<Music: Performance by Quintigre from the sixth movement.>
Hello, my name is Jason Ayoub, and I
am the horn professor at Towson University in Towson, Maryland.
Hello, my name is Jason Ayoub, and I am the horn professor at Towson University in Towson, Maryland.
Now let’s turn our attention to the fifth movement. This movement requires great facility in range and articulation as well. We begin, like the third in a trio with the bassoon and oboe. This time, though, we are in duet last (third) movement with a trio. But this time we are in perfect fifths with the bassoonist. with the bassoon in perfect fifths. And we change articulation styles every two bars. First legato and then staccatissimo. Always to time to work with your bassoonist and make sure you are matching articulations through these alternating bars.
For us horn players when we play staccatissimo we want to make sure it doesn’t become “spitty” or too short in nature. Again it should have a beautiful ring to it even though it is short.
(Demonstration)
Also the beginning of this movement is marked poco forte. I many young horn players who just ignore the poco and play the forte. We always want to stay in balance with our colleagues, with the bassoonist and then with the oboist. Make sure the oboe is the dominant voice since they have the melody.
(Performance by Quintigre)
If we look ahead to bar 9, we see once again another high, delicate passage that Milhaud has composed for us. This is another great place to slide a little more hand. Practice starting high Gs with just that air attack, gaining the muscle memory needed for that passage.
(Performance by Quintigre)
Bar 15 is one of my favorite passages! Here is another place to use some alternate fingerings. The first alternate fingering that I would use is on the high F with the grace notes. I like to play that with trigger 1 on the B flat side. This helps facilitate cleaner and faster grace notes.
(Demonstration)
The other place is two bars later on the high F sharp. Use 1and 2 (like the third movement) instead of 2nd so you don’t have to slur from the high E to the F sharp in the middle of that very quick passage. Let me play that for you slowly.
(Demonstration)
So here is the whole passage with the alternate fingerings from bar 15.
(Demonstration)
(Performance by Quintigre)
I hope this video has helped you gain some great insights into this excellent horn part in this fantastic piece of music. Please feel free to leave any comments and I will try and respond in a timely manner.
Thank you again for watching.
<Music: Performance by Quintigre from the sixth movement.>