The -Ipperies are collections of jazzy, fun, written for all different amounts of horns by Lowell Shaw. The most common are his Fripperies which, like the video above, have four horns. Going down from there Tripperies have three horns, Bipperies have two, and Just Desserts is for solo horn with an optional bass part.
These pieces all have some comic wit, or silliness, to them. But looking past their fun exterior, they offer a great lesson that horn players don't get too often... Reading jazz rhythms!
When first sight reading a few of these pieces with my friends it was start out alright. All of sudden it would come crashing to a halt when we were faced with heavily swung eighth notes, syncopation, and other simple jazz elements like that. We would then go and listen to recordings of the piece we were attempted and it all made sense. Wa-la!
These pieces are great, and once you understand how the music fits together they aren't all that difficult. They make a fun change to the usual horn repertoire and could be used as a crowd pleasing encore for a concert or recital.
These are all published through Hornists' Nest, which makes it a bit difficult to get your hands on them. I use Eble Music, in Iowa City, they keep all the -Ipperies fully stocked at all times and deliver very quickly, for me the next day.
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