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Tips for Educators, and an Evolving Pedagogy
Recently, as part of a session with brass colleagues at our AMEA all-state, I presented a session for music educators, “Tips to Improve your Horns.” In preparation for this I went back to notes from a...
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Intonation and Vowel Shapes
Since doing the interviews with Peter Iltis (MRI horn) last summer (more here) I have been pondering a related topic, horn intonation and vowel shapes. It is very easy to see them in the MRI videos;...
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Rethinking the Warm-up, part 2
Recently I was pointed toward some relatively recent research that indicates that a less strenuous warm-up gets better results. For example, this article from the New York Times: Less is more: standard...
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A new podcast, and a look at MRI Horn resources as of summer, 2017
Regular readers will know already that I am very interested in the recent (and still ongoing) MRI horn studies led by Dr. Peter Iltis of Gordon College, in conjunction with the Max Planck Institute for...
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One recent answer to the horn problem: the “reed quintet”
If you have ever felt like a fifth wheel in a woodwind quintet, the one that does not really belong, you might have been correct. One type of ensemble that has emerged recently is the reed quintet:...
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A few answers to questions on my Rescued! CD
A group of questions came my way related to my Rescued! CD, released last year. The first answer has to do with the horn I used, and the rest I think you can figure out the questions from the answers....
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E-books and music on the 12.9 inch iPad
Back in 2015 I had an article looking toward the modern, paperless hornist. More and more works are available as files rather than printed copies. One option is of course printing the files out on your...
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Deeper insights 1: Teaching
One topic I have only rarely touched on here in Horn Matters is something that has impacted my life and teaching in rather deep ways over the past 23 years. Out of that experience there are some deeper...
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Deeper insights 2: Anxiety
Some things I have learned on a deeper level over the course of raising my son. When he was little it was more to do with how people learn. As he got bigger, past age 19, things really changed. The big...
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Deeper insights 3: Fearless optimism
Turning a bit of a corner, as time went on as a teacher I realized that there are essentially two types of confidence. What got me initially thinking about this was a thought that there are two types...
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Deeper insights 4: Being positive
Working with my son these few years the thing that has recently worked the best has been a technique called “Positive Behavior Support.” Without getting way deep into that, a simple thing to remember...
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Deeper insights 5: Quitting?
As a final point in this series of deeper insights related to raising a handicapped child it would be this: giving up is not an option. Saying that, I know there are really difficult situations worse...
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Brief review: Horn Technique by Jeffrey Agrell
Those familiar with older horn publications will recall a classic 1962 book by Gunther Schuller titled Horn Technique. It is so compact that you can practically put it in your pocket, quirky in ways,...
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More on “clicks” — and the best horns
Last year a topic touched upon in an article was that of “clicks” and valve changes. In that time frame, I started taking some really extensive notes on the topic — and the notes, honestly, got out of...
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20th century horn favorites 3: Madsen
Last up in this brief series looking at some of my favorite works for the horn from the 20th century (all included in my Canto CD) is the Sonata, Op. 24, by Trygve Madsen. This work was premiered in...
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5 Keys to Horn Success
It is human nature to be curious, what are the keys for success for famous people? The following are five keys to success I have observed or experienced toward playing the French horn on a high level....
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Brief Review: An Inexpensive Natural Horn
With a small amount of funds available, I had an idea how to use them for something that would help the studio. What I learned from a source was that the body of the natural horn sold by Berkeley Wind...
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From the Mailbag: Online Materials for High School hornists
One question that periodically comes (in various forms) asks about online materials that would be of use to high school hornists. Certainly, the number one “material” overall is Horn Matters itself. It...
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More on The Art of (Slow) Practice
Back nearly ten years ago Bruce Hembd posted here a brief series (in two parts) on The Art of Practice: The Art of Practice, Part I: an Overview The Art of Practice, Part II: Long Tones I was reminded...
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On the Dreaded C on the Third Space, the Best Note on your Horn?
They have all been off the site for a while, but in the early years of Horn Matters there were a series of articles by a certain “Professor Corno” which addressed some issues of horn playing and...
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