Daily Exercises For French Horn

A collection of exercises, for French Horn, composed by Max P. Pottag.

First to be published in the series was The Art of French Horn Playing by Philip Farkas, now Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music at Indiana University. In 1956, when Summy-Birchard published Farkas's book, he was a solo horn player for the Chicago Symphony and had held similar positions with other orchestras, including the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and Kansas City Conservatory, DePaul University, Northwestern University, and Roosevelt University in Chicago. The Art of French Horn Playing set the pattern, and other books in the series soon followed, offering help to students in learning to master their instruments and achieve their goals.

Daily Routines for the Student Horn Player is a systematic approach to help student hornists develop and maintain fundamental horn skills. Designed to challenge students but not overwhelm them, there are eight routines: Beginning, Air, Overtone Series, Intermediate, Ear Training, B-flat Horn, Duet/Intonation, and Advanced Routine. Each routine incorporates the following skill categories: long tones and mouthpiece buzzing, crescendo/diminuendo, lip slurs, accuracy and dynamic changes, alternating tongued and slurred between intervals, articulation and technique, high and low playing. By applying these skill categories as a template to each routine, students are sure to develop all of their skills equally.

This book is a result of Eli Epstein's 18 years in the Cleveland Orchestra and 30 years of Conservatoire teaching. It breaks down into four parts, dealing with Technique, Musicianship, Warm up and Exercises and finally Applying the Method. It is both innovative and inspiring and presents his theories in a clear and understandable way, which gives the reader much to think about and practical ideas to help improve one's playing. An excellent addition to any horn enthusiast's collection.The third edition presents MRI images and data of an elite group of horn players, including Stefan Dohr, Fergus McWilliam, Sarah Willis, Stefan Jezierski (all of the Berlin Philharmonic), Marie-Luise Neunecker, Jeff Nelsen, and others. MRI films confirm that what we do internally, inside the mouth, pharynx, and thoracic cavity is just as important as what we do externally. And, just as there are hallmarks of healthy embouchures that most professional horn players employ, there are many consistent internal movement patterns among the elite group. Epstein presents tried and true methods to learn and teach these exemplary biomechanics. "Without a doubt the most physiologically correct book ever published on horn playing." ~John Ericson, Horn Matters

Contains thoughts and exercises on playing well, warming up, practicing, facial muscles, dynamics, sound production, breathing, intonation, memorization, endurance, self-instruction, performance, etc.

For band, chorus, and orchestral winds.