Hello to all horn players! It is an honor to be presenting to all of you this new and exciting horn exercises planning method. Hold tight to your chairs as in the following minutes I will navigate you through this horn practicing journey, that for sure will give you some insights to improve your own practice. There are 365 exercises on this book, and at first you might think it means one exercise a day. Well, actually there are many, many more exercises on this book, since the way of doing them can give you ideas for several years of practicing. There are plenty exercise books, however neither do they necessarily fit to the specific needs of every player nor to the learning sequence. An exercise isn’t easy or difficult by itself, since the player is the one, who feels the level of difficulty, it’s up to him to say whether something is easy or not. We are all unique, no two people are the same. For sure every single horn player needs to practice the same basic stuff, but the way of doing it, will depend largely on the evolution level and the individual situation of each person. So, planning seems to be the key, however if the player spends more time planning than executing the plan, then it will be of very little use. This method is dedicated to Frøydis Ree Wekre, whom I consider one of the best living horn pedagogues. Her energy has inspired me to question and improve my teaching methods and to develop several pedagogical resources. Horn 365 has been gradually developed over the last 20 years and, in order to take in account a panoply of different situations, it presents each exercise with a number and the way of doing it is indicated by letters. The combination of different letters makes it possible to encode complex exercises on codes, that are short and easy to understand, which leaves more time to practice, with the minimum amount of planning. By using this method, teachers can easily adapt the exercises to their students, and students can gain autonomy to gradually choose their own path and adjust their practice to their level and current situation. Another important aspect to take in consideration is the fact that we come so often across students that aren’t able to organize their practice sessions. It is very usual to see a student learning a specific technique like stopped notes, lip trills, double staccato etc. by practicing it ad nauseum during several days, just to never practice it again. All horn techniques require continuous practice in order to be mastered, so a good planning is essential to achieve the goals. Basic techniques are required to be included in the practice sessions on a daily basis and despite requiring seldom practice, secondary techniques should not be forgotten either. After understanding and applying this concept to the exercises, this method can be applied to solo, chamber or orchestral repertoire. One thing is sure, in order to tame or at least try to tame this wild beast from the forest, we need to practice regularly. However, this process doesn’t need to be boring. With variety, every day can be special and the horn can be practiced and enjoyed every single day. After this short introduction, let’s get started and get to know this book in detail. Learning how to use this system requires some time as it differs from other methods. Still, what at first looks difficult because it uses codes, it is actually pretty simple and straight forward, as the codes are easy to memorize as they refer to the first letter of a word both in English and Portuguese. • E for Exercise • H for Harmonic Series • C for Circle of Fifhts • M for Modes • S for Symmetric • R for Rhythm • A for Articulation • D for Dynamics • T for Tempo Then you can use 8va for defining the exercise to be performed on a specific range Asc for ascending form Desc descending form In the central pages of the method there are scheme pages. This way the student can memorize the pattern and then open the method in the middle, using it just to follow the different rhythms, articulations, dynamics, following different keys or modes, symmetric patterns, or overtone series patterns. So, E12 simply means to perform the exercise number 12. On this case, the performer can choose the tempo, dynamics, rhythm, articulations, as they aren’t defined. The same way, E12/T60 establish a metronomic tempo, if you add Df it means dynamic forte, so you also lock the dynamic. Going on with this logic, this can be applied this can be applied to even more complex codes. So, for example this code defines the traditional pattern of the exercise number 140 to be practiced in 12 keys following the circle of fifths, adding flats, using different rhythms, articulations, and dynamics in groups of four notes. After learning this method, the teacher can plan the practice of the standard repertoire specifying rhythms, articulations, dynamics or ranges. For example, using the flowing codes: The first code means Mozart Horn concerto K.447, 1st movement, on 100 beats per minute. The second code defines that the Kopprasch etude number 10 should be practiced on a tempo range from 60 to 120 beats per minute, using different rhythms, articulations on groups of 4 notes and dynamics from pianissimo to fortissimo. As you can realize, writing all this information and the examples of the patterns takes much more time than using a simple code. In the end of the book, there are pages with a blank practice plan where the planning for a full month can be written on a single page. On the website www.horn365.com you can some plans, as well as blank templates to be downloaded and which allow each teacher to customize a plan for each student. Continuing with the description of the concepts this of this book, a double bar line means a complete exercise pattern. A dashed bar line is indicated when the pattern isn’t finished And should be continued with the same logic. The indicated slurs in some exercises are optional, and should be ignored every time a plan asks for a different articulation. The same goes for the indicated breath marks, as they really depend on the performed tempo. In most exercises, the indicated octaves are mere examples. Some exercises mention specific repertoire, from which their patterns were derived from. Because of the system used in this book, the exercises aren’t organized with a real index, as the exercise that one student uses to practice scales, the next student could benefit by practicing it buzzing, or to improve finger coordination, etc. Unlike traditional methods, these exercises aren’t meant to start on the first one and continue up to the last one. They aren’t organized by difficulty level as the difficulty will be defined by the letters used to perform the exercises. This is a rough division as ideally the player should jump to specific sections according to his needs. Exercises 1-48 are overtone series exercises indicated in F, for sure they can and should be transposed to the Bb side of the horn too. In the beginning of each harmonic series exercises it is indicated in parentheses the overtones range. In the exercises following harmonic series, the 7th and 11th harmonics are notated with its closest ¼ tone equivalent. So, for example the exercise no.1 can be performed by a beginner in his first lesson. If the code E1/T60 is used the student will simply perform the written notes in any articulation or dynamic. By adding H2 it gives the