfect hollow tone or howling like a wolf. I think, you folks will understand this illustration. Articulation, there are some difficulties, off course, based upon the correct pronounce of vowels (more relevant for toneproduction)& (special) consonants: the right "t" & not "th" or better a "d" like "ddong", like a bell initiating the sound with a absolute clear beginning. Younger folks & their teachers seem more concerned about the fast repetitive action like double tongue & triple tongue instead of a super clean single tongue. I am also missing the right "detache" playing, which is separating the notes each other clearly, but keeping the required tempo, e.g. shortening each quarter note of a sequence by one 1/64rth or 1/32th to clearly tongueing the next note, instead of the mostly heard smearing each note with the next one. Disgusting. A-musical. False. Not to talk about musical interpretation here with a self reduced fine phantasy IN STYLE. Dynamic: well see Richards letter & the pre-last paragraph <> I can just confirm this. If you all respect these recommendations, you should play nicely more or less. But there is a vast majority (amateurs, students & professionals) producing sounds most similar to body escape noises or sounding like castrated alto-trombones. Furtunately we find some gems here & there, which give us some hope for the future. == -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 4:16 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Hornlist] pedagogy / horn singing In response the question about : "pedagogy . . . different viewpoints on various > aspects of . buzzing . . . lip buzzing . . . air . . . articulation" I am a student of the late Earl Saxton. Who had been influenced by Victor C. Kress ( see the brass anthology), the trumpeter from the San Francisco Symphony in the 1950's. Earl made his students sight sing in their lessons. A moderately annoying thing for a high school aged horn player, but of course he was the teacher and we did it. It took me over 20 years to really get a deep understanding of his concept. Richard Burdick 1st Horn Regina Symphony Orchestra, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada ___ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/hans.pizka%40t-online.de ___ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
[Hornlist] pedagogy / horn singing
In response the question about : pedagogy . . . different viewpoints on various aspects of . buzzing . . . lip buzzing . . . air . . . articulation I am a student of the late Earl Saxton. Who had been influenced by Victor C. Kress ( see the brass anthology), the trumpeter from the San Francisco Symphony in the 1950s. Earl made his students sight sing in their lessons. A moderately annoying thing for a high school aged horn player, but of course he was the teacher and we did it. It took me over 20 years to really get a deep understanding of his concept. Quoting from A singing approach to horn playing Earl Saxtons Masters thesis, San Francisco State University 1959,: Unfortunately many of us persist in the theory that concentration upon varying tensions of the lips under air pressure from the lungs in great quantities is the answer to the tone production problem. I struggled with the partial truth for many years before learning that this is a mechanical conception, which, in its state of incompleteness and cart before the horse approach is more frustrating than successful. (page B a 1) Singing on the horn means letting the lips act as vocal cords, and, instead of tightening them muscularly as a primary action and secondarily blowing air across them, think of using exactly the same amount of air to cause those lip vocal cords to resonate as you would use to sing the same tone with your voice. When you are about the sing a tone with your larynx you do not think, Now I must tighten this to a certain felling, then blow air to make tone come. No, you simply take a breath, think of the tone you want and sing it. Certain involuntary muscular tensions take place but they are secondary to your thought of the pitch, timbre and volume that you want. Earl Saxon 1959 One of the important concepts Earl relayed to me was that buzzing on the mouthpiece without the horn uses more tension in the lips that actual horn playing. Once again, you dont tighten your larynx to the right pitch and then blow. Keep your lips relaxed, think of the tone, breath naturally, and play. I think there are many fine players who stress buzzing, but once you learn it, recognize that it is way more tension than we ever would need actually playing the horn. I have found that loud playing and high register play requires quite a bit of practice as you first learn the horn singing method. As soon as you find that you can keep a relaxed embouchure your ability to produce the desired tone increases greatly. In general a natural flow of air from the whole body in a relaxed way is a big part of horn singing, but first is the internal concept of pitch, timbre and volume that you want. Richard Burdick 1st Horn Regina Symphony Orchestra, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada ___ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
