Dennis Abelson is the horn professor at Carnegie Mellon University and

a member of Pittsburgh's Opera and Ballet Orchestras. is !arm"Up

and Daily #egimen for the orn begins$ after a helpful %able of
Contents$ &ith '!hat to Do' and '!hat to %hin($' &herein he
immediately emphasi)es the critical balance bet&een the mental and
physical aspects of the daily drill$ as &ell as the basic principles upon
&hich the drill is based. %his introduction is very straightfor&ard* he
doesn't &aste a lot of verbiage$ and students can highlight (ey phrases
li(e$ 'Al&ays use a metronome$' and '#est ade+uately bet&een
routines.' e covers a lot of topics +uite e,ectively in a very fe&
pages.
%he '!arm"Up' section has virtually every note &ritten out$ &ith the
e-ception of the .nal chromatic e-ercises. /n this section he maintains
a very moderate range and dynamic level through four basic daily
routines$ starting &ith '0ong %ones$' 'More 0ong %ones$' continuing
&ith 'Diatonic /ntervals$' 'Chromatic /ntervals$' ' Arpeggios' 1on both
the 2 and B"3at sides4$ and concluding &ith 'Chromatics$' and 'More
Chromatics.' One of the strengths of this &arm"up is that the pre"
scribed order of e-ercises moves e5ciently through the di,erent
aspects of the routine.
%he ne-t section$ '%he #egimen$' features 'daily e-ercises to be
e-ecuted in all (eys' 1i.e.$ t&o (eys per day in each e-ercise4. e
recommends a total of thirty minutes$ allo&ing for rest after each
e-ercise* t&o minutes on '%hirds' 1in (ey and style option of choice4$
.ve minutes of '%hree patterns' 1in all (eys4$ four minutes of '%riads'
1in t&o (eys of choice4$ four minutes of 'Arpeggios' 1in t&o (eys of
choice4$ four minutes of ma6or and minor 'Diatonic 7cales' 1again$ t&o
(eys4$ and four minutes of '7cale8 Arpeggio Combinations' 1t&o (eys4.
Many of the e-ercises provide a choice of articulations.
%he third section$ '7peci.c Problems$' features a broad variety of
e-ercises for the development and maintenance of many other
technical aspects of playing$ including a fe& that don't typically turn up
in other routines$ and some in rather original designs. 7ome even have
some&hat thought"provo(ing titles* '#ange /mprovement 8 9conomy of
9mbouchure Movement$' '#egister /mprovement 8 %onguing$'
'9nunciation 8 Clarity$' '0o& #egister 7trength$' '%he Brea( 8
2le-ibility$' '%rills$' 'Double %onguing$' '%riple %onguing$' '9ntrance
Accuracy 8 Pitch 7ense$' 'Centering 8 Pitch Bending$' and '2le-ibility.'
%he last pages o,er '7ome Practical orn Player's Philosophy$' '7ome
Other elpful 7uggestions$' ' And a .nal thought. . .' /n this section$
Abelson addresses some of 'the myriad of con3icting information
readily volunteered$' emphasi)es the personal and individual
uni+ueness of each player and his or her speci.c needs$ and o,ers
some practical generali)ations and &ords of &isdom.
Abelson's !underhorn Press publication is a &ell"organi)ed$ thorough$
and practical addition to the drill boo(s currently available. / am still
al&ays ama)ed at ho& a slightly di,erent s(e& to any typical e-ercise
can often give someone a &hole ne& perspective on &hat they are
trying to accomplish and ho& it may be attained. / guess that's &hy
there is al&ays room for yet another player's &or(out in my o&n
collection of drills. """:%