information it gives the information to follow the harmonic series of the F horn. and so on... The same exercise can be played by a more advanced student using one of the several patterns, for example H4 that goes down and up, starting on the F horn. or H7 that follows the circle of 5ths. From exercise 49 the F side and Bb side of the double horn are mixed. So, for example exercise 50 uses a downward pattern from the 2nd to the 4th harmonic. The traditional fingerings nomenclature uses numbers for F horn and T for the Bb side. However, this traditional nomenclature doesn’t take in account if the horn is set in Bb/F or F/Bb. So, on this book, the F side fingerings are preceded by an F and the Bb side fingerings are indicated only by numbers, this way it will indicate the side of the horn and not the thumb action, allowing it to be independent from the way the thumb action is set. Exercises 69 to 75 are indicated in the Bb side of the horn, simply because this allows to avoid clef changes, however they can and should be practiced in both sides of the horn. For example, this exercise number 69: From exercise 81 to 90 several exercises on harmonic series glissandi are presented For example on E84 are presented several glissandi up to the medium high C Relating to this exercise... In the middle section of the book there is a list crossing the different horns where a given note can be performed. This is useful to create different exercises aiming for a specific note. Exercises 91-93 present lip bending glissandi, these are also useful for a cool down by the end of the day. For example I will perform Exercise no.92 where the 2nd harmonic of the Bb horn is bent down a perfect 4th and then slurred in to the second harmonic of the F horn. This is also especially useful to link the notes in the low range. From 101 to 111 there are exercises that gradually build scales and melodic patterns. Next, from exercise 112, the patterns start developing from small intervals to gradually larger intervals. Exercise 114 presents an exercise to practice rhythmic breathing. There are exercises that present two pairs of equal intervals, from the major 2nd to the major 7th, So, these exercise numbers can be used to locate exercises including those intervals. I will exemplify with exercise number 127: Most of the exercises are presented in C major, simply because this way they become easier to transpose to other scales and modes. There are several exercises that are built on other scales like chromatic octatonic minor whole tone scales or pentatonic. Exercises 223 to 232 present 5 notes exercises that are ideal to practice fast finger movements, using the melodic patterns indicated, following the note changes presented in the following page: whole tone scale, lydian, major, minor, phrygian, locrian, and diminished. I will exemplify this with exercise no.224 played one octave bellow. Several exercises on arpeggios are presented during the book, but from exercise 233 to 244 a specific pattern is indicated where notes are gradually added below or above the thirds or the triads. I will exemplify this with exercise no.239 following the circle of 5ths. I will breath every two sequences, and following the circle of fifths. From exercise 245 to 304 several multiphonics exercises are presented. The horn literature present just a few examples using this technique so, at a first glance the reader might consider skyping these exercises. To produce this technique, the player is required to control the lip aperture in order to focus/unfocus the sound played by the horn. The indicated examples should be adjusted to the vocal range of the player, either by octave or using a different harmonic series in the case of the exercises with indicated fingerings. So, practicing regularly this technique improves other aspects of the horn technique far beyond the multiphonics technique itself. These are also good to practice as cool down exercises. As an example, I will play exercise 296 From 304 to 317 there are several exercises exploring trills. During these exercises, both the fingered trills and the lip trills are covered. The traditional trills exercises are there, to be practiced faster and faster, like going to gym. This type of exercise is needed, but since we are talking about an ornament that most of the time will be used on a tonal context, It is important to practice them on a music context. For eg. on the 2nd degree or 5th degree of the scale. as an example, I will play exercise 315. It starts on the D major scale Because this way it has the trill on the 2nd degree of the scale The lowest lip trill on the double horn is the E natural And you can continue up to the high C or even the high D Exercises 318 to 328 explore different right-hand techniques Such as stopped notes, half-stopped, including stopped glissandi and half-stopped glissandi. I will exemplify with exercise 321 That uses the same intervals that you can find in Douglas Hill's book, and that I use in my piece Song for Emma I will play also exercise 323 Exercises from 329 to 344 are built using only two different fingerings and should be practiced following the indicated fingerings sequence, in order to work on flexibility of the left hand fingerings. I will exemplify with exercises 331, 332 and 333 played in a row. This is a clear example of ways you can use to combine different exercises just by skipping the last note. As you can see, these exercises can be used to work other aspects too. As a suggestion, you can use small coins like small euro 1 cent coins and place them under the fingers, that aren’t being used on a sequence. this way if you lift your fingers the coin will fall. I will exemplify with exercise 343. so... because I'm not using the 1st and 3rd finger, for this exercise I will place a coin under my finger... For the next sequence... I'll be using only the 1st and 2nd... So I place a coin on the 3rd... The next one... I'm using only the 1st and 2nd So I place a coin on the 3rd... As an alternative... For 1 & 2 You can play with the 3rd, So.. I'm not using the 2nd... I place a coin under the 2nd finger... etc... I always tell my students that I practiced this exercise so hard that the coins became glued to the key levers. You can count the number of times the coin falls, pick an institution, and by the end of the month donate the corresponding amount. This way you will be improving your left-hand dexterity and help others at the same time. Exercises 345 to 357 present several patterns to practice multiple tonguing both double and triple. I will exemplify with exercise 348, where double tonguing is used in groups of 4 repeating notes, three, two... and finally without repeating any note. The last exercises from 358 to 365 are based on quartertones. I will exemplify with exercise 358 Practicing a different pattern a day makes at least 365 patterns a year, which means creating a music vocabulary ready to be used when needed. Horn playing is and will always be difficult. But this way it can become a little bit easier, and for sure more fun. As I always say, have fun practicing the horn 365 days a year! For the release of this book, I will be giving a small 30 minutes online session, with those, who order it during August 2021. Those interested just need to contact me to schedule the session, which can be used to work on any detail of the book or any technical aspect of your horn playing.