Skip to main content

Unaccompanied Works

Unaccompanied Works

For my lecture recital at UMKC, I decided to do a survey of unaccompanied works for horn. Each work includes a brief bio of the composer and a video clip of the piece being performed. My focus was on the extended techniques required throughout each work. I wanted to highlight the different influences composers draw from in their lives and how they come out through their writing for unaccompanied horn.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Transposition

Transposition The purpose of this post is not to completely teach you how or why we transpose, but rather a few ideas on how to work on transposition. The short of it is, we transpose because of our tradition coming from the natural horn where you could just change a crook and be in the right key. The how gets a little more complicated, but with proper guidance and lots of patience is easily achievable. Further reading can be found at: http://hornmatters.com/?s=transposition I highly suggest that you find a teacher who knows what they are doing when you start learning transposition. It is a tricky matter that if learned incorrectly to being with can hurt things down the road. When you are first learning transpositions, give yourself some baby steps. First, identify the key you are transposing to and the interval over which you need to make the chance. Take Horn in D for example. This means you are transposing down a minor third. Check the key signature and see if there are an...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ensemble Types

Ensemble Types Most of us spend our pre-college lives in the band setting. If we are lucky, our school has an orchestra program that tries to incorporate winds. In the band setting, we are surrounded by other woodwinds, brass, and percussion instruments. Bands are the leading forces in school ensembles through college, but then there are not many examples of bands outside of the school setting. They are many military bands that exist across the world, but professional bands outside of military connections are rarely found. Orchestra is the other most common type of ensemble you could be a part of. In this ensemble, the winds sections are greatly reduced and the string family is added in. The standard setting is for two violin sections, a viola section, cello section, and bass section. If you are put in orchestra for the first time when you enter college, do not be afraid to ask your teacher and your colleagues for tips and advice. It is a different setting from band and can req...
Post a Comment
Read more

Embouchure

Embouchure The best embouchures are often described as two-thirds top lip, one-third bottom. This comes from the way that we aim our airstream down into our lead pipe. Having more top lip gives us better control with aiming our air and makes shifting between ranges easier. Lips comes in a variety of shapes and sizes and appropriate mouthpieces can aid in finding this balance. Your teeth can also play a role in helping find the proper placement as well. An easy way to find a setting is to place the mouthpiece almost to the lips and then begin a free buzz and slowly place the mouthpiece on your face and allow the muscles to relax around the mouthpiece to keep the buzz going once it is in place. Aperture, the hole your lips make to allow air through, plays a huge part in this setup as well. Aperture should naturally find its way through simple exercises and can also help guide the mouthpiece to proper placement. Check that the corners of your mouth are firm so that air is not slip...
Post a Comment
Read more