As a result of the disruptive ensemble playing I have even been asked to leave the music association because they believed that I would ‘never learn it’. After the rejection of not being welcome for lessons and in the orchestra, I continued playing for many years without a teacher. I taught myself everything by ear.
Due to this unusual start, I learned many things incorrectly. It has taken a lot of time and effort to correct this, so I am very focused on teaching my own students in a better way.
At the age of fifteen, I was accepted to the "havo voor muziek en dans," a special high school for music and dance (now known as "Codarts Lyceum"). Probably not because I played technically very well , but because the teachers which were present at my entrance exam might have seen that I quickly grasped their instructions.. Despite the good guidance, I spent a long time there trying to unlearn all my bad habits playing the horn, such as the incorrect use of the tongue, leading to articulation issues and insufficient utilization of breath support.
Through all the time and effort it took me to correct these mistakes, I realized that unlearning a bad habit takes significantly more time than directly acquiring a good habit. This insight has led me to believe in the importance of providing young horn players with high-quality lessons from the outset. Alongside a proficient teacher, this necessitates an effective method book, which is the focus of my research.
I believe that quality educationalmaterial and quality teachinglay the foundation for young horn students to become successful.
Because of my own difficult start playing the horn, I intend not to make it more difficult for my own students than necessary. I believe that – at a young age - joy in making music in combination with the basics of good technique should come first. A adequate method book helps a lot to bring this in to practice.
1.3 A difficult instrument
It is assumed that Robert Schumann said about the French horn that it can be seen as the heart of the orchestra. With its special and warm timbre I think that the horn makes a connection between the brass and the woodwinds. Rumor has it that the horn is one of the most difficult musical instruments to learn. Martin van der Merwe, former principal horn player of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, says:''It is a delicate instrument; various things can go wrong. I do not mean to suggest that other instruments aren't challenging, of course, but the French horn is known for it, and I believe you need a certain courage to play it, especially on stage.''2
During this researach, I have been looking for the do's and don'ts behind writing a motivating Bb French horn beginners method book, because despite its high level of difficulty, the horn should be learnable, and I believe that an adequate method book helps with that.
1.4 The need for a motivating Bb french horn beginners method Book
As a French horn teacher, I am not satisfied with the available method books on the Dutch market because I think they are not very motivating for the students. When I studied Bachelor Music in Education I was always told that motivation is caused by moments of success, and the Dutch horn method books are often so difficult that at least for my students it is hard to have such a success experience, especially for children.
I see my young students struggling with problems that are – in my opinion – not necessary. Their difficulties do not stem from poor practicing but rather from method books that are too difficult for many of them. Therefore, I want to develop a new horn method book. This research is about how (not) to write a Bb french horn beginners method book.
Why do I believe such a method book is necessary? My biggest concern is that the methods get too quickly too difficult for my beginning horn students.This is mainly caused by the melodic range that is expanded very fast. There is not enough material on the same level to give the students enough time to develop the embouchure and play the exercises well. Every lesson new, higher notes are added, so the melodic range of the melodies becomes larger, while the students are not even comfortable with the new notes that they just have learned.
For example, in lesson one they learn how to play the notated C, D and F. Most of my young students can not manage to play the F because they do not have the physical strength for it yet, but right from lesson two this is no longer the biggest concern, because now this is the newly learned (notated) G, which is certainly not yet ''installed'' on the lips of the newly started horn player, at least not in a responsible way without too much mouthpiece pressure.
Before students become comfortable with a new learned note, they are already required to learn another, higher note. In my opinion, this progression is too fast. I discussed this with a fellow brass player/teacher and realized that I would feel very uncomfortable if I had to constantly play at the top of my limit, attempting to play notes that are actually too high. Then I wondered why would we burden young children with extra difficulties on an instrument that already presents sufficient other difficulties anyway?
According to horn pedagogue Frøydis Ree Wekre too much mouthpiece pressure is destructive when it is applied to the same place over a long period of time.3
With more material in the same range we can reduce this mouthpiece pressure, pushing too hard is often a result of a lack of technique. It takes time to learn this properly, and in my opinion, having to play too high notes forcefully certainly does not help to learn this correct.
I think that my idea of a method book that gives more time to develop the lips could give succes experiences that could stimulate the motivation.
I even think it works demotivating to keep repeating the same pieces when the student already used the correct fingers and the rhythmic accuracy was already good, just because physical strength is holding us back and makes it impossible to go to a next chapter in which the range is even bigger. By playing more pieces in the same range, you maintain the challenge of playing a new piece while creating more time to develop the embouchure in the meantime.
I feel that some of the methods make my students believe they are not good enough. I will discuss this in more detail in my motivation chapter. What I can already share is that the difficulty does not just come from the big range; there is more to it. Additionally, the large amount of theoretical information is hard to manage. Even for my adult students, it seems quite intense and a lot to deal with because they have to learn and play so many different new things at the same time.
Here is an example of the amount of new information in a lesson. I find it quite overwhelming because, ideally, in lesson 6, you are still exploring the instrument and have only recently started playing, Unless you take more than 6 weeks to complete 6 lessons.
Photo: Horen Lezen & Spelen deel 1