Review

Otto Langey
Otto Langey’s New and Revised Edition of Celebrated Tutors: Slide Trombone (Bass Clef)

Arranged by Ralph Sauer


Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2013
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

122 pages

Primary Genre: Study Material - method
Secondary Genre: Study Material - etude

The reviewed book is a pdf file downloaded from the publisher and is clearly a reprint of the original published by Carl Fischer. The index of Trevor Herbert’s excellent history, The Trombone, shows a Langey Trombone Tutor published in 1885. However this may be a revision of that work. An online biography, http://www.musicofyesterday.com/a/24-l/237-otto-langey.html, reveals that Langey, a cellist, was born in Germany in 1851 and eventually moved to the United States in 1881. An old Carl Fischer advertisement describes Langey self-instruction tutors for all the instruments as “the largest and the best $1.00 methods ever compiled.”   

Similar to other instructional texts of that era, this is a complete method starting with the rudiments of notation and rhythm and progressing all the way through challenging solo pieces. Initial exercises methodically work through the positions progressing rather quickly in range and difficulty. By page 16 the student encounters half note scales with octave leaps extending up to b-flat1. Earlier sections are comprised of studies organized by key area with varied articulations. Pages 42-46 are interesting in that they present 54 short etudes, often 8 measures long, with varied articulation and stylistic markings.  These are useful for sight-reading and attention to detail. Langey includes etudes from other composers, including Vaubaron, Belgke, Dieppo, Manna, and Clodomir. These sections remind me of the Voxman Selected Studies. Short solo pieces and a number of duets are included as well as short introductions to tenor and alto clef. Later solo pieces, frequently Theme and Variations, become quite technically challenging. Some of these solos appear to require piano accompaniment but piano parts are not included. Some of these solos and duets remind me of the last sections of the Arban Method (not the Mantia edition).

It is nice to see Cherry Classics making this older trombone method available. This material might be useful for sight-reading practice or as a source of supplemental etudes.  I’m curious how it would be received if someone were to re-engrave it with modern notation software. Such an enormous task might make an interesting doctoral project.

-Brad Edwards
University of South Carolina