Impact on Performing
Intro
With the preliminary results concluded, it is important to reflect on how these weaknesses can impact a musician’s technical ability when performing audition repertoire. Whether in school or taking professional auditions, many works, such as the Mozart horn concertos (one of which is discussed below), En Foret by Eugene Bozza (also discussed below), and the Neuling Bagatelle (in Europe) are commonly asked for, and will be repertoire that is necessary to have readily available during one's entire career. The impact of the preparedness of these works can heavily affect one’s success in the music industry. While there is an allowed amount of interpretation in the way these pieces are performed, there are standard elements in each work that highlight French horn technique and style, which must be performed at the highest level with little-to-no room for inaccuracy.
Impact on Performing: Mozart
The first work, Mozart Horn Concerto No.4 in E-flat major, requires very little introduction. This work was his third fully written horn concerto, finished in 1786. Mozart had written this work for a colleague; it was later dubbed “the color coded score” due to his use of multicolored ink, as a prank on his colleague. This work contains musical techniques, such as trills and other articulations, large intervallic leaps, as well as the innate style and range that allows it to be a great audition piece for the French horn. Each of these elements also requires a solid foundation in terms of embouchure setup that enables one to successfully perform these works. When an embouchure setup is not quite right, this results in deficits in the performance ability of these specific elements, which can lead to an unsuccessful performance of the work.
The horn concerto demonstrates a two-and-a-half octave range spanning from an F below the treble clef staff, up to a high B-flat above that staff. This work does not quite include the entire possible four-octave range of the instrument, but it is considered more difficult for the high range rather than the low range. Philip Farkas states that the key to a good range on the horn has to do with a well-developed embouchure. As seen in Chapter 2, the musculature surrounding the mouth plays the most important role in range development, as it provides the necessary physical strength to produce notes in either range. However, improper engagement, or too much pressure, can disrupt the vibrations in the aperture, leading to embouchures that clamp down from the corners, cutting off the vibration. This can cause severe muscle injuries in the face that can be very hard to come back from as an instrumentalist. The way this is avoided is by working out the muscles in the face with dedicated practice in the high range of the horn daily, as well as identifying how much pressure is needed to make the notes sound, as well as engaging one’s core/abdomen.
Figure 10 above is an example of a challenging passage in the high register. This excerpt is from the first movement and is in the exposition of the piece. Measure number 56 is the start of the second theme, a new idea contrasting the first with its piano dynamic and lyrical expression. This is followed by quick sixteenth-note bursts at letter D, leading into the high range before swiftly moving back to that lyrical flow to end the eighteen-bar phrase. While this may not appear outwardly difficult, the precision it takes for a hornist to stay soft and light while proceeding into the upper range requires precise dexterity between the tongue (articulation), valve changes, and of course, the embouchure. As mentioned previously, in fast passages, especially at soft dynamics, it is extremely easy to tense up and put too much pressure on the embouchure, causing a cut-off in vibration and sound. When adding additional factors such as the valve changes and style of articulation, this can be a recipe for disaster if not approached in a healthy manner.
Articulation and style are two techniques that are important to capture the essence of the overall piece as the composer intended. Articulation, which includes slurs and multiple styles of tonguing, is essential for adding interest to the piece. The preciseness of the articulations is crucial when performing audition repertoire, as incorrect articulations, style, or too many missed or cracked notes can have an overwhelming impact on how this work is perceived by an audience. Styles of tonguing include legato, staccato, tenuto, accented, and more. Most commonly seen in Mozart are staccato and legato tonguing styles in combination with slurred articulations. The way one achieves different styles of tonguing is through different points of the tongue, using a “too” or “doo” variety of attacks, and a correct embouchure setup. If the lips are in the incorrect position for the notes one is trying to play, it is most likely that the note will be missed due to the incorrect vibration speed for the note. This can be a result of too much or too little tension in the musculature creating the embouchure.
Figure 11 is an example from the recapitulation of the first movement. In the recap, it presents the main theme, with a bit of variety. Looking at the second theme of the recap at letter K, which is very similar to Figure 10, instead of a legato theme, this one is more representative of technically challenging articulation. In measure 163, the style of articulation is what is known as a “slur two, tongue two” pattern, which is very typical in fast sixteenth-note passages in Mozart's work. The following measure, m.164, changes the articulation pattern to slur two, slur two, which is a major change in the articulation. Separating the two and performing them precisely as written is imperative, as an accidental slip up or misstep in the patterns will bring major attention to audition panelists. It’s also important to note that the sixteenth note passages in m. 163 are descending, while the ones in m. 164 are ascending. This change should be noted by the performer as the function of the lips and embouchure need to follow suit to avoid any missed notes.
The last most challenging technique seen in Mozart’s work is his trills that complete large sections of the piece, primarily at the end of the exposition, but also towards the end of the entire movement. Trills can be performed in two ways, as a finger trill, or a lip trill. Finger trills are used for half-step trills, as it's not possible to perform a lip trill because the interval is too small. Lip trills are used for a whole-step interval, as these work within the harmonic series of the horn. The harmonic series in simplest terms is a set of harmonics, or overtones, one can play on certain valve combinations of the instrument. Lip trills function by working up the flexibility of the aperture to a certain speed that eventually breaks into a continuous flurry between two notes. It has become a popular ornamentation in many works that dates all the way back to the Baroque era. If the flexibility is not built up, the trills will function at a lower rate of speed, or not at all. Some try to overcompensate by shaking the horn itself or trying to move the chin or corners in an unnatural manner. This is not a lip trill. This flexibility has to be built up by practicing daily in small increments at a time.
