Incorporating pedagogically targeted works by women composers into the novice horn player's repertoire

Langenberg, Kelly R.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117508 Copy

Description

Title

Incorporating pedagogically targeted works by women composers into the novice horn player's repertoire

Author(s)

Langenberg, Kelly R.

Issue Date

2023

Keyword(s)

• women composers
• French horn
• novice level
• developing horn player
• brass students
• horn repertoire

Language

en

Abstract

This project explores horn repertoire from three distinct perspectives, generated from my own educational and personal experiences as a woman professional Horn player and teacher of students of all levels. I sought to understand why such a deficit of woman-composed literature, both solo and etude, exists for novice Horn students. Naturally within this research, I also sought to identify practical and appropriate writing for novice Horn players and areas of pedagogical opportunity for developing players. With that accumulated information, I composed two new pieces of music that match these identified targets and add to the repertoire of literature for young Horn players composed by a woman. The first chapter explores the absence of women from the historic Horn repertoire, both as performers and/or as composers. Pervasive attitudes of the public regarding women who play brass instruments are presented alongside reasons why some instruments were preferred for women over others. The research surveys the historic lack of representation of work composed by women—specifically analyzing repertoire and written for the novice Horn player and traditional reasons why we find women underrepresented in the field of professional brass playing. This chapter also ventures into why, until very recently, we had few method books and an insubstantial quantity of repertoire by women composers. The second chapter provides insight into the inaccurate leveling of the current repertoire we offer novice students within their expected skill set, including an analysis of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 3 in Eb Major, and why this piece does not appropriately align with the skills of a developing player. I also explore several compositional ideas that will successfully aid a student in their progression on the Horn and enable more options for composers interested in writing for young players. Practical and pedagogically-appropriate writing for novice-level Horn players is defined— including suggestions for how to score piano parts, the importance of rests, and other niche concepts that could be explored by composers but are mostly not. The final chapter examines two new pieces added to the Horn repertoire that I have composed specifically for a novice-level Horn player. Both pieces incorporate innovative ways to nurture the skills of developing Horn players while maintaining challenging and achievable goals for the performer. The pieces I wrote both heavily reference the stories of historic female figures and are programmatic representations of these figures. Not Her Words is a piece based on the life and death of British Suffragette, Emily Davison. It celebrates her life as a radical feminist living in the years just before WW1 in Great Britain. The second piece, The Factory, 1943, is based on the US Government’s propaganda campaign, featuring Rosie, the Riveter. The piece programmatically tells the story of a group of women working on an assembly line in a factory in 1943.

Graduation Semester

2023-05-02T11:07:44-05:00

Type of Resource

• text
• still image

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2023 Kelly R. Langenberg

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