from Daniel Borgue: Technicor

Daniel Bourgue (1937-2023) was solo horn of the Orchestre du Théâtre National de l’Opéra de Paris from 1964 to 1989.

ATTACKS

Traditionally, the first lesson of almost every brass method is the study of the "attack", which is often incorrectly referred to as "tonguing". I consider this to be putting the cart before the horse because breathing is obviously the essential element of instrumental practice. Moreover, it is easier to produce a sound without using the tongue simply by blowing. This way, one is aware of an important element in the production of the sound - the lips. The tongue is simply used for the production of specific sounds and to "divide a sound into series" for staccato playing.

The breath, the lips and the tongue must therefore be perfectly synchronised to produce the sound. The technique of the attack should be as natural and as simple as possible. Only a minimum of preparation should be necessary, so that it becomes a reflex, just as when walking. This minimal preparation becomes extremely important when breathing is required in the middle of a musical phrase and also for playing a series of rapid notes, as in staccato passages.

The role of the lips being to vibrate, they are just as indispensable as the breath; the precision of the attack, and accordingly the quality of the sound, both depend on unhindered vibration. Older methods stipulated stretching the lips to the right and to the left in a wide smile to make the lips taut, just as an elastic band is stretched to make it vibrate. Beside the fact that the blood vessels are compressed in this position, the lips quickly tire, the sound is small and shrill and flexibility becomes difficult. In addition, it is not a natural position to move air into the horn. Alternatively, the lip muscles tend to contract naturally when the lips in a "whistling" position. The ideal embouchure is a natural one which produces a maximum of vibrations with minimal effort.


THE USE OF THE TONGUE

Most older methods stipulated producing sounds by retracting the tongue that had been placed against
the teeth and pronouncing "Tu" . Beside the fact that the combination of T and U is not the best choice for a relaxed and open way of playing, this movement of the tongue allows for an accented attack. Of course, this manner of playing produces a clear and clean attack that may be useful for the trumpet, but is not
so for an instrument such as the horn, so often orchestrated with the woodwind and strings when rounded attacks are often needed.

If we are able to use vowels to obtain more flexibility , we can likewise use consonants to produce different kinds of attacks and different types of staccato. A vowel always allows the air to pass freely; on the other hand, consonants hinder the process. Basically, consonants may be put into two categories. The first are called continuous consonants, because they may be extended as long as there is sufficient pressure in the lungs. The second are called momentary, obstructive and sometimes plosive, because they characteristically stop the air. Thus, the latter consonants are used to produce a more precise attack.

The syllable "tu" is not recommended, because it brings the lips forward during the attack. Also, the vowel "u" does not allow correct opening of the throat. Better results will be obtained by combining the vowel "ah" with the different plosive consonants. These syllables may be used for the different kinds of attack and for staccato playing: "Ta" for playing forte; "Da" for playing piano, as Hampel and Punto already stipulated in 1793.

STACCATO

When using phonetics, a lighter, more rapid staccato can be obtained by pronouncing "ta-da" (instead of "ta-ta"), a shorter staccato with "ta ka" and a tenuto staccato with "ta-ga". Thus syllabic combinations are obtained that are wrongly called double or triple staccato.

One should avoid ending each note with the tongue (by pronouncing "tut"), in order to establish a sonority of quality, one which has resonance, and to make breathing easier during a phrase. Moreover, this incorrect practice jeopardizes the speed of performance in rapid staccato.

POSITION OF THE TONGUE

The use of the syllable "tu" produces another problem: that of putting the tongue against or between the teeth before the attack or during the staccato. This backward and forward movement of the tongue is detrimental to rapidity. When pronouncing the syllables "ta" and "ka" the tongue's articular position is the same - its movement is considerably reduced, since it is vertical.

The position of the tip of the tongue varies slightly from one person to another. This difference may be more or less accentuated according to the performer's language; for example, to pronounce a French "I", the tongue is usually placed behind the upper incisors and against the gums and the roof of the mouth; in English, it is slightly further back. 

THE DIFFERENT ATTACKS

Generally speaking, brass instruments have the misfortune of possessing a single type of ATTACK (as if strings had only one type of bowing). This is obviously detrimental for sensitive phrasing and correct musical performance. The performer's first responsibility is to respect the composer's ideas. He has to be able to master every kind of articulation as well as each kind of attack.

from Daniel Borgue: Technicor

Daniel Bourgue (1937-2023) was solo horn of the Orchestre du Théâtre National de l’Opéra de Paris from 1964 to 1989.

It is through respiration that we absorb our vital energy - the energy needed to preserve life and health through complete regeneration of every cell in the body (absorption of oxygen and elimination of carbon dioxide), and also the energy needed for an sustained effort. This is why horn players must, before all else, learn to control and improve our breathing.

The total lung capacity of an average individual is about 5 liters of air. The residual air, i.e. that which remains permanently in the lungs, is about 1.5 liters, leaving us a useful volume of about 3.5. In normal breathing, however, the average person uses only 1/10 of their lung capacity at each breath. This is quite insufficient when playing an instrument such as the horn.

In playing, the rhythm of breathing is completely different - the performer breathes in more quickly and out more slowly. In addition, the volume of air used and lung pressure when breathing out are much higher than they are normally. The respiratory muscles must therefore adapt so that pressure is sustained throughout playing.

The diaphragm,  in addition to its respiratory function (similar to that of a pump), compresses the viscera when it is lowered to promote venous circulation from the abdomen towards the thorax.

There are three levels of respiration:

1) Deep respiration (diaphragmatic)
2) Medium respiration (thoracic)
3) Superficial respiration (clavicular)

We generally use only thoracic breathing when we are awake. However, diaphragmatic (or abdominal respiration) is the most natural way of breathing and can be observed in animals and young children. This is also how we breathe when we are asleep.

The diaphragm is a muscle separating the abdomen from the thorax. Its function is purely respiratory and it moves vertically. When it is lowered, air fills the lower part of the lungs (increasing the volume of air absorbed). When it is raised, it drives the air out. Its action is thus similar to that of the piston of a bicycle pump or a syringe.

Ideally, the first warming-up exercise every day should be a breathing exercise. Here is a very simple one that's purpose is to make the player aware of the different types of respiration as well as regulate anxiety.

Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth preferably while lying down. To aid concentration and obtain the most benefit, do this exercise with a metronome set at ♩= 60 or at the rate of your heartbeat.

