by Inman Hebert

The task of preparing for college auditions can seem daunting to any student. These auditions hold the power to alter a student’s immediate and long-term futures. Regardless of the stakes, taking a calculated approach makes the audition process more manageable.

Start early. That simple phrase can save immense hassle. At the beginning of September, students should already have a list of schools and an idea of what to play for each audition. For students not yet decided, see the Horn and More student column Deciding Where to Audition for College, published September 2023. Students who still need to finalize their audition material should review the institution’s requirements and follow the listed guidelines, which often require contrasting selections. Creating a chart will highlight potential overlap to narrow audition lists and focus preparation. Choose music that showcases your current strengths as a musician and stretches your potential but does not exceed your ability to polish each selection. With these ideas in mind, students have four to five months to prepare their lists fully.

The first part of college audition preparation involves working up each piece's basic notes and rhythms. As simple as it sounds, many students go into auditions rhythmically imprecise. Practicing with a metronome is paramount to rhythmic accuracy during the audition. The tempo of every audition piece needs to be checked metronomically on a near-daily basis to ensure that poor rhythmic habits never emerge. Slowing down the music can help students work on technical accuracy. Students can significantly improve their precision by practicing correctly at slower tempos and gradually increasing the tempo as capable. Paying careful attention to rhythmic and technical details of pieces creates a solid foundation on which to build.

Audition preparation requires dedication, consistency, and thoughtful practice. Attention to detail from the beginning will prevent mindless, repeated playing of the same music without improvement. Record and listen to yourself. Is the sound solid? Is the music in tune? Are the breaths being incorporated as marked? Break apart the different components of the music and put it together step by step.

When feeling overwhelmed, a student may be tempted to neglect fundamentals; however, some challenges in repertoire preparation may occur due to gaps in ability. For example, a student with struggles in the high range should address this issue daily with high-range exercises. Trying repeatedly to hit high B-flats in a Mozart concerto will be useless if the note is not achievable in fundamental sessions. The same concept applies to articulation, stopped horn, low horn, and many other fundamental areas of horn playing.

Another major challenge of college auditions can be knowing how to divide practice time to prepare all music to the same standard. Many professors recommend dividing pieces into three categories grouped by proficiency. In a week, most preparation time should be spent on the weakest of the three categories, with progressively less time on the more prepared categories. At the end of the week, reevaluate preparation levels and regroup the music. Then, “rinse and repeat.”

After a certain level of technical preparation, focus on musicality. College audition repertoire can generally be divided into three major categories: etudes, solo repertoire, and excerpts. Each category holds its musical challenges which require different styles of preparation.

Etude preparation is often seen as a battle for technical accuracy. However, even the most straightforward Kopprasch etude contains musical phrases that can be brought out. Preparing technical etudes as lyrical pieces brings out their musicality and makes the piece's technical challenges seem less daunting. Rather than focusing on each note of the piece, focus on creating longer musical phrases; this actually assists overall accuracy.

For solo repertoire, listen to recordings to understand their musicality. Listening to performers’ musical interpretations can help shape the way you perform. In practice, after having reasonable technical control over the repertoire, work on the phrasing of the music. Create broad musical phrases which convey your musical self in performance.

Most orchestral excerpts, on the other hand, offer less musical freedom. Orchestral excerpts require an extraordinary amount of attention to detail. In addition to practicing the correct notes and rhythms, preparing excerpts involves comprehending their context. By listening to the orchestra parts, one can learn to play the excerpt in an appropriate style.

Students worried about college audition day might want to reference Be Yourself: A Constructive Approach to College Auditions in the January 2024 Horn and More Student Column; however, do not neglect performance before auditioning. Play audition selections for anyone willing to listen, from band directors to music teachers to parents. Practicing the art of performing for others can help assuage the nerves of audition day. With repetition and simulation of audition day conditions, one can maximize their chances of success.

by Marty Schlenker

Dear Fellow Amateurs,

This month, amateur Jay Kosta is featured. Jay contributed to this column two months ago with a helpful embouchure treatise. Now, more about Jay.

Jay grew up in Cleveland and began his musical life playing the trumpet. His first lessons were at the music shop where his trumpet was purchased. These were followed by lessons from a faculty member of the Cleveland Institute.

After college, Jay relocated to Binghamton NY, which was a hub of employment for IBM. He sought to join the IBM Band there, which had been active since 1915. The trumpet section was full, but the band needed horn players, and they loaned him a single F horn.

The appeal of the horn grew, and Jay purchased a King double horn and later a Yamaha 668. While Jay doesn’t try to emulate the sound and style of any specific professional, his Cleveland roots influence him to go for a big, rich sound, which the 668 enables. Jay has been through a few mouthpieces before settling on a Conn 7. Jay found that its narrow throat improves upper register intonation.

The IBM Band reflected the company’s penchant for organization. Jay recounts that the band put on 20 performances annually, with music chosen specifically for each week, on a three-year programming cycle. The sixty programs were filed with folders for each chair. Concerts would be preceded by a single rehearsal—a whirlwind for new members, but “all in a week’s work” for band veterans.

