Way back on 7/13/06 I had a short article in reference to playing jazz on my original HTML blog under the title, “Not Like Kopprasch.” The thought comes back periodically, and came back recently as there are some great jazz arrangements on the brass band Christmas concert I am playing this weekend with the Salt River Brass (including in particular a very inventive arrangement by Mark Freeh titled “The Nutcracker ‘Sweet’”). From the original 2006 article,

Articulation exercises such as those found in the Kopprasch etudes are absolutely essential for horn players to work out in their studies. But, sometimes, you just have to hit a really different groove.

This past year I have performed the most jazz probably ever for me, primarily with the Salt River Brass Band. So when the pops program came up at Brevard this week with a program of Gershwin and Ellington, I can get into the groove pretty quickly. But I found myself saying to the students in the section to not play it “like Kopprasch.” I recall saying similar things previous years to other sections. It can be especially hard for horn players to lay back and swing, but it can be done! As much as anything, just relax an fit in. This is something, actually, that has to be done in many non-jazz situations as well. Tune in and match the sounds around you–jazz is not that hard to get the feel for, but it is pretty different than Kopprasch.

One aside, sometimes it is interesting to try to play something like say Kopprasch 10 as if it were a Bach cello suite movement. Give it try, it is entertaining.

In a somewhat related topic, it is good to get a bit of variety in your Kopprasch. There is a version of the Kopprasch etudes published by Wind Music that is very different than the standard version. The articulations and dynamics in this version rather heavily edited by Josef Schantl are much different, and it is enjoyable when I am in an etude/chop maintenance mood to pull out that version.

In short, while there is a way that the standard Kopprasch etudes need to sound, and it is a valuable project to get them sounding that way, at the same time there is a big musical world and a lot of music needs to not sound like standard Kopprasch. Especially if it is jazz, get out of that Kopprasch groove, relax, use your ear to match the sounds around you.

Finally, for more historical information on Kopprasch, I have a two part article on the topic on Horn Articles Online, with part II covering the topic of this Gumpert edition of Kopprasch and more.