The purpose of this research was to ultimately answer the question "How can I run an effective workshop for students on the Natural Horn?" This research developed from a desire to impart my own love of the natural horn on students who were just beginning their horn playing journeys. Due to my own lack of this knowledge during my studies, I knew that it was incredibly important to at least show them this other side of horn playing that they may be lacking. As a teacher in schools, I have been able to plan lessons for my own students, but also have come into contact with other horn teachers and know what is and is not included in their lessons.
As I have studied the natural horn I have noticed a development in my modern horn playing skills and observed that a lot of this comes from the basic technical skills needed to play the early horn. These basic skills are things even the youngest of students can play, so I personally tried to include them when teaching. I wanted to use this research and workshops to show how beneficial playing these instruments, which are essentially pipes only able to play open harmonics, are for increasing awareness and technical prowess on modern systems.
With regards to the actual running of a workshop, I discovered some useful tricks with the planning of activities and timings to keep young kids engaged. I knew from experience that children have a limited attention span, and that I should also be aware of the anxiety that comes with playing a new instrument in front of others. The results of the survey given to music educators aligned with this view. But I found that the younger students actually threw themselves into the workshop more than I anticipated and were keen to try the instrument as soon as they saw the materials in the room.
From this research, I have also gained an insight into the various early horn methods and which are better suited to different age groups of players. Relating to teaching and to organising another workshop, I can confidentially select repertoire and exercises from these methods that would be useful in their understanding of how to play the instrument.
An interesting development that I discovered from the workshop was how useful this type of instrument could be for young beginner students. I have found over the years that one of the biggest obstacles young children face with learning the horn is the physical limitations due to their size and the size of the horns that they are often given by schools. Eight times out of ten, from my experience, students at schools are given double horns as their starter instruments, which are often large, heavy and difficult to get enough air through. The other times, the school may have kinder horns (literally: 'children horns' which are smaller in size) for loan, which, while being small enough to carry, will often break and be difficult to maintain.
In doing this workshop, I found that this kind of instrument could be a fantastic option for younger children to use for the beginner lessons – it offers a lightweight option that gives them access to the harmonic series, to build up their knowledge of the feeling and sound of notes, without the worry of a heavy instrument that they are unable to press valves down due to maintenance issues. If pitch is not an issue, the horn could also be customised to fit the player, as I have found students have a natural range that they can play in without any prior knowledge, and these horns could be custom ‘cut’ to the length that fits the students natural playing pitches and range. Hosepipes are also cheap and readily accessible for any student to use, offering a cost effective introduction to the instrument. These horns could also easily be taken home and when they ‘upgrade’ to a real instrument, could easily stay home as a practice tool.
