by Richard Seraphinoff, Indiana University
For the past several years, I have been organizing my horn class recitals at the IU Jacobs School of Music according to a theme or featuring a specific composer, and I wanted to share this concept with teachers everywhere simply because of the fun we have had doing it. Choosing a single composer or theme has made our class recitals into more of a project rather than a potpourri of unrelated pieces with no underlying relationships. “The Franz Strauss Project” has a nice ring to it, and the preparation for a collaborative endeavor makes everyone feel like they are equal participants in the event.
When I started looking, I was surprised how many composers had written enough music for horn that a dozen or more students could have their own individual piece or movement. So far, with a class of about a dozen horn majors, we have done concerts featuring Mozart (there are 11 concerto movements, the concert rondo, and the unfinished fragments…and to make it even more fun, we have also done them with four-horn accompaniment), Gliere (three concerto movements, four short pieces plus four more transcribed from op. 35), Alec Wilder, Franz Strauss, Antonio Rosetti, Jan Koetsier, the Otto Nicolai duets, Bernard Heiden, and Randall Faust. For this last one, Prof. Faust came as our special guest.
On November 20th this fall, our class project was the music of James Naigus with James present as our special guest. James played piano for his music, and everyone was excited about getting to perform their piece with the composer.
Aside from specific composers, we have done other themes, like pairing up horn students with IU composition students to commission a piece for each student, or performing pieces by past IU composers, or preparing a concert in which students searched out underrepresented composers for a diverse concert of works by composers who deserve more attention. A particularly enjoyable concert was one in which each student did their own transcription of a piece written for voice or for another instrument.
These recitals also give students the opportunity to say something about the piece, the composer, and any other relevant information that would be of interest to the audience. This is great practice for doing research, for collecting their thoughts to talk for a minute or so before they play, and to actually speak. It is also a good dry run for generating program notes or talking to the audience before degree recitals—in which we would like for students to connect with their audiences in addition to providing background on the compositions.
So far, we have not run out of prolific composers of horn music or themes on which to base a concert. The list of future projects is long enough to go for several years without repeating anything.
Try this idea for your next class recital. It will transform it into a memorable, even newsworthy, event.
Rick Seraphinoff, Professor of Music, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, https://www.seraphinoff.com
