Twenty-two Skeletal Duets for Horns
Publisher Desc.
"Twenty-two Skeletal Duets for Horns" is a set of duets of easy
to moderate difficulty specifically designed for teachers to play with their
students in private lessons. The first 15 duets are arranged from
"Fifteen Safari Duets for Tubas" which was composed in 1989 for
playing with my tuba students at Berklee College of Music. They are at
different levels of difficulty and in various styles so that we always had
duets to play no matter what was the ability of the student. The additional
seven duets were added in 2020. The title of each duet is a name for a bone
in the human body, hence the name "Skeletal Duets". There is
something in each duet for students to learn: the basics of tone production,
rhythms, melodic phrasing, jazz, graphic notation, etc. Most are sight
readable and some have been performed in concerts. Nineteen Skeletal Duets
for Trombones and Nineteen Skeletal Duets for Euphoniums are the same duets
but in bass and treble clef respectively. "Twenty- two Skeletal Duets
for Horns" includes the first 19 as in the trombones set with three
additional duets added. Some of the trombone and horn duets are in the same
key so they can be played together.
1. Cranium
This duet presents the cantabile (singing) style as studied for playing the
horn. I find that this duet helps the student much like the melodies of
Borgodni (Rochet) etudes.
2. Stirrup
This duet provides an opportunity to read basic rhythms and articulations.
I find that the more advanced students can read in a faster tempo where the
less skilled students work best in the slower tempos, a common choice for all
of the duets.
3. Humerus
This waltz helps the student match phrasing in a cantabile setting. There
are a few instances where the teacher (playing the first part) plays a phrase
then the student plays a similar phrase.
4. Vertebra
This is in a "rock" style with syncopated rhythms with cantabile
melodies. Articulations are especially important in this duet.
5. Axis
Legato scales and syncopated rhythms are the features of this duet.
6. Tibia
This duet alternates in rock style and swing. Articulations and
manipulation of "swing" rhythms are important.
7. Clavicle
This duet is based on a theme by Beethoven.
8. Fibula
This uses the easiest of rhythms and range of the duets, especially for the
2nd (student) part.
9. Scapula
This duet is non-metric and uses graphic notation. This was a favorite duet
of my students as many had never experienced this notation before.
10. Atlas
This is an Invention in the Bach style.
11. Radius
This duet is in a "Medium Swing" jazz style. Each part has a
chance to play a little bit of a "walking" bass line. Articulations
and manipulation of "swing" rhythms are important in this
duet.
12. Femur
This duet works on double time and half time tempo changes.
13. Patella
This is another duet that includes graphic notation. In this duet
"Free rapid legato lines" are used.
14. Anvil
This gallop displays different types of articulation.
15. Hammer
This duet is in the style of a fanfare.
16. Rib
This duet is a melody, "Magallon Blues", that I originally
composed when I taught at a summer music camp in Magallon, Spain. In that
camp each of the students would practice playing a jazz solo. This duet also
has jazz chord changes so you can add piano or guitar. The use of drums is
also an added option.
17. Sacrum
This duet is a short arrangement of Mozart's "Eine Kleine
Nachtmusic".
18. Ulna
This duet is a short arrangement of the traditional Irish folk song
"Londonderry Air", more commonly known as "Danny
Boy".
19. Ilium
This duet is a short arrangement of the Beethoven's song "Ode to
Joy" which represents the triumph of universal brotherhood against war
and desperation.
Mandible
This duet is a fanfare in the mood of two "Hunting Horns"
announcing a foxhunt.
21. Sternum
This is an arrangement of "I Cieli Immensi Narrano" by Benedetto
Marcello (1686-1739), also known as Psalm 18. It is a standard of the brass
ensemble literature.
22. Pelvis
This set of duets ends with another fanfare for horns.
Gregory Fritze is a prize-winning composer and Fulbright Scholar, as well
as an active performer. He recently retired from Berklee College of Music
where he was Tuba Professor and Chair of Composition, serving on the faculty
from 1979 to 2016. He has written over one hundred compositions for
orchestra, band, chamber ensembles and soloists. He has won over sixty
composition awards both nationally and internationally including First Prize
in the 1991 TUBA Etude Contest for Twenty Characteristic Etudes for Tuba, an
award from The American Prize for his Petite Suite for Brass Quintet and
others. His compositions include works published by several publishers in the
United States, South America and Europe that have been performed extensively
throughout the world. Many of his compositions are available on ITunes,
Youtube and Soundcloud.
His compositions are recorded on Albany Records, MSR Classics, Crystal
Records, Mark Records and others. He has been a guest lecturer, conductor and
performer at many colleges, universities and music festivals in the United
States, Canada, Japan, South America and Europe. He was born in Allentown,
Pennsylvania in 1954 and has Composition degrees from the Boston Conservatory
and Indiana University. He now resides in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida.
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