French Horn Solo - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.784335

Composed by Joshua Hauser. Instructional. Individual part. 38 pages. Slide Ride #5288663. Published by Slide Ride (A0.784335).

1 Octave Scale Studies in 15+ keys for 4-part ensembles of like or mixed instruments

If this is your first exposure to these scale studies, you are in for a treat! Donuts, if you make a mistake!

The initial incarnation of these studies were written for trombone quartet and we would play them in the Tennessee Tech Trombone Choir with the challenge that whomever made the first mistake had to buy donuts for the rest of the ensemble. Since then I have brought that version to several clinics and warm up sessions. One time before I got to explain the title, a fellow trombone professor said, Oh, I get it! Don’t step in the holes!

I only wish I had thought of that myself... Since we have one of the best donut shops in TN here in Cookeville, treating the studio to sugar coated goodies was always my intent.

As with those initial exercises, you can vary these as much as you’d like.

·     Choose a tempo.

·     Choose a dynamic.

·     Choose an articulation/style.

One way I like to play these is to have one person be the model, playing the entire scale over and over while everyone else plays the fragmented versions. That helps everyone to keep on track and stay in time. Double or triple up the parts for ensemble cohesion with a larger group.

Practice one key, gradually speeding it up to improve fluidity, or choose a variation and take it through all keys, playing version A, B, C, or D then skipping to play the same set in a new key.

If you want an additional challenge, play them in different octaves or change the key. Play the F Major set in f minor (all forms), different modes, etc. Players really have to be on their toes to remember if they are playing melodic minor in the ascending or descending form! For jazz players, try swinging them in dorian or mixolydian modes.

The variations are endless!

If you are using these with transposing instruments, 1) is F Major in Concert Pitch, 2) is Bb Major in Concert pitch, and so on. When you reach a scale that is enharmonic for another key (Db/C#, Gb/F#, or Cb/B), they are presented in both keys for each instrument so Trumpets can play in Eb while the Flutes are playing in C# with similar examples for all keys.

All Donut Etudes with the same volume number are compatible so you can play them in mixed quartets or large ensembles with one or more instruments/people on part 1 and a different instrument on part 2, etc. Since the quartets are all identical, conductors/coaches can use any of the scores to tell which part should be playing at what time. Once you have played a scale with one set of parts, everyone can rotate to a different part and play the same scales again!

Enjoy!

French Horn Solo - Level 5 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.767341

Composed by Mike Lyons. Concert,Contemporary. Individual part. 8 pages. Lyons Music Services #3514991. Published by Lyons Music Services (A0.767341).

This is a brand new piece composed for French Horn without accompaniment. It has three movements all connected by the opening material of the first movement. I am publishing this piece as separate movements as well as a complete edition.

1st. Movement:

The opening movement is marked andante. It opens with a repeated tonic followed by an arpeggiated 1/16th figure with a closing descending scale. These three ideas form the basic musical material for the whole sonata. Throughout the first movement these three ideas are transformed and manipulated, expanded and contracted while maintaining a clear musical structure (basically Ternary form). As with sonata form, the final reprise of the original ideas is transformed by their 'journey'.

The style of the music is rather like a Bach partita for solo instrument.

The movement takes the player through most of the horn's range, but does not require any extended techniques, so should be handleable by moderately skilled players.

2nd. Movement:

This slow movement requires excellent breath control. It uses the repeated not idea from the 1st movement to open, expanding the rhythm to create a rather melancholy pattern. Later, the scalic 1/16th are utilised to link to the Più mosso section where the arpeggio idea (this time descending) helps to create a feeling of wide open space and emptiness. The player is in an empty universe, drifting slowly away as the dynamics become ever quieter until the ending at ppp.

3rd. Movement:

This movement opens with a similar idea to the previous two, but at a fairly quick Allegro (quarter = 132) and using arpeggios in triplets to drive the music through.

The dotted half noes with crescs at the end of the phrase should really be pushed into brassiness at the end of the cresc.

I ask the player to do rip glisses, some of them difficult to achieve, and also gestopft and 'half stopped'. Although these are 'hand horn' techniques that survive from before the invention of valves, they are still useful to create a different effect than from standard mutes. Where these techniques are asked for, a silvery, ethereal tone is required as a contrast to the brash 'hunting horn' style of the outer sections of the movement.

The middle part of this movement is quasi a cadenza. The stopping instructions are intended to have an effect on the tuning as well as the timbre of the notes. The first pair of each group of three should be slurred smoothly.

The final section reprises the beginning of the movement, but at breakneck speed. quarter = 144 is advisory only. The faster the better.

This movement again makes use of the extremes of the horn's range and makes high demands on stamina and tonguing.

French Horn Solo - Level 5 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.767342

Composed by Lyons Music Services. Concert,Contemporary. Individual part. 4 pages. Lyons Music Services #3512417. Published by Lyons Music Services (A0.767342).

This movement opens with a similar idea to the previous two, but at a fairly quick Allegro (quarter = 132) and using arpeggios in triplets to drive the music through.

The dotted half noes with crescs at the end of the phrase should really be pushed into brassiness at the end of the cresc.

I ask the player to do rip glisses, some of them difficult to achieve, and also gestopft and 'half stopped'. Although these are 'hand horn' techniques that survive from before the invention of valves, they are still usefull to create a different effect than from standard mutes. Where these techniques are asked for, a silvery, ethereal tone is required as a contrast to the brash 'hunting hoirn' style of the outer sections of the movement.

The middle part of this movement is quasi a cadenza. The stopping instructions are intended to have an effect on the tuning as well as the timbre of the notes. The first pair of each group of three should be slurred smoothly.

The final section reprises the beginning of the movement, but at breakneck speed. quarter = 144 is advisory only. The faster the better.

This movement again makes use of the extremes of the horn's range and makes high demands on stamina and tonguing.