1) Empty your lungs to the maximum.
2) Breathe in deeply for 3 counts, starting with the bottom of the lungs. The abdomen will become slightly distended. Continue breathing in, expanding the thorax. Raise the shoulders slightly to fill the lop of the lungs.
3) Hold your breath for 12 seconds to increase gaseous exchanges.
4) Breath out for 6 counts, starting with the top (lower the shoulders), then the middle and finally the abdomen.

Repeat the cycle several times. With a little training you will easily be able to multiply the counts by two, four or more. This should be effortless. Do not strain, particularly at the beginning. 

ABDOMINAL RESPIRATION

Breathing in

Breathe in as much air as possible through the mouth as quickly as possible and hold it in the lower part of the lungs. The throat must be wide open. To do this, think of the sound "Ho". Concentrate on the sound made by the air as enters the windpipe. It must not be a high whistling sound (a sign that throat is contracted), but deep. If it makes you yawn, it shows that you are breathing deeply.

Feel your abdominal muscles below the navel and notice if the are tensed (but not contracted) while you are breathing in. The abdomen above the navel expands slightly during breathing in.

It is very important for the muscles lying beneath the navel, known as the abdominal belt, are tensed, because they will form the starting point for correct breathing out. This will increase pressure inside the abdomen, and this pressure will be very useful, particularly in the high register.

Be careful not to raise the shoulders while breathing in, as air held in the upper and central parts of the lungs is useless for breathing out while playing. On the contrary, it is harmful, because it causes tension in the throat and face.

Breathing out

To prevent contraction and jerkiness, there must be no break between breathing in and breathing out. (This smoothness is absolutely essential for rapid breathing in which the musical phrase is not interrupted). Push forwards, maintaining constant pressure of the abdominal muscles and constant tension of the diaphragm.

It is important not to pull in the abdomen because, contrary to what is widely believed, the thrust of the diaphragm is vertical, not horizontal. Pulling in the abdomen while breathing out inevitably causes slackening of the diaphragm and loss of pressure. This means a large proportion of the air breathed in can't be used, and the player will have to expel this stale residual air before he breathes in again.

Blow into the mouthpiece in the playing position, but with the lips apart so that no sound is produced. The throat and in particular the opening between the vocal cords (the glottis) must be relaxed. To do this, think of the sound "HA" all the time you are breathing out. The H will also create slight pressure in the diaphragm as soon as the note starts to be produced. The sound held will be
more stable and even from the beginning.

To start with, repeat this exercise several times concentrating only on breath production, the abdominal muscles and the diaphragm. Be conscious of every movement of you body. The facial muscles should not move during breathing out, nor must the lips, which must remain motionless, in the playing position.

Then continue the same exercise, vibrating the lips in the mouthpiece with the breath alone, without attacking or tonguing, always thinking of the sound "HA" and breathing out gently.

BREATH CONTROL

Just as the quality and stability of the sound of a string instrument depend on the bow, a wind instrument's sound is directly related to the breath. This air column also has a vital function in brass instruments. It is by adjusting its intensity and pressure that we change from one register to another, and play smooth legato and light, flexible staccato.

How do we adjust this air column? It is done neither with the lips, whose sole function is to vibrate like a double reed, nor with the diaphragm, which only maintains constant pressure. We are going to use the phonatory organs, principally the tongue and glottis (the opening between the vocal cords). It may seem difficult to control the opening of the glottis. In fact this can be done very easily by using vowels, as in speaking or singing. We shall do it essentially with the tongue, the most flexible and mobile of all organs. Its importance in producing sounds is so obvious that the word is also used to mean language.

The vowels can be roughly grouped in three categories :

Low: "ah" (as in awe)
Middle: "eh" (as in bed)
High: "ee" (as in machine).

Each of these vowels (ah, eh, ee) is produced by a particular position of the tongue in the buccal cavity. If we take the vowel "ah" as a starting point, the tongue is almost flat in the mouth. In this position, the two resonators formed by the mouth and pharynx have the same volume.

When we proceed from "ah" and then from "eh" to "ee",  the tongue gradually rises towards the palate, reducing the volume of the mouth and increasing that of the pharynx. The use of vowels in playing serves two purposes - it increases pressure in the high register and at the same time it opens the pharynx more widely.

The different positions of the tongue in pronouncing vowels and the volumes of the resonators in each position.  We shall therefore use these vowels with these exercises in flexibility in all the registers, taking "ah" as a starting point for the low register and "ee" for the high. The change from one vowel to the other will be made gradually and imperceptibly via the mid-vowel "eh".

In the high register it is also essential to think of these vowels as though they were being sung falsetto. This has the effect of contracting the uvula and thus closing the nasal fossae. It saves energy and gives the air column extra pressure. In addition, in this action, the soft palate lifts, increasing the volume of the pharynx.

The tongue should be behind the teeth. It acts as a valve, releasing the air at each emission. The movement must be quick and flexible, particularly for staccato. This movement of the tip of the tongue must therefore be a downward one, and not from front to back.

In the pronunciation of vowels, the tongue is raised towards the palate, but the lip remains motionless behind the teeth. In falsetto singing, the uvula prevents the air from entering the nasal fossae. Start each of these exercises by singing. This will give you experience of faster and clearer performance by vowel change, particularly for trills and wide intervals.

Continue the exercises with the mouthpiece alone, observing yourself in a mirror. Find the ideal angle between the mouthpiece and your lips, giving the greatest vibration. The facial expression shows what the performer feel when he plays. A frown, and looking upwards during a rising phrase often show a contracted throat (this can be remedied by changing to falsetto). It is by concentrating on yourself that, through breath control, you will gradually achieve more relaxed, flexible, precise playing, opening the way to a more expressive performance.

from Gunther Schuller: Horn Technique (out of print)

Gunther Schuller (1925-2015) was principal horn of the Cincinnati Symphony and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as well as an accomplished jazz musician. He was a notable composer, conductor and music historian. 

There are two primary elements that can make practicing a success: intelligence and perseverance. What one student may accomplish through hours of hard, physically tiring work, another may attain in half the time by applying logic and intelligent thinking.

Many students never learn to think a problem through. Instead they stubbornly hammer out exercises which deal with the problem at hand only superficially or deal with an altogether different problem. While such practising is not completely useless, it is obvious that correct diagnosis of a problem will lead to more fruitful practicing results.

On the other hand, some students analyze a problem quite correctly, find the proper exercises for it, but simply fail to put in the necessary time to alleviate the problem. Preceding chapters have shown that fine horn playing is the result of a vast complex of physical motions and nerve reactions. To coordinate and synchronize all of these into the smooth effortless operation that artistic playing demands takes time, for
the simple reason that we learn through a combination of repetition and trial-and-error. More accurately, it is a process of eliminating those physical movements that do not produce the desired result, eventually reducing it to the one set of movements that does produce that result. Obviously this can only be achieved by sufficient repetition of a given exercise or study, combined with self-critical analysis.