In 2001, economic conditions led IBM to eliminate the Band. The grand finale of the IBM Band was Jay’s most memorable performance. Their weekly outdoor concerts had been drawing 30-40, but news that the band was shutting down spread far and wide, and a standing-room crowd of 500+ bid them farewell. The program included the IBM march, Ever Onward, and Billie Holiday’s I’ll be Seeing You.

A few years before, Jay had also joined the Maine Community Band, an even older institution, operating continuously since 1861. In addition to concerts, the Maine Band participates in parades on a band wagon pulled by a pickup.

Jay observed this about his role in his section: “I play second these days. My job is to make the first horn sound great.” And about his section’s role within the community band: “The role of trombone and horn is to reinforce the trumpet section…provide them a foundation to ride on.”

Jay credits The Trumpet Herald and its well-organized forums for horn-transferable insights. Jay sees many more similarities than differences in trumpet and horn pedagogy, noting that both teachers and students have to overcome the fact that fine movements are hidden and difficult to describe.

High register playing is a universal topic, in addition to balancing pressure between the upper and lower lips, and the role of the tongue. Jay once was stuck at G or A above the staff. “I was doing the ‘Armstrong Method,’ and it wasn’t going anywhere. But playing isn’t about pain tolerance. It’s finesse, a skill game with very fine movements. Now when I’m fresh, I can reach the upper C. When I’m in my basement, I can play Wagner’s horn call.”

Jay’s experience reminds us that the internet can be a great gift to those who strive for self-improvement. Jay read, listened, watched, experimented, trialed, and achieved.

How many of you out there have been led to playing opportunities at work? What forums have helped you improve your playing? Please let us know by contacting me at marty.schlenker@cavaliers.org.

Your servant and kindred spirit,

Marty Schlenker
Amateur hornist

by Ian Zook 

Volume 17 celebrates a recording made for the 100th year of the Wiener Waldhornverein. The “WWV” is the oldest continually operating horn club dedicated to preserving the sound and style of the Vienna Horn. The “Jahre 100” album was recorded in 1983 to commemorate their centennial anniversary, and it includes twenty-seven players performing music spanning the history of their ensemble.

The history of the Wiener Waldhornverein begins in 1879 with Josef Schantl, solo horn of the Imperial and Royal Court Opera in Vienna, who organized a quartet of horns to perform for the parade commemorating the 25th wedding anniversary of Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife Elisabeth. Schantl, inspired by the success of the quartets he had composed for the occasion, founded the “First Viennese Horn Club” in 1883. Very notably among the founding members was Johannes Brahms—a great advocate for the Austrian hunting music promoted by the ensemble.

Throughout the history of the WWV, members of all the professional orchestras in Vienna as well as amateurs joined together to preserve the sound and style of the Vienna horn. They were featured at the 1st International Brass Congress, held in Montreux, Switzerland, in 1976, and have also established a publishing company to promote their vast collection of horn ensemble music.

The Vienna horn, or Wiener Pumpenhorn, has been in constant use by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra since 1870. These horns are three valve single-F horns designed essentially as a 19th Century Inventionshorns with double-piston valves, a design that uses a clock-spring casing that was patented by Leopold Uhlmann in 1830. The Vienna horn uses a terminal crook, and while mostly played in F, they can also be crooked in E, E♭, G, A, and B♭ alto. The distinct sound of these instruments is found in elegant legato and portamento, golden-hued tone, deeper resonance in articulation, and the captivating energy produced in the upper extremes of dynamics and range.

This Wiener Waldhornverein “Jahre 100” recording was produced in 1983 during a horn symposium in the Vienna Konzerthaus under the direction of Siegfried Schwarzl of the Vienna State Opera. The varied selections showcase many of the composers and iconic pieces that define and preserve the Vienna horn traditions.

The Hungarian Fanfare was among the pieces composed and performed by Josef Schantl for the 1883 parade. In this recording, the WWV uses E♭ parforce horns to reflect on the hunting associations of this music:

Karl Stiegler, solo horn of the Vienna Philharmonic from 1906-1932, contributed a large amount of horn ensemble music to the WWV. His piece, O Dirndl tief drunt im Tal, is a wonderfully expressive setting of this traditional Austrian folksong: 

A brief Study in Jazz after Irving Berlin, by Dieter Angerer, features Margo Totzauer in a short solo as the WWV interprets this tune from the Great American Songbook:

Helmuth Foschauer’s Mauerbacher Festmusik was written for the 650th anniversary of the Maeurbach Charterhouse, a Baroque monastic complex 20 km outside of Vienna. This grand fanfare resonates with the rich sound and searing high range of the Wiener Waldhornverein: 

I hope you have enjoyed learning more about the unique and lasting tradition of the Wiener Waldhornverein. Thank you for reading Horn on Record!