The Horn Call November 1976 Volume VII, Number 1

Hoss, Wendell. "Drills and Devices in Playing the Horn." 9-10.

Hoss suggests a number of daily exercises and variations of common drills. (Ped)

Root, Rebecca. "The Psychology of Brass Playing." 11-14.

The author discusses many of the psychological games which are played by brass players. Goals such as being better than other hornists, attaining perfection, looking good when playing, or playing so that you can be with your friends are each discussed and dismissed as being misdirected. She instead stresses the need for avoiding over-analysis while striving to attain the most musically satisfying performance possible. (Hea, Ped)

Riggio, Suzanne. "An American in Switzerland." 18-19.

A series of observations about the First International Brass Congress and the Eighth Annual Horn Workshop at Montreux is presented. (WkSh)

Hardin, Burton E. "Tracking the Wild Horn." 20-24.

Hardin tells of his experience recording the LP "Burt Hardin Plays it All" on which he plays all the parts on a number of horn ensemble pieces. The difficulties of multi-track recording are highlighted and many helpful hints are offered to aid others who may wish to undertake similar projects. (Rec)

Merewether, Richard. "'Bad Notes' in Horns." 26-27.

In response to Leuba's article on inserting objects into the horn to fix problem notes (HC VI/1), Merewether points out that this practice was common early in the twentieth century when unsatisfactory instruments were in wide use, but that with today's improved horns, these inserts are no longer necessary and should be avoided. (Acc, Acou, Tech)

Merewether, Richard. "Even More about Open and Stopped Horns." 28.

The author attempts to clarify points made in his previous article (HC V/2) and answer questions raised by Aebi (HC VI/2). (Acou, MtSt)

Bradley, Mary E. "The Establishment of Performance Practice for the Horn." 29-31.

The following two questions are analyzed in this article: 1) When did players begin using the right hand to alter pitches? 2) Why is the modern horn fingered with the left hand? Bradley theorizes that using the hand in the bell to manipulate pitches probably originated long before Hampl's alleged discovery of this method. She also believes that the traditional manner of holding early horns with the bell to the player's right led to the adoption of the right hand for use in the bell and, subsequently, the left for operating the valves. (Hist, NtHn)

Mansur, Paul. "International Brass Congress I." 32-34.

The gathering at Montreux of the IHS, T.U.B.A., International Trumpet Guild, and International Trombone Association is described and analyzed. (WkSh)

Larkey, Amy. "Gustav Heim and the Waldhorn Quartette." 34-41.

This group, made up of the horn quartet and principal trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was active in the years around 1900. Reviews of performances, a list of their repertoire, and a biographical sketch of each player is included. (Bio, Ens, Hist)

Brophy, William R. "The Use of Third Valve Fingerings on the Horn." 41-44.

Brophy discusses two general categories where the use of third valve alone may be beneficial: 1) facilitating smoothness or ease of fingerings, such as certain grace notes, valve trills, or quick notes; and 2) improving intonation. (Tech, Tun)

Agrell, Jeffrey. "An Indexed Bibliography of Periodical Articles on the Horn (Part II)." 45-51.

Subject headings include: 6) bibliographies of books and articles on the horn, 7) breathing and breath control, 8) discographies, 9) the double horn, 10) embouchure, 11) high register, 12) history, 13) horn chords, 14) horn ensembles, 15) horn players, 16) jazz & rock, 17) lip trills, 18) low register, 19) maintenance and repair, 20) manufacturers, 21) methods and studies, 22) mouthpiece, and 23) music for horn. (Bib)

Ceccarossi, Domenico. "Phrasing." 53-54.

Ceccarossi presents a brief history of the art of phrasing and then laments current players' interpretive skills while championing his own. (Hist, Tech)

Cowan, Thomas. "Profile: Interview with Charles Kavalovski." 62-67.

Kavalovski, principal horn with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, discusses his background and education, both in music and nuclear physics (in which he holds a doctorate). He also talks about his concept of horn sound, equipment, teaching, and his approach to daily practice. (Bio, Ped, Tn)

Leuba, Christopher. "Recordings." 68-72.

A discography of works for horn and piano compiled by Douglas Hill is presented. Organization is by composer with performers and label numbers provided. (Disc)

The Horn Call May 1977 Volume VII, Number 2

Hynninen, Mikko. "Hornplaying in Finland." 12-15.

The state of horn playing in Finland is briefly described and topics such as the country's orchestras, types of horns used, and the nation's musical heritage are discussed. (NtSty)

Tuttle, William. "How I Saved $20.00, Freshened My Room and Made a Mute." 16.

The process of turning a Renuzit Solid Air Freshener into a brass transposing mute is described. (Eqmt, MtSt)

Murray, Thomas. "The Four Mozart Horn Concertos." 18-20.