At this point we touch upon the player's will power, i.e. his psychological equipment, quite apart from his physical aptitude. Many a physically less-gifted player has overcome natural weaknesses by sheer hard work and will power; while many a naturally talented player has squandered his talent by lazy practising habits. Given an adequate talent, a player will only be as good as he wants to be. The combination of physical aptitude and an intelligent analytical approach rarely exist in one single person. When they do, he is apt to make a place for himself in the world of music.

It is important that the student practice study pieces which satisfy at least minimal musical demands and tackle a variety of specific technical problems. Students who are serious about their horn playing should seek the advice of a good professional if they live in a locality which prevents their actually studying regularly with one.

There may be other study books as effective, but I doubt if any are superior to the old standbys for beginners: the Oscar Franz method, the two books of Kopprasch Etudes, and the Kling studies. They deal with the basic problems of horn playing in a disciplined manner. No more direct method of learning the fundamentals can be evolved than that contained in these various studies. They could perhaps be couched in different notes, melodies, or harmonic progressions, but the basic approach to anyone's problems is there, all spelled out in simple language.

When we look at the more advanced study material, I believe opinions can legitimately vary, depending upon the stylistic approach the player wants to develop. Certainly a great deal of French study material tends to develop technical agility and a lighter approach to horn playing, while some of the more advanced German or Czech methods underscore a more robust approach to tone production and register problems. I think at this point the player can only be advised to seek out the material which best suits his needs and problems.

I recommend very much using the six books of Maxime-Alphonse studies. For in these exercises all keys are thoroughly investigated, sometimes even within one study piece. (This applies to the more elementary sampler exercises as well.) Not only is the student confronted with the countless fingering problems that can occur in the keys furthest removed from C, but he also learns to relate the visual image of these keys to their individual technical problems, a situation not encountered at all in the simpler tonalities. The Alphonse studies are also remarkable in their avoidance of horn study clichés. A favourite Alphonse device is to set up a pattern or sequence and then, just as the student is lulled into contented relaxation, the pattern is broken in very original and unconventional ways. This is excellent training for the student who expects to face today's patterns and sequences. These 'etudes' also provide a good test of the player's musical reflexes, and his ability to hear other than the most obvious pitch relationships. From the ear training point of view alone, the Alphonse studies are highly recommended.

From David Krehbiel: Through the Door

David Krehbiel was principal horn of the San Francisco Symphony from 1972-1998. He is legendary for his artistry and his willingness to take musical risks.

​Philip Farkas [Former principal horn of the Chicago Symphony and Krehbiel's teacher] and I had our differences. His teaching and performing were intellectual, and he felt he played better after playing to the point of fatigue. So he would warm up 45 minutes to an hour before each rehearsal and concert. He would practice his solos over and over until he felt ready, sometimes as many as eight or ten times. He once told me that he stayed up all night before a recording session in the morning because he had a good lip the night before and didn't want to lose it. I asked him how that worked out. He said, "Not very well."

Though I learned a lot sitting next to him in the orchestra as his assistant, the answer, as I saw it, was not to practice and practice on difficult passages trying to get better and better. That wasn't working well enough for me. It only reinforced old habits and inconsistent performance, not ease of playing.

It seemed to me that the ease of playing I was searching for had a lot to do with the balance between three fundamental variables that I had identified when I first picked up a horn quite a few years back: air (motivation), lips (vibration), and resonance. If my playing was off, one of the three variables was probably out of balance for what I was trying to do. If one of the fundamentals is not optimal for the register and the dynamic, the other two have to work harder to compensate. When they are balanced, the body takes over and you are free to use your mind and energy to concentrate on the emotion and purpose of the piece you are playing.

It's like riding a bicycle — you can't enjoy the bike ride if you are worried about the balance. The difficulty is that, initially at least, you can't have ease of playing while you are thinking about the physicality of playing, but you have to think about the physicality of playing in order to have ease of playing. However, as in riding a bicycle, your body eventually takes over and automatically does what it needs to do.

I often imagined the three fundamentals of producing sound from the horn to be like how we produce sound from stringed instruments. It's simpler to visualize how a string plays than to visualize what's happening behind the mouthpiece of the horn. You stretch the string with the bow and it snaps back like the embouchure does when the air rubs across the lips while playing the horn. The resonant length of the string changes like the resonant volume inside the mouth changes for different pitches. Try whistling the harmonic series and notice what happens inside your mouth.

Therefore, good brass playing (playing efficiently) is only possible when the three fundamentals — air, lips, and resonance like bow, string, and string length — are ideal for the pitch and volume desired. Each of these fundamentals are quite variable, so the right balance of each for the whole range of playing is not easy.

This is where the effort comes in. When they are balanced, like riding a bicycle, you can use your mind and energy for other things, such as concentrating on the emotion and intent of the piece you are playing.
​
Motivation

In motivation, the motion of the bow as it is drawn across the strings serves the same function as air moving across the embouchure for horn players. Much has been written about breathing and the use of air in brass playing. In my experience, it is again a question of balancing the body tension required for breath support and the relaxation necessary for free and resonant sound production. If the air is brought up to the embouchure under too much pressure, this pressure must be controlled by resistance which in turn creates tension. To help find the balance between relaxation and supporting the breath, I think of the body as a U-shaped magnet where all the positive, relaxed energy is at the point of vibration, and the negative, tensed energy is focused on the muscle group that we use for support. Imagine the air stream at the lips as the positive pole, the diaphragm as the negative pole, and the space between the two poles — the shoulders, throat, torso, etc. — is relaxed and inert. I achieve this feeling of balance by pushing out gently on the front of the belly and dropping the shoulders. Try it and see if it works for you.

Vibration

In vibration, the violin string is like the embouchure (the thing that does the vibration). The bow catches the strings, pulling and stretching, until they snap back, causing the vibration. The embouchure does the same when it is stretched by the airstream, a puff of air is released causing a vibration. With the string, as with the embouchure, tension and thickness affect the vibration rate. One exercise I suggest is opening your eyes as wide as you can while playing, just to make yourself aware both mentally and physically of the unwanted tension you might be using. The release of that excess, unnecessary tension can dramatically open up your sound.

