The Creative Hornist
Jeffrey Agrell, Series Editor
Creative Horn Lessons
by Dan Spencer
I
have had the joy of working with a number of middle school
and high school students over the years who were not, shall
we say, always overly committed to playing the horn. Why
was this joyful? As teachers we would love to find that every
student has same dedication and passion for the horn that we
do, but that is often simply not the case. This doesn’t necessar-
ily mean that we should tell them they shouldn’t take lessons
or that they will never be a good horn player. I was one of those
students when I was in middle school and high school. I got
kicked out of my trumpet lessons when I was in the seventh
grade because I wasn’t practicing enough. I was more inter-
ested in sports than practicing the trumpet at the time. How-
ever, now I have embraced the challenge of teaching the less
dedicated musician and have found great success.
It’s a good idea to ask what the students and parents are
trying to get from the lessons. If I know that they just want to
play duets and have fun because they are more passionate
about karate or choir, then that’s fine. That doesn’t mean they
aren’t worthy of my time; it just means I have to think outside
the box to help them enjoy the horn the way that I do. I’ve
found one way that has been a mutually enjoyable experience
for both students and me and has also been able to teach them
how to be better horn players, better musicians, and better at
whatever else they are passionate about. We all know that
music isn’t simply about the notes on the page, nor are the val-
ues and skills obtained through music only applicable in the
music world.
With this in mind, I have found a unique way to make les-
sons much more enjoyable for the everyday middle school and
high school horn player. This starts with the question, “Would
you like to play a game?” I don’t know of many young students
who don’t like games, and this elicits an immediate positive re-
sponse to horn playing. It is a great place to start with any stu-
dent, not just the casual player. We can enjoy playing our
instruments in multiple ways and acquire greater technique
without feeling the pressure of having to reproduce the notes or
rhythms on the printed page. Sheet music can create a barrier
between the individual and the instrument: a fear of failure. A
way around this barrier is through playing improvisational games.
Call and Response
Every game I use helps build the musicianship and tech-
nique of the horn player, much the same as Kopprasch or any
other etude book would. For example, we can work on aural
training and scale technique with a Call and Response game.
The teacher plays a (say) one four-beat measure and the stu-
dent then plays it back immediately in the next measure. The
first “calls” should begin in C major on middle C and be very
simple. The object is not to trick or stymie the student, it is to
offer progressive challenges that are just slightly harder than
the last one. When skillfully done, a student can be led to be
able to play back amazingly complex rhythms and pitches in a
relatively short time.
Many variations are possible: the teacher could start with
one pitch and just do rhythms. When the student can echo
fairly complex rhythms, then start with pitches. The teacher can
also dispense with scales/fingerings altogether and confine the
“call” material to the overtones available with one fingering,
b
say, E horn (F:1). The teacher can also gradually lead the stu-
dent into playing into an extended range.
For more advanced students, the Call and Response game
can be made progressively more challenging in various ways.
After the student can respond consistently in C major, move on
to less familiar keys. After major, do the calls in various minor
scales, and later, advanced players might encounter whole tone,
diminished, or even atonal or completely chromatic scales.
What’s great about this game is that it can be adjusted to fit
any level of student. The only limit is the teacher’s imagination.
Tip: the Responder should always play eyes closed, since we
hear better without visual distraction, and the student can’t
“cheat” by watching your fingering.
Scales and Imagination
I also like to work on scales using another game that com-
bines learning with fun (and doesn’t use sheet music): I have
my students improvise duets with me. What makes this easy
and enjoyable instead of daunting is that we limit ourselves to
the first five scales steps of the key we’re working on (also
known as Power Scales). I’ll usually play a bass line in the key
and have the student make up something using steps 1-5. The
scale material is thus learned in all kinds of different ways, so
the student develops a much greater fluency (i.e. speed + ac-
curacy) in the scale than simply playing traditional up-and-
down scales. Stack two well-learned Power Scales (e.g., C + G)
and you have an octave of very fluent, well-learned scale ma-
terial – and the student always has fun (= motivation) getting
there.
Once we begin thinking outside of the box, the sky is the
limit. We can thus have fun playing our instruments in lessons
and acquire better skills in both technique and aural training, a
wonderful supplement to the rest of what we do: preparing
solos, etudes, or excerpts. As teachers, we benefit greatly in
using “games” like this to expand our pedagogical repertoire.
Such creative games help our students develop a deeper un-
derstanding of music and of technique more quickly and effi-
ciently, and they are fun and motivating for both student and
teacher.
Dan Spencer is a doctoral student in horn performance at the
University of Iowa.
The Horn Call - May 2011 55
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