The author looks at the lighthearted relationship between Mozart and the hornist Leitgeb. He also discusses the two versions of the fourth concerto, the original and an elongated version from 1886. (Hist, Rep)

Duskin, Joel W. "The Genius and the Hornist." 20-22.

The friendship of Mozart and the hornist Leutgeb is discussed. Many of the comments directed towards Leutgeb in Mozart's manuscripts are included. (Hist, Rep)

Mansur, Paul M., ed. "Orchestral Personnel Performance Standards and Achievement Criteria." 23.

This is a humorous look at the personalities of the various sections of the orchestra. (Hum)

Gregory, Robin. "The Horn in Beethoven's Symphonies." 25-31.

Beethoven's use of the horn in his symphonies and his role in re-establishing it as a melodic instrument is analyzed in this reprint from the October 1952 issue of Music and Letters. His choice of crooks, frequency of stopped notes, voicings, and range requirements are examined, both in his overall style, and in each of his nine symphonies. (Hist, NtHn, Rep)

Chesebro, Gayle. "An Analysis of Bujanovski's Sonata for Horn Solo." 32.

Chesebro presents an analysis of this four-movement work composed in 1974. Excerpts are shown and some fingerings are recommended to aid the performer. (Rep)

Earnest, Christopher. "The Horn: Stopped, Muted, and Open." 34-46.

This thorough and well organized article attempts to clear up confusion about the acoustics of the horn in its stopped, muted, and open states. A review of the basic physics of sound waves and standing waves leads into a discussion of open and closed pipes and wave reflections. Muted and stopped horn are then discussed, with the author stating that hand-stopping shortens the tube, raising the pitch by a half-step. The concluding section explains some of the mathematics used to reach these conclusions. (Acou, MtSt)

Agrell, Jeffrey. "An Indexed Bibliography of Periodical Articles on the Horn (Part III Concluded)." 48-55.

Subject headings include: 24) muting and stopping, 25) national styles, 26) performance practice, 27) recording techniques, 28) right hand use, 29) scoring for horn, 30) terminology: 'horn' vs. 'French horn', 31) tone, 32) transposition, 33) tuning and intonation, 34) type or make of horn, 35) valves, 36) warm-ups, 37) workshops and clinics, 38) miscellaneous, and 39) unclassified. (Bib)

Byrne, Joan S. "Moldau Journey." 65-67.

A mother describes her feelings as her son, a sixth grader with braces on his teeth, plays Smetana's The Moldau in a youth orchestra in which the other three hornists are high school seniors. (Misc)

Leuba, Christopher. "Recordings." 69-72.

Leuba discusses the difficulties of recording an accurate horn sound and lists nine recordings of varying types. (Disc, Rec)

The Horn Call November 1977 Volume VIII, Number 1

Riggio, Suzanne. "Insights in F." 22-30.

Riggio chronicles the events of the International Horn Workshop IX in Hartford, Connecticut. (WkSh)

Orval, Francis. "Lecture at I.H. Workshop IX." 36-39.

Orval speaks of the importance that phonetics may have in the articulation and expression of musical diction. He advocates use of the vocal technique of pronouncing syllables and vowels and then transferring this to horn playing. (Ped, Tech)

Kirby, Percival R. "Horn Chords: An Acoustical Problem." 40-42.

The technique of producing chords by playing one pitch while singing another is described. The appearance of additional notes (sum and difference tones) is explained and examples of possible chords are given. (Acou, Tech)

Agrell, Jeffrey. "A Tentative Bibliography of Masters' Theses and Doctoral Dissertations." 44-47.

Agrell lists forty masters' theses and eleven doctoral dissertations. (Bib)

Leuba, Christopher. "Recordings Section." 48-51. (Disc)

Lauriston, Michael. "New Leadership in the I.H.S.: Douglas Hill." 52-53.

Incoming IHS president Douglas Hill is profiled and his thoughts on the direction the IHS will take are discussed. (Bio, IHS)

Chesebro, Gayle. "Music in Manuscript." 56-58.

Compositions or arrangements available from the following composers are reviewed: Christopher Leuba, Robert Hall Lewis, Gordon Stout, Eugene Bozza, Randall Faust, and Erwin Chandler. (Rep)

Cowan, Tom. "Profile: Interview with Philip Farkas for Horn Call." 60-68.

Farkas discusses his background, playing and teaching career, conductors and teachers who were influential in his career, his philosophy of horn sound, and his thoughts on warm-up and practice. (Bio, Eqmt, Ped, Tn, Wmup)

Conti-Entin, Carol. "Two Teaching Aids for Horn." 70-73.