Resonance

Resonance is like the string length, which is like the resonating volume inside the mouth and inside the body. String length is analogous to the resonant volume inside the mouth. The pitch of a given string is changed by changing its length on the fingerboard. We don't change the pitch of a given string by changing its tension. We would need to tighten the string four times as tight to raise the vibration level an octave or double this vibration. The string needs to be the ideal length thickness, and tension for the pitch. String length is analogous to the diameter of the mouthpiece in brass playing. Just as the pitch results from the thickness and tension of the string, in brass playing the pitch is the function of the embouchure.

So how do we as brass players change our resonant length? The resonant length change must take place behind the mouthpiece. Whistling different pitches is essentially changing the resonant length. You might say that the length of the tube changes the pitch, which is somewhat true. However, we as horn players are able to play up to 16 different pitches of the harmonic series on one length of tube. Lip tension does not change the pitch of the whistle. The best sound and the greatest ease of playing comes from an ideal motivation (air), and ideal embouchure (string), and the resonant volumeinside the mouth and body. The perfect balance of these three factors for the pitch and volume I call "ease of playing".

Think of a violin bow when changing oral resonance. Imagine the bow placement, pressure and speed to be like airstream. When visualizing how the airstream rubbing across the embouchure creates a vibration, try thinking of the many variables of the way a bow catches a string. First, there is the placement of the bow for maximum efficiency, not too close to the bridge and not too far from the center. Then there is bow speed and bow pressure along with the amount of hair on the string. And again, all these factors are variable, depending upon string thickness, tension, volume, and register. Keeping a motivating air stream focused on the embouchure while changing resonance inside the mouth is a bit like rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time. Aiming and focusing the air stream is essential for maximum efficiency. We have all had the experience of trying to play a high note and nothing comes out. If there is too much pressure and too much embouchure tension, there is no vibration. We give away most of our efficiency going from one partial to the next one above. Learning to do glisses through the partial series without stopping the air and creating excess tension is the key. Of the three variables, the resonant volume in the chamber of the mouth requires the least physical effort. It is my go-to principal for ease of playing.

In general, we talk about changing resonance in the mouth by "dropping the jaw" in the low register or using a shallow vowel sound in the high register, such as "e" instead of "o." Whistling is a more intuitive and specific way of understanding how we change the volume in the mouth to produce different pitches. When we whistle, our whistling "embouchure" remains quite still as we whistle through the different registers. The tongue and jaw are most active and responsible for manipulating volume in the mouth. As the pitch goes higher, the tongue rises in the mouth, directing the air through a narrower channel near the soft palate and then forward in the mouth behind the aperture. In the high register, it's ideal to feel the air moving forward and into "the mask" or the sinus cavity with the same sensation we have when singing in a loud falsetto voice. Like a perfectly smooth glissando on a stringed instrument, it is a great exercise to create that uninterrupted siren like sound and flow of air while whistling, buzzing the lips independently or through the mouthpiece. Once we put all this wonderful, natural vibration into the brass amplifier that is our instrument, we have even more fun blowing up and down through the harmonic series. We can feel the "pop" of notes as they lock in at the moment our gliss hits their organic frequencies.

Another way to think about resonance as a means to efficiency is to consider the principle of sympathetic vibration. We have all experienced this at some point, intentionally or not, by having the snare drum rattle on certain notes or, for example, playing a piano with the dampers off. One can set specific strings in a piano to motion by producing a sound of the same frequency in proximity to the strings. The standing string will respond sympathetically to the motion of your sound wave as the vibrations push against it at the same beats per second. Instead of strings, the horn has a set of standing nodes at different points in the horn where the sound waves break into the next partial of the harmonic series for that length of tubing. We can force these sound waves to break by intensifying the pressure or volume of the air through the aperture as we play, putting the payload almost entirely on the embouchure, or, we can set up the sympathetic resonance in our mouth and move up and down between the nodal points with less pressure on the embouchure, less strain on soft tissue vibrating inside the mouthpiece and a freer, more open, and more natural sound. Each note "tastes" different from the next and has a different feel inside the mouth. If we isolate this variable in our playing by exhaling (no air), moving the mouthpiece to the side of our mouth where the aperture has no support (no embouchure) and discover that we can still get around the horn quite flexibly with an untrained, air-starved lip, albeit with no sound quality, projection, or accuracy.

The point is, we can initiate the desired frequency in the horn by producing the same frequency in our mouth, in the same way we can produce a tight, muscle-bound note by using just the embouchure (no resonance or projection), or by forcing the air through the aperture which we must hold in place by pressing on the mouthpiece (no dynamics, no nuance, accuracy, or endurance).

Therefore, ease of playing is only possible when the three principles — air, lips, and resonance — are ideally balanced for the pitch and volume desired. If just one of these variables is not optimal, the other two have to work harder to compensate, and effort comes into our playing.

Ease isn't easy. We have to let go of our tendency to exert ourselves at these moments and find the easy way, trust that it is there, and not give into the idea of working harder. It takes awareness to play with ease, curiosity, and patience to find this balance and focused practice to stay in it once we find it.

Helpful Hints

• To improve sound, relax face muscles.
• To relax facial tension, open eyes very wide and hold open.
• For body resonance, drop shoulders and relax the body.
• To balance body tension, push out gently in the naval area.
• To release upper body tension, have someone push down hard on your shoulders while playing.
• To relieve tension, inhale through nose seven counts; hold four counts; exhale eight counts.
• When starting a note by yourself, think of your rectal area.
• For efficiency, think about the airstream rubbing across your lips.
• For efficiency, make a raspy buzz on the mouthpiece like a bassoon reed.
• Do a valve trill, then lip trill connecting air on lip trill.
• Gliss harmonic series up to 16th partial, connecting slurs and high register.
• For discovering your motivation, observe what you are thinking about at this moment.
• Get your head away from the notes.
• Become aware of your body.
• Feel the emotion in the music.
• Not looking at the notes on the page gives freedom to feel emotion.
• Things don't seem as difficult when you aren't looking at the notes.
• Never play when your embouchure is tired. When your legs are sore from running, you don't cure them by running harder.
• Seek progress by detachment. You can't improve the experience of riding a bicycle by having to think of balance.
• If you are getting tired, the motivation, vibration, and resonance are not ideal in relation to each other.
• Ease of playing is not getting tired.
• Ease of playing is being in balance with motivation, vibration, and resonance, each ideal for range and volume.
• Getting tired is having one or more of the variables — motivation, vibration, and resonance — not doing its job properly.
• Whistle the harmonic series and feel the airstream with your hand.
• Deliberately miss a note and see how difficult it is to do.
• Your ego won't let you miss notes. Take a chance and ignore the ego. Play a note and feel it get pregnant and give birth to the next note.
• Go from one note to the next like inhaling and exhaling.

