Now that the busyness of the semester has started to settle down, I’ve had a chance to work on a few other projects. One of them is new recordings of the upcoming 2024-2025 All-State etudes for both middle and high school horn players in Louisiana. While there have long been high school All-State bands (and orchestras) in Louisiana, next year will be the first time a Middle School All-State Band will be offered to my knowledge.

The high school audition etudes are on a four year rotation, with two etudes (lyrical and technical) in each of the four sets. When I moved to Louisiana in 2006, these etudes had been in use for some time, but they were updated a few years ago. Each set of high school audition etudes includes one selection from Kopprasch, Op. 6 Book 1, and one selection from John Shoemaker’s Legato Etudes for Horn. Since the switch to these new etudes, I’ve been slowly making new recording and tutorial videos for them, this one being the last of the four sets. Although it’s titled “Set 1” it’s the last of the videos I’ve made of the high school repertoire. I hope students and teachers find it helpful!

As for the Middle School Etudes, they are on a 2-year rotation, with both etudes in each set taken from Volume 1 of the Rubank Advanced Method. I’ve used this book a few times over the years, but was not very familiar with it. There’s some interesting information in Volume 1, though it seems to me a little beyond the average middle school horn player. Perhaps it was chosen to provide a challenge for advanced middle school players. One of the required etudes in this set is actually a duet, with students being asked to prepare the top line only for the auditions. I recorded both lines for this video, so that students can play the top line along with it. Good luck and happy practicing!

For those who are interested, I have been tweaking my recording setup for videos over the last few years. I’m not an expert in videography, but this equipment seems to work pretty well and delivers a decent product.

• Camera: Canon EOS M50 Mark II mirrorless camera with the kit lens that comes with the camera
• Audio Recorder: Zoom F3 Field Recorder with audio cable out to the camera (The audio is recorded simultaneously to the F3 recorder and is also output to the camera’s microphone jack.)
• Microphones: 2 Audix SCX25A-PS Large-diaphragm Condensers. The school happens to have a pair of these very nice microphones, and they work great!)
• Video Editing Software: Adobe Premiere Pro
• Audio Editing Software: Logic Pro

Here’s a picture of this gear set up in our recital hall at school.