Figure 12 is a prime example of a finger trill in this work. In the measure before E, there is a written E natural that trills to the note above, which is an F natural. This is an easy trill as it uses the second valve on the B-flat side of the horn to open valves on the B-flat side. These valve combinations make for an easy and smooth trill. Figure 13 shows lip trills three different times towards the end of the movement; in measures 184, 188, and 197. Lip trills are always performed in Mozart by starting on the upper neighbor note, and trilling between that and the written note on the page. This is not dictated in scoring typically, and is more of an understood Baroque/Classical music tradition. All of these trills seen in Figure 13 have C as their primary note, trilling up a whole step to D. Trills in the style of Mozart always end with a Nachschlag; a musical ornament featuring grace notes that precede the main note. This can be seen in measure 188, presented as two sixteenth note gracenotes leading into measure 189.
Impact on Performing: Bozza
En Foret by Eugene Bozza used to be deemed one of the, if not the, most difficult solo works for horn. This piece was written as an exam piece for the Paris Conservatoire in 1941 to test the graduate students’ technical abilities. These techniques consist of trills, large interval leaps, glissandi, hand stopping, double and triple tonguing, and extended range. En Foret, which means “In the Forest,” depicts a hunt underway, with a boisterous theme that repeats throughout the work. Many of these themes and motifs are borrowed from works such as Respighi’s Pini Di Roma, Feste Romani, and a hymn used in his Concerto Gregoriano, No. 1.
While the Mozart concerto and En Foret both have similar technical difficulties, there are a few more in En Foret that are not seen in the Mozart. For starters, En Foret spans over a three-octave range, while Mozart was only about two-and-a-half octaves. Harmonic series work, which includes lip trills, are also more apparent, especially since this work also features glissandi; a slide from one note to another hitting all the harmonics in between.
Figure 14 is the beginning of the piece. Immediately, it is extremely noticeable that it is more technically challenging than Mozart. It is rhythmically more advanced, incorporating triplet sixteenth notes, dotted rhythms, and fast passages that require extremely accurate finger dexterity. Two bars before rehearsal number 3 even has an optional part written above for those who may be unable to play the original part. Three measures after rehearsal 3, there are two ad lib glissandos that are written out, representing the true harmonic series. Like a lip trill, glissandi require well-developed flexibility to hit all the partials in between at a high rate of speed, without it sounding like a slur from one note to the other.
In Figure 15, rehearsal letter five brings us to this call-and-response transition theme that features both stopped and unaccompanied horn. Measure two of rehearsal 5 presents this theme in the same style as the beginning; bombastic, a hunting call signaling to the other people around them, followed in the next bar by a contrasting pianissimo stopped-horn feature; an echo in the wind in response, if you will. The stopped horn, or hand horn, has the ability to create a brassy, echo effect, by inserting the hand into the horn and creating a seal where the opening is. This technique was originally developed by Anton Joseph Hampel, when he discovered that inserting the hand into the bell allowed for the instrument to be played semi-chromatically. It was developed sometime around the 1750’s during the classical music era. Mozart used this as Hampel intended in his works; he used it to achieve a semi-chromatic instrument, as there were no valved horns in the 1700s. By the late 1800s, when valved horns were invented, hand stopping became an extended technique; it added different effects to the music, rather than it being a requirement to create chromaticism on a valveless instrument. This unaccompanied call and response transitions us from the hunt into an andante espressivo, which features the mid to lower registers of the instrument.
The remainder of En Foret features more of the same techniques talked about previously in the work, as well as in the Mozart, such as trills and glissandi. Overall, it is important to reference other techniques that are not necessarily written on the page. Necessities such as endurance, which was highlighted as a common weakness in the study, and intonation are two unspoken elements that panelists look for in audition repertoire, both of which are dependent on each other, and the embouchure setup. “Good endurance is one of the most reliable proofs of correct playing methods,” Farkas once said. Endurance of brass playing is exactly the same as endurance in sports. If the fundamental technique is wrong, it's nearly impossible to be successful. If one does not continuously dedicate time to building up the necessary musculature, they will not be able to maintain good endurance. Intonation plays right into the hand of endurance. Intonation can be highly affected by weak endurance. When the muscles are overworked and cannot hold up their end of the bargain, pitch will suffer, usually becoming flat, as the endurance wears out.
Ultimately, the correct embouchure set up determines one's successes or failures when it comes to audition repertoire and horn technique. It is nearly impossible to become a successful player without the right fundamental basis, which is why further study on embouchure setups and weaknesses should be continued. These two pieces are prime examples of the compositional elements and other unspoken requirements that show up in audition repertoire that weigh heavily on the undetermined outcome of the performance. The primary weaknesses combined with the understanding of technical demands all need to be taken into consideration when determining if an embouchure setup is beneficial or detrimental to one's overall success.