From David Krehbiel: Through the Door

David Krehbiel was principal horn of the San Francisco Symphony from 1972-1998. He is legendary for his artistry and his willingness to take musical risks.

"Creative Not Caring" means staying in the present moment, not dwelling in  past or future moments. In the present moment, you don't mind what just happened or what could happen in the future. In "Creative Not Caring", you trust your body (not your mind) to play the instrument. You use your mind to power musical emotion and to define your sense of time and space in the ensemble.

For me, "Creative Not Caring" meant getting past worrying about the times I failed or missed the first note during a performance, and realizing that whatever the outcome, it was okay. Just play! Focus on the emotion of the music in that moment.

I was always the daredevil who would take chances. Being willing to take chances without minding the outcome is the secret of achieving one's goals. I became aware of this when I started playing this so-called difficult instrument, the horn.

We have a choice in how we think and how we react to that thinking. But again, there was the nagging question: How do I produce the attitude of "Creative Not Caring" at will? How do I get to a point of trusting that my body will take over in matters of technique so that I can focus on communicating the emotion and purpose of the music? How can I pick up my horn and play with the ease that will make a career with the horn possible?



"Creative Not Caring" means:

•  Staying in the present moment
• Conquering fear by not minding what happens after this moment or what happened before
• Trusting your body to play the instrument
• Using your thinking to power musical emotion
• Using your thinking for time and space in the ensemble
• Taking risks and always prioritizing musical expression
• Occupying your mind with the emotion the composer is communicating in the passage. This, in turn, keeps thoughts of what might happen before and after the audition or performance at bay. When I am in the present, playing how I feel musically right now, it's one of the most conscious, most alive times I can have.
• Trusting the body to take over physically and play. This is analogous to learning how to ride a bicycle; once you learn, your body knows how. If you try to think about keeping your balance on a bicycle, you will be too slow and you will fall. 
• Experimenting and taking a chance on making a change to become more efficient or more musically expressive.
• Balancing the vertical with the horizontal.
• Being able to feel the flavor of each note while remaining conscious of the line or phrase.
• Being able to feel the gravitational pull from one note to the other, going and coming.
• Creating tension and releasing tension in a musical phrase like breathing in and out.
• Using tone color, volume, and inflection as an actor would do to portray emotion.
• Becoming involved with the emotion of the music, which is the best way to alleviate stage fright.
• Being aware of feeling or feeling the architecture of each phrase and composition.
• Be able to recognize that the voice in your head is the cause of most trouble with nerves and stage fright.
• Be aware that the voice in your head is not who you are.

According to legend, Dale Clevenger was once asked by how he approached warming up. In his oft-impersonated Tennessee drawl he replied "why, I never warm down!"  Another anecdote about warming up involves a horn student at the Marlboro Music festival who observed that John Barrows would arrive ten minutes before rehearsal, "belch out a middle C" , leave stage to drink coffee and chat with colleagues, then return to stage at the tuning note and proceed to play brilliantly. When the student asked Barrows if he warmed up at home, Barrows replied "I used to warm up. I warmed up every day for years and years. One day I was warmed up!"

Most of us mere mortals require some type of daily warm up, for both physical and psychological reasons. When I was first getting serious about playing the horn, I found a copy of The Art of French Horn Playing by Philip Farkas in the band hall library of my high school and used it as my horn bible. I was especially drawn to Farkas's daily warm up, which he professed to practice in full every morning. Over the next several years, I tried to make the Farkas Warm Up the foundation of my practice routine. Some days I would slog through it and come out ok; other days I found it to be exhausting. I was definitely way past "warmed up" by the end! While I have since become a more efficient player, going through the full routine still makes me feel like I need a nice, long break before I continue practicing.

While the Farkas Warm Up was not for me, I was attracted to the idea of a systematic routine that could improve my skills and consistency without tiring me out. I tried lots of prescribed warm up routines endorsed by famous teachers (Standley, Singer, Caruso, Brophy, etc.) but eventually burned out on all of them.  Over time I realized that the appeal of a prescribed warm up is not really about the exercises themselves but rather the belief that the daily ritual of warming up will set the conditions for positive results on a daily basis. I would posit that there's a benign placebo effect in the daily warm up. Any ritual that offers stability in the occasionally chaotic, frustrating endeavor of playing the horn is not something to be dismissed. But the best warm up routine is useless unless one can find the time and energy to actually do it on a daily basis. An hour long intensive daily warm up is not  something I have the endurance or discipline for; especially if I have lots of music I need to prepare. I want my routine to be concise, purposeful and interesting enough to keep me engaged. Most importantly, I want to feel fresh and flexible by the end of it so I can work on actual music.

My teacher taught me to think of the daily warm up as the "nuts and bolts" that hold your playing together. Charles Kavalovski (another famously diligent warmer upper) called his warm up the  "Daily Dues." In this sense, the warm up is designed to maintain and improve technical skills with the added bonus of waking your air and lips up for the playing you need to do that day. In reality, most professional players (especially if they've arrived at the concert hall uncomfortably close to the start of rehearsal time) are ready to play after a few minutes of noodling (provided Bruckner 4, Ravel Pavane, Till Eulenspiegel or another touchy solo is not first up on the rehearsal.) For an advances player, the "warm up" portion of the routine is really the first five to ten minutes (for me, that's breathing, buzzing, flow studies and flexibility exercises on open harmonics). Whatever you have time to do after that falls under the category of daily maintenance. This block of practice usually immediately follows the warm up but it could occur later in the day as a prelude to a practice session or an evening concert. These exercises can be practiced in sequence although sometimes I feel more engaged with technical practice when it's mixed in with other practice material such as excerpts, etudes and solos.

After years of experimenting, here are some conclusions about what works best for me:

- A warm up routine should be no longer than 30 minutes. Quality practice time for a busy professional or student is often a luxury and I'd prefer to spend it working on actual music rather than technical exercises. If there's a specific problem I want to work on, I'll find an etude or orchestral excerpt to address the issue whenever possible.

- A routine should make my chops feel better, not worse. Long exhausting "warm ups" defeat the purpose of getting you ready for the day and often engrain bad habits. Try to use exercises that emphasize efficiency rather than strength. If you want to work on stamina and efficiency, it's a lot more fun to play through a Mahler symphony or a Strauss concerto.

 - The exercises that make up a routine should address fundamental concepts necessary to play well. In my experience, good technique can be boiled down to relaxed breathing, easy sound production, flexibility, mastery of scales and arpeggios, and efficiency. If the exercises you are working on don't address these concepts or are needlessly repetitive, you might ask how they are serving you.