The author presents a fingering chart based on the harmonic series that shows all available fingerings and their pitch tendencies. She also includes a partial index for the Pottag-Andraud Selected Melodious Progressive and Technical Studies for French Horn (blue and red books). (Ped, Tech, Tun)

Farkas, Philip. "Conquering Nervousness or 'Stagefright'." 74-78.

This reprint of a chapter from Farkas's book The Art of Musicianship details his ideas on overcoming stagefright. By repeatedly practicing a passage which has already been mastered he believes that the mind can be programmed to help insure performance success. He also proposes concentrating on relaxation during performances and taking every available opportunity to perform in public so that the feeling caused by performance situations become more familiar and less frightening. (Hea, Ped)

Winter, James H. "Pills and other Medicaments: Caution!" 86-87.

After experiencing the effects of an antihistamine which caused his upper lip to become severely swollen, the author recommends always inquiring about possible side-effects when medications are required. (Hea)

The Horn Call May 1978 Volume VIII, Number 2

Kilpinen, Eero. "Condition of Teeth and Periodontium in Male Wind Instrument Players in the City of Helsinki." 17-18.

This study of the teeth and their supporting tissues used 214 male subjects, all of whom were members of Helsinki orchestras. It concludes that there were very few dental problems caused by wind instrument playing and that those problems seen were very slight. (Hea)

Irving, David. "Instrumental Wind Playing and Speech Production." 19-27.

Irving looks at the similarities between the processes used in correct speech production and wind instrument playing. The basic fundamentals of both (breath control, relaxation of the neck, shoulders, and throat, and use of the mouth) are discussed, and the views of leading authorities in the instrumental, vocal, and speech fields are compared concerning these fundamentals. (Brea, Ped)

Beach, Robert F. "A Search for Better Intonation." 28-37.

The author presents a mathematical analysis of the horn's intonation tendencies relative to the tempered scale. Tables are included which show the percentage of difference between the frequencies of the harmonics of the F/B-flat horn and the corresponding notes of the tempered scale. Based on this, he recommends ratios of lengthening for each valve and their combinations. After concluding that the horn, even when properly tuned, needs much help from the lip and hand to achieve correct intonation, the author presents a useful fingering chart showing tendencies (in percentages) of standard fingerings and then recommends alternate fingerings for problem notes. Also included is a fingering system for the five-valve B-flat horn, which the author recommends as an excellent alternative to the standard double horn. (Acou, Tech, Tun)

Saxton, Earl. "The Infinite Power of Self-Determination." 38-41.

The necessity of possessing an inner self-determination is stressed in this article, which encourages teachers to avoid categorizing students as "smart" or "slow." Teachers should instead strive to aid students in formulating positive self-determination. (Ped)

Leuba, Christopher. "The Horn Concertos of Franz Anton Rossler ('Rosetti')." 42-49.

Leuba presents the main themes from each movement of Rosetti's nine known concertos for horn and five known concertos for two horns. Published editions of each are listed and recordings, with label number and artist, are given. (Disc, Ped)

Hill, Douglas. "Selected Published Materials for the Development and Utilization of a Contemporary Horn Technique." 50-56.

Etudes, unaccompanied solos, and solos with piano that utilize contemporary techniques are presented. Each category is organized by difficulty, with all entries listing the publisher. Entries for etudes and unaccompanied solos also include short annotations. (Ped, Rep)

Mende, Emily "The Hunting Horn in Europe." 58-64.

This is a two-section article. The first, entitled "The development of the hunting horn," gives a brief history of the horn from antiquity to the eighteenth century. The second, "Hunting horns today in Switzerland," covers the present day use of hunting horns. Examples of the style of music played and instruments used are shown, and the growing popularity of this "hobby" is detailed. (Hist, NtHn)

Leuba, Christopher. "Recordings." 70-73.

A number of diverse recordings, as well as a partial listing of jazz and commercial recordings featuring Peter Gordon, is listed. (Disc, Jz)

Mansur, Paul. "Which is the Properest Horn to Play?" 74-78.

This article addresses the difficulties of selecting a horn, especially when choosing among the American manufacturers. Mansur includes a chart which shows the many similarities between American makes and discusses the manufacturers' unwillingness to offer optional features. In response to this, players now routinely customize their horns, further blurring the distinction between instruments. This situation is in stark contrast to the European market, where makers routinely offer a wide array of options. (Eqmt)

Scharnberg, William. "The Manuscript Katalog Wenster Litteratur I/1-17b." 79-83.

This important manuscript from the late eighteenth century includes eighteen works featuring the horn. Composers represented include Scheibe, Quantz, Förster, Graue, Graun (who may be the same composer as Graue), Knechtel, Röllig, Reinhart, Gehra, and possibly Hampel. Scharnberg discusses the history of the manuscript and theorizes about its date and place of origin. (Hist, Rep)