A creative pedagogical approach to Hindemith's music for horn and piano with thirty progressive etudes

Collegiate students of horn routinely prepare works for horn and piano from many diverse styles and periods. Many of these pieces are written with materials that extend beyond common practice tonality. Unfortunately most study materials are written in a highly tonal language and date to the Romantic or late Romantic periods. Further, almost all studies written in a modern style are advanced and not progressive in difficulty. As a result of the lack of progressive post-tonal study materials, students are rarely prepared for post-tonal solo works. The traits that mark these pieces as modern pose particular difficulties for tonally-trained students. This thesis, intended for the collegiate instructor of horn, illustrates a method for addressing this disparity, using The Sonata for E-flat Alto Horn and Piano by Paul Hindemith as an example. Hindemith's musical theories are examined and applied to the analysis of harmony, melody, rhythm, form, and performance aspects of the piece. Challenges to the tonally-trained student are identified and pedagogical strategies are given to overcome these challenges. This demonstrates how the collegiate instructor can construct patterns and exercises of varying degrees of difficulty to prepare a student for a work such Hindemith's Sonata for E-flat Alto Horn and Piano. Thirty original and progressive etudes in the style of Hindemith's music for horn and piano are included.