- The routine should be consistent but have an element of novelty. The basic framework can be the same from day to day but, for the purposes of avoiding boredom or burnout, it's nice to mix things up slightly. For example, the scale patterns might change with the days of the week (Sundays are major scales, Mondays are natural minor, etc.) On odd days, start scale and lip slur sequences tongued; on even days, start slurred. Use a flashcard app to add an element of chance to what you're doing that day.


- Start each day with a "beginner's mind." I like to think of my first sounds of the day as rediscovering how to play the horn. I like to start with buzzing in part because, as a beginner band student, I wasn't allowed to touch the horn until I could play tunes on the mouthpiece. Before I ever opened a horn case I understood that the sound of the horn is merely an amplification of the buzz! Eventually I progressed to easy mid-register notes and took easy, relaxed breaths to create the most pure sound possible. Then I graduated to  lower and upper register notes. I  try to start each day by recreating the feeling of "beginner's mind". My chief criticism of the Farkas routine (and other well known warm ups) is that, within the first few minutes, you're playing at the upper and lower limits of the horn. I believe it's much better to start slowly and focusing on taking full, relaxed breaths and making beautiful sounds... just like a beginner!

- When the routine feels stale, make a change. This point is maybe the most important one. For most players, doing the same routine every day for years on end is a recipe for diminishing returns, or worse, the development of bad playing habits. While some parts of my routine have remained consistent over many years, every few months I feel the need to make a change. Sometimes that means simply changing the order of a sequence. Sometimes it means adding, eliminating or substituting an exercise. I'm always on the lookout for new exercises. If I find one that's novel, interesting, uncomplicated and will help me improve my playing, I'll add to my rotation.

Technique is a means to an end. That end is to be musically compelling and connect with whoever is listening to you. With this in mind, the goal of a daily routine should be to maintain and refine technique so that we are able to express our musical thoughts freely and become better musical storytellers.

from Gunther Schuller: Horn Technique

The single most important factor in legato playing (slurring from one note to another) is "breath support".  It is the air column that largely controls the vibration of the lips. The secret of good slurring is to keep this vibrating of the lips constant and controlled between slurred notes. Otherwise the beauty of the legato will be impaired or, worse yet, the player may find that the second note, to which he is attempting to slur, will not speak at all. It therefore stands to reason that extremely sensitive control of the air column is the key to a smooth, perfectly controlled legato.

The most common fault among students is that they generally give insufficient breath support in slurring. This is due primarily to the fact that there is in a proper legato a discrepancy between what one puts into the horn and what one gets out of it. That is to say, the internal approach to legato is seemingly out of proportion to the external result. It seems to be difficult for beginners and students (even many professionals) to reconcile these differences. In order to get a smooth legato between two notes, in which both notes shall be equal dynamically and qualitatively, a "breath crescendo" must be made internally. This is especially true of any upward slur, and becomes more critical the larger the skip or the higher the register involved in the slur.

Now the secret of this "breath crescendo" is in its timing. Let us call our two notes A and B. B must be prepared during A, to be exact during the last quarter or third of note A. If at this point a slight breath crescendo (controlled by the diaphragm) is made, the theoretical gap between A and B can be bridged in such a way as to make it inaudible. Incidentally, when I say "breath crescendo'" I do not mean a sudden huff of air on note B, but a smoothly accelerated increase of air prior to note B. The principle I am advocating works somewhat like a canal and its chain of locks. As in a canal in which the water floats a ship, the air carries or "floats" the note. Before being able to reach the higher water level, the ship has to be lifted to that level. Similarly, before being able to attain a higher pitch level, the note has to be gently 'lifted' to that level. In this 'lifting' process, the embouchure and valve action, if any is involved, also play an important role. I will discuss these points subsequently. As the ship reaches the upper level, the lock is opened, and the ship is able to float out effortlessly into the main stream. Likewise, once the air pressure has been built up to give sufficient "floating" support for the upper note, the tone will continue effortlessly at the new pitch level. The curious thing—and this is the point many students fail at first to comprehend—is that the breath crescendo, which is needed to lift pitch A to pitch B, gets absorbed in the lifting process, and does not show as an actual dynamic crescendo. Or if it does, it does so so slightly that it adds to the musicality of the slur, especially if it is an upward slur. Incidentally it is a fallacy to think that the above suggestions apply only to upward slurs. They do apply basically to downward slurs, the only difference being that the breath crescendo is a little more restrained. It feels more like constant rather than increased air supply. Indeed, on large-interval downward slurs, say of a tenth or a twelfth, the breath crescendo may have to be as much as on an upward slur.

As I have indicated, breath support is only one factor (albeit the most crucial one) in the production of a fine legato. The other two are the size of the embouchure opening, as controlled by the teeth, and the jaw and the timing and smooth operation of the fingers of the left hand. In slurring, the teeth must move from one position to another— up or down depending on the direction of the slur, quickly and smoothly,  "clicking" into place almost like
the gears on an automobile.

The fingering problems are less problematic, but are, precisely for that reason, often neglected. Many a slur has been missed solely through careless fingering. There are actually three aspects of fingering that are critical. One is the speed with which the key turns the valve, the other the impact with which the finger "hits" the key, and finally the timing of this operation in relation to the movement of the teeth and the flow of air. Ideally speaking, the player's fingertips should never leave the fingering keys. Beginners would do well to watch this, as I have already warned. If, however, through habit patterns already established, the fingertips leave the key when in open (upward) position, care must at least be taken to return to the key, when next used, with a moderately gentle movement. This is necessary because the key puts the valve in rotation. If this turning of the valve is too abrupt, it will automatically have a jarring effect on the air column and impair the slur, which is so dependent upon a smooth uninterrupted flow of air. By the same token, the turning of the valve must occur quickly, though smoothly. The end of the turning process must coincide with both the end of the lower teeth movement and the fully increased flow of air. The different timing of these three operations, which should work smoothly as a single unit, can be achieved only through diligent and extremely self-critical practice.

Before I leave the subject of legato playing, I must speak of one other related problem—in my opinion one of the most widespread bad habits of horn playing. It is what I call the "wah-wah" style of playing, in which each note is pushed and bent in a way that disrupts the easy musical flow of a legato or semi-legato passage. The solo from the Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony is perhaps the most maligned solo in this respect . An analysis of the nature of the "wah-wah" discloses that, whether tongued or slurred, the beginning of each note starts with a not quite centred tone and a correspondingly lower dynamic level. During the course of the note, both tone and dynamic level are expanded and heightened. Towards the end of the note, the original level is restored. At this low point, the connection is made to the next note. It is evident that there is a certain security—a feeling of taking no chances in this "sneaking-in" approach, and this indeed is the primary reason, I think, for the prevalence of this bad habit. It gives the player a chance to "test" the note, to sort of feel his way into the note before playing it at full level. This is convenient but most unmusical.

