In my ongoing research into the history of brass instruments I have seen many references to Philip Farkas and his books on brass playing, in particular “The Art of Brass Playing.” In his time, he seems to have been very well regarded. I have read some modern articles, though, which are highly critical of his theories. Are his theories still considered valid?

It depends on who you ask.

The biggest issue I have with The Art of Brass Playing is that Farkas describes mouthpiece placement and air stream direction wrong. A few years after he published that book he published another one with mostly just photographs of virtuosi horn players, which does demonstrate those things more accurately.

See this page for more info: http://www.wilktone.com/?p=12

Dave

But let's not overlook his exercises, at least for playing Horn. Very helpful.

Dave (and Doug, too, if he’s watching this thread...): What about Farkas’ pictures and his description of “the brass player’s face”? To me, it seems to be a good way to show how the embouchure muscles should look regardless of mouthpiece placement or airstream direction.

Is the book worth reading?

What about Farkas’ pictures and his description of “the brass player’s face”? To me, it seems to be a good way to show how the embouchure muscles should look regardless of mouthpiece placement or airstream direction.

Sure, it's not a bad description (from my recollection, I'd have to head over to the library to reread it). One thing I would caution, however, is that different faces might look different from Farkas's photo example, but still be functioning correctly. And simply having the "brass player's face" doesn't mean that the embouchure is functioning correctly.

If you're a "very high placement" (Reinhardt IIIA) embouchure type, then a lot of Farkas's description is OK, but there's still a lot in "The Art of Brass Playing" about embouchure that it just plain wrong.

But let's not overlook his exercises, at least for playing Horn. Very helpful.

I don't recall just now, but are there any exercises in "The Art of Brass Playing?" I know Farkas wrote some books of exercises for horn players that are well regarded.

Is the book worth reading?

Sure, as long as you have enough knowledge to put what Farkas writes into a proper context (i.e., what to ignore).

Dave