Practical Horn Pedagogy!Dr. Abigail Pack

ABC 2017!!

Session 1: The Fundamentals of Posture and Mouthpiece Placement!

Session 2: Embouchure and Tone Production (review and troubleshooting)

Session 3: Technique and Troubleshooting

I. Air and Breathing

“OH”Hot soup, lasagna or [insert favorite hot food of choice]

“OH ➨ TEW”mmmm ➨ pew/tew

***avoid technical explanations and stick to familiar sensations and ideas, such as balloons and wind***

Simple Breathing Exercises

•  check out my warm-up hand-out for breathing patterns

•  hold out your hand in front of your face (or piece of paper) with horn embouchure and aperture to feel stream of cold air

•  BUZZ EVERYTHING ON THE MOUTHPIECE

•  have students do jumping jacks (to get body reacting to needing air as a cardio response, then blow through horn)

•  all breathing exercises should be with a horn embouchure and horn aperture

2. Tongue position and tonguing

•  tip of the tongue to the top of the teeth? (I disagree with this)

•  Say “Tee” “Tu” “Toh” and consider where your tongue touches

•  Does the tongue actually go up and down or back and forth?•  https://youtu.be/zhilJ_Q7AhMGolden Rule: PLAY WHAT SOUNDS GOOD

•  arch the tongue/ say “eee”(cold air)

•  keep tip of tongue to the front of the mouth behind bottom lip

•  blow airstream down the chin/bottom of mouthpiece

•  fast air and tight corners!!!_____________

•  drop tongue/ say “aww”(warm air)

•  drop jaw and open oral cavity

•  blow airstream to center of mouthpiece

•  fast air and tight corners!!!

3. Range (and Tongue Position)

!4. Sound refinement

(intonation, tone and volume)•  What affects pitch?•  room temperature

hot=sharp, cold=flat•  slide placement

in=sharp, out=flat•  right hand position

in=flat, out=sharp•  valve combo/alternate fingerings•  poor use of air•  leadpipe angle and embouchure strength,

mouthpiece pressure, oral cavity

More on that last one….(leadpipe angle and embouchure strength,

mouthpiece pressure, oral cavity)

Facts:-  brass players use too much pressure because their

corners are weak-  brass players leadpipe angles are too high (caveat:

no dental issues) because they are “pinning” the upper lip to hold the buzz

-  if students free buzz and mouthpiece buzz, they will create more strength in the corners

-  there is good pain and bad pain-  good pain=muscle gain-  bad pain=nerve constrain

keep reading…there’s more!

More facts…- the tongue has great influence and control over pitch

- “eee” or closed jaw on a pitch that needs a slowervibration and air stream=sharp

- “aww” or open jaw on a pitch that needs a faster air stream will cause pitch to sag=flat

- pitch will sag, also, from lack of air support (air support means more air, but only if the corners are tight)

And lastly, tone and volume…Fast facts:-  controlled loud playing can only come with strong embouchure-  controlled soft playing can only come with strong embouchure-  controlled tone of ANY kind can only come with…you guessed it,

strong embouchure!!

-  What’s the best way to get a strong embouchure?1)____________ and 2)_____________

-  have students practice long tone patterns with crescendi and decrescendi (include articulated notes in there too)

(Insert another cool demo here)

5. Troubleshooting Basic Technical development/refinement of sound !

other things that help:-  wet lips-  horn off the leg for better control-  lip slurs and arpeggios

-  changing vowel shapes with tongue

(maybe another cool demo?)

and tight corners!

other things that help:- free buzzing and mouthpiece buzzing- LONG TONES- LONG TONES with a tuner- and then more LONG TONES

and tight corners!

3 letter word, starts with “A” (but also)- efficient valves- weight distribution of horn- relaxed posture/right arm/no tension

What to do about!!!

F R A C K S!!!!

AIR!!!!- Arpeggios (articulated and slurred) !

- Buzzing entire passages/etudes/solos on mouthpiece"

- feeling and hearing pitches !!

(could be a good time for cool demo)

Questions and

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