An idea of the degree of distortion involved can perhaps be gained by comparing the the ideal of tone production, i.e. a chain, not of sausage-like shapes, but of equally matched and fully sustained block-like notes. This is, of course, much more difficult. I come back to my point about the internal versus the external crescendi. If a player is careful, the internal process need
never show externally, at least not in any excessive fashion. For let us be clear about it: the wah-wah represents a lack of musical refinement, and indicates that the player has never worked out technically the final and musically most important stage of phrasing.

The most fundamental remedy for this malpractice is the practice of long tones. If practised correctly, the player will develop a healthy feeling for the pure shape of individual notes—a shape that is best characterized as a "block of sound", i.e. a sound with a definite beginning (by which I do not mean an accented beginning), followed by the body of the note, no wider, no fatter and no denser than the beginning, and an equally full and definite ending. If, in addition, the wah-wah addicted player will for a time concentrate on approaching the beginning of each note—whether tongued or slurred-with a conscious effort at a direct full sound, he can in a short time eliminate this blight from his playing. Needless to say, proper breath support is a prerequisite to musical phrasing. For without it, neither complete control of each tone or graceful, seemingly effortless movement from one pitch to another is possible.

from Gunther Schuller: Horn Technique

The position of the tongue can influence negatively or positively the actual quality of tone produced. After the attack the tongue pulls back into a relatively relaxed suspended position, arched slightly towards the roof of the mouth. For a high note the tongue must be arched high in the mouth, while for a low note the tongue can lie more along the bottom of the mouth. The tongue's position is directly related to the position of the jaw and lower teeth, since the base of the tongue is connected to the pharynx. It would therefore seem to be natural that, as the lower teeth and lip move up for a higher note, thus making the lip aperture smaller, the tongue would automatically follow correspondingly along. Yet I have had many a student who tried to produce high notes with the tongue straining towards the lower teeth, and vice versa. An idea of how much the tone and pitch are affected by the tongue position during a note can be gained by moving the tongue up and down during a long sustained tone.

The tongue's role in the attack of a note is somewhat controversial. I have encountered excellent players who believe that the tip of the tongue must never touch the teeth, but instead should hit the gums on the roof of the mouth. Others think of the tongue movement as a 'forward' motion; still others think of it as a 'snapping back' kind of movement. Strangely enough I have found that, given enough talent and practice, reasonably clean attacks can be attained with all these different methods.

I personally feel that the approach described below is the most direct and easiest to control. As in the case of tone production, the relative height or level of the tongue is again very important. For high notes the tip of the tongue, which should be pointed (not wide or flat), should produce the syllable 'tah' on the teeth. The higher the note, the higher the contact point on the teeth. High notes like high C, in fact, are attacked at the edge of the teeth and the gum line. By the same token, for low notes the tongue, now a little less pointed, may reach out as far as the inner curve of the upper lip. Between the lowest and highest notes the tongue will adopt correspondingly graded lower or higher positions, as the case may be. The tongue position at the moment of attack is critical, since it controls the direction of the airstream .

As for the direction of the tongue movement, I believe in a compromise of the 'forward' and 'backward' positions alluded to above. This seems realistic since the tongue, for any given attack, must move forward and back. The 'back' faction claims that the release of air occurs only when the tongue snaps back from the teeth or lip-which is true enough. The 'forward motion' faction counters with the equally true fact that the tongue could never snap back if it had not first moved forward. They feel that this forward movement actually controls the nature of the backward half of the total operation. Basically I consider both movements to be inseparable parts of one action. The player must learn to control not one or the other movement, but both for a perfect, relaxed, controlled attack.

In discussing which way the tongue should move, we must divide the question into two parts:

1) In relation to an initial attack (start of a phrase or an isolated note)
2) In relation to attacked notes within a phrase.

In respect to part 1, I am inclined slightly to the pulling away method, since it gives you greater security in attacking a note. However, I would caution against separating the forward and backward movements too much for the following reason. Once the tongue has reached the teeth or lip, it seals off the lip opening and thus prevents the taking in of air. If the tongue moves into 'attack' position much before the beginning of the note, it automatically means that breathing will have to take place before that, which will in turn lead to the dangerous separation between breathing and playing against which I warned earlier.

As for part 2, I suggest the 'forward' approach, if not actually physically, at least psychologically as a point of view. For the 'backward' method unfortunately tends to lead to the very bad habit of stopping a note just previous to a new attack with the forward movement of the tongue. The notes thus produced might be characterized syllabically as 'daht', rather than 'dah'. This occurs all too often with beginning students, and must be immediately corrected. For if this habit persists, it leads to a kind of stop-and-go manner of phrasing, which prevents a sustained, singing style of playing. At high speeds, of course, the question of forward or backward tongueing becomes academic since the time allotted for both movements is measured infinitesimal fractions of a second.

A subtle point often neglected in the study of attacks is that the air stream must follow immediately to sustain the tone. Even the slightest, physically almost imperceptible, delay will cause a 'poppy" attack, or one with a slight 'bubble' on it. The cleanest attacks will be those that have a full stream of air to back them up. This means that the air must be ready to go. As the water which is exerting pressure against a water tap is released when the spigot opens, so the air stream must be ready to flow immediately upon release of the seal between the tongue and teeth.

from Gunther Schuller: Horn Technique

Inhaling should be done, especially at phrase beginnings, in a very relaxed yet lung-filling manner. The hasty, jerking breath tends to tighten neck, shoulder, and stomach muscles. 

In general (and this is one of the most important factors in correct breathing) the taking in of air should always occur in time to the music being performed. This will insure relaxed inhaling, and will give to the breathing process a musicality specifically identified with the music being played. After a while, it gives the player an instinctive sense of timing in the several coordinated actions necessary prior to attacking a note, which will enable him almost to guarantee a note.

​The end of the inhaling process should be as closely connected as possible to the beginning of the breathing out of air. Both inhaling and exhaling should be thought of as a single uninterrupted act.

Hesitating between breathing in and expelling the air again serves no purpose other than to tighten various body muscles which should remain in a state of "relaxed tension" for free, natural playing. There is one exception, however. In the upper register, most players on an initial attack like to hesitate for the purpose of tightening the diaphragm into a strong supporting position. However, I wish to emphasize that this momentary hesitation is measured in fractions of a second, and is not long enough to choke back the air stream, unnecessarily tightening the neck and shoulder muscles.

