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Tilt, the Secret to Mid-Low Range Power
People are always looking for horn secrets. One difficult range for many players is the “cash register” just below the staff, getting the notes to speak with power. People talk about lots of stuff to...
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How to Practice Maxime-Alponse Book 6
One book of studies many Horn Matters readers undoubtedly own is Maxime-Alphonse book 6. The etudes, besides being very difficult, are also very long. There is a tip given in the book itself, however,...
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Your Chops, after the Warm Up
A topic that has come up quite a number of times in years of teaching is the warm up, and more specifically on how your chops should feel after the warm up is done. Speaking very generally your chops...
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How to Hold a Stop Mute, and a Mute Comparison
One topic I had literally never, ever, given any thought to until today (!) is the topic of how to hold a stop mute.** My method of choice was what I would call the “caveman” approach, holding it...
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Dimes, part III
Twice before in Horn Matters the topic of dimes has come up, more specifically the use of dimes as valve extenders. See: Got Dimes? Why You Might Need Dimes It is a topic that keeps coming up, and came...
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On teaching styles of horn teachers, and creativity
Not too long ago a colleague made an offhand comment about another teacher, saying they were a “method” teacher. That observation, and looking at the Jeff Agrell book on creativity (reviewed here),...
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Blog: Looking back at a year of publication sales
Periodically it is a good idea to look back, take stock. Especially of your more enterprising things, is there a return on the investment? How did you really do? What could you change to improve? In my...
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Horn Matters People of the Year: Horn People
The Horn Matters People of the Year award goes to Horn People, a group that has hugely impacted the horn world in recent years. If you don’t know what Horn People is, you should check it out here:...
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My Top 5 Articles from 2017
Starting the year I thought it might be interesting to see exactly which of my Horn Matters articles from 2017 ranked the highest in our site stats. To begin, however, I must admit there are hundreds...
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Dimes, part III
Twice before in Horn Matters we have turned to the topic of Dimes: Why You Might Need Dimes Got Dimes? Which brings us to Part III. I don’t have small hands, but ultimately I felt after a year with my...
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How to Practice Maxime-Alponse Book 6
One book of studies many Horn Matters readers undoubtedly own is Maxime-Alphonse book 6. The etudes, besides being very difficult, are also very long. There is a tip given in the book itself, however,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Your Chops, after the Warm Up
A topic that has come up a number of times over years of teaching is the warmup, and more specifically how your chops should feel after the warmup is done. Speaking very generally, your chops should...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Hold a Stop Mute, and a Mute Comparison
One topic I had literally never, ever, given any thought to until very recently was how to hold a stop mute. My method of choice was what for lack of a better term I will call the caveman approach....
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A surprising truth about horn professors
Back a few years I wrote an article on horn professors and accurate biographies. Following up on that topic briefly, I’m one now! Full Professor of music at Arizona State as of May, 2018, with 21 years...
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7 Insights on Horn Professors, Tenure, and Symphonic Playing
Many horn students