Re: Arnold Jacobs etudes?


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Posted by Alex C on June 19, 2001 at 18:22:52:

In Reply to: Arnold Jacobs etudes? posted by Tim Chen on June 19, 2001 at 13:27:33:

Mr. Jacobs' teaching style was so individualized that each student got what they needed in the way of musical challenge, regardless of the material. Some students never saw an etude book of any kind.

You seem to be asking about specific materials and I'm sure many other students had different experiences but a lot of his tuba students did seem to have had the Pottag Selected, Progressive and Melodious Etudes and the Kopprash Technical Studies for horn.

He used the Schlossberg Warm-ups trumpet book quite a bit also the complete Arban. In all cases he preferred using the original treble clef material rather than the more expensive (and editorialized) bass clef transcriptions.

I saw very few of the "standard" tuba books. No Blazevich. He told me the Rochut were nice, but he didn't use them with anyone I knew.

All of these were intended to lead you into learning and performing the solo literature, that seemed to be the goal for me. The purpose of the solo literature was not to develop a studio of solo tuba players, but to develop the best your musicianship. Because of that, he might have you work on a solo that you'd never play in public ("Queen of the Night" Aria on tuba, anyone?). A graduate recital was kind of an afterthought for him.

Again, he didn't seem much impressed with most of the "standard" literature of the time. Considering the music he heard every day, it's understandable.

These were just my experiences and observations, I'm sure there are a variety of others.


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