At this point I must digress for a while to speak about the role of the 'diaphragm' in breathing. This term is bandied about a great deal, but in general many teachers and players still do not properly understand the nature and function of the diaphragm.

The diaphragm is a muscle which is situated in a horizontal position directly above the waist, and is shaped somewhat ike a shallow round tent. The '"dome" of this tent is flattened out when we inhale, thus allowing the lower lungs to fill with air. And like all muscles, the diaphragm muscle, once contracted or expanded, must return to its original position and natural degree of tension. It is this natural tendency of the diaphragm to contract, after having been expanded, that is the prime factor in achieving what we call "breath control". The diaphragm is the only muscle with which the release of air from the lungs can be controlled, since the diaphragm is the only major muscle touching the lower lungs. This is also why breathing by filling only the upper part of the lungs(chest breathing) is dangerous in horn playing. There are no muscles in the chest which can exert pressure on the lungs with relaxed control. Therefore the air issues from the lungs in an uncontrolled haphazard manner. In horn playing the process of inhaling and exhaling is actually a more or less intensified version of normal everyday breathing, which even the casual observer will note as a slight alternating in-and-out of the abdominal muscles.

In horn playing these movements are larger and more intense. But beyond this intensification, it is well to remember that the basic procedure is exactly the same as in normal breathing.

In normal inhaling only the lower section of the lungs is filled. The diaphragm muscle (tangent to the lungs) and adjacent abdominal muscles are thus expanded. The natural contraction of these muscles applies gentle pressures on the lungs, thereby expelling the air. In horn playing, since largeamounts of air are necessary, all these processes are magnified.

1) The entire lungs (not just the lower part) are filled with air. However, at this point I must emphasize strongly that one of the prerequisites of correct breathing is that the lower part of the lungs is filled first. Otherwise "chest breathing" will result. I have found that the suggestion to breath along the bottom of the mouth (or tongue) helps students to fill the lower lungs first. Conversely, I have noticed that breathing along the roof of the mouth leads easily to chest breathing.

2) The diaphragm and abdominal muscles expand considerably more than in ordinary breathing, to the extent that one can feel expansion almost around the entire circle of the waist, including the back. This is what has led to the popular misconception that the 'diaphragm' is a circular ring-like muscle around the waist.

3) The entire process from the moment of inhaling to the expulsion of most of the air takes
correspondingly longer than in ordinary breathing.

I would also like to point out that the intake of air required for horn playing is so considerable, that this inhaling does (and should) become audible- -as when sucking in air. Often students feel that this is wrong and try to inhibit this audible intake of air. It stands to reason that if the lungs are to be filled, and if the inhaling process is to take only a short moment, the 'rush' of air through the lips will produce a sound. Students should therefore not shrink from this, and should rather cultivate reasonably audible inhaling. As I have said, in actual playing, if the breathing is musically timed and not too jerky, it will not disrupt musical phrasing unduly. The breath will become a part of the music.

We have now inhaled and are ready to expel the air into the mouthpiece and horn. As in normal exhaling, the abdominal and diaphragm muscles will return to their original state of relaxed tension. For purposes of horn playing, however, an extra degree of control must be imposed. Different phrases will require different ways of expelling air, in large to small amounts and at slow to fast speeds. We can now really appreciate the importance of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, since they alone can control pressure on the lungs and, therefore, the amount and speed with which air is expelled. These muscles act as a kind of bellows. The return of the muscles to their normal positions can, in other words, be delayed or accelerated, thus affecting in a parallel manner the flow of air into the horn through lips and mouthpiece. At first, these muscles will be found to be weak, too weak at any rate to exercise absolute control over the flow of air. But over a period of months, with practice and conscious application of these muscles, they will gain in strength and control.

So far I have discussed only one aspect of the breathing out process. There is, however, another area which is part of the overall process of producing and controlling a horn tone. That is the control exercised upon the air stream by the embouchure. If the diaphragm is the motor and driving power in this process, the embouchure can be said to act as a rudder or steering device. It directs the air and controls the speed with which the air enters the mouthpiece. Both of these factors control the speed of vibration in the lips and the horn, and in turn the pitch and tone quality. If we think of the lungs as the source of air, the embouchure (and at a further stage the horn itself) represent not only the destination of the air but a wall of resistant and controlling pressure.

The principle involved is a very simple one: the flow of a steady unchanging stream of air fed by the source (the lungs) can be increased by closing the opening through which it issues (the embouchure), just as, in a stream, a sudden narrowing of the river bed will cause a relative acceleration in the flow of water.

As the lungs gradually empty, the stream of air thins out. To compensate for this loss of air, the diaphragm muscle has to increase its pressure on the lungs, so that the flow of air may be kept steady and undiminished. If it is not thus sustained, the tone will naturally decrease in volume and probably in pitch. This is why students (and even professionals) find the ends of long phrases harder to control than the middle. The degree of pressure exerted by the diaphragm and embouchure is dictated by the ear, which is presumably listening the sound as it is produced. The more sensitive the ear, the more demands it will place upon the diaphragm and embouchure.

The air stream, and in turn, the tone, are also controlled by another organ, the larynx, which functions as still another element in this four-way chain of pressure I am attempting to describe. The larynx (situated in the trachea) is used in horn playing almost to the degree that it is used in singing. And of all the points of control I have mentioned it is probably the most versatile. The larynx is a valve-like organ which at one extreme can shut off the air from the lungs completely, at another (when open) can let the air rush out entirely unrestrained, and can, of course, adopt all gradations between these two extremes. To illustrate its function briefly: in playing a loud sustained note the larynx must be wide open; on a very soft sustained note it must close sufficiently (again the ear is the final judge) to slow down the flow of air to the proper volume. The larynx's other important function is to end a note. This is achieved by closing this valve still further to the point where the air stream being allowed to pass is not sufficient to vibrate the lips and horn. This feeling can be easily practised by singing a sustained "ahh" syllable and gradually choking the sound off with the larynx. Obviously, the degree of abruptness with which a note is to be stopped can be easily controlled through a parallel abruptness in the closing of the larynx.

All four points of control (diaphragm pressure, larynx pressure, embouchure pressure, and the unalterable resistance
from the mouthpiece and the horn) function in a completely integrated inseparable manner, and only diligent and analyt-
practising will give the player the necessary control, assuming that he is not (as some players indeed are) a "natural' talent, to whom all these technical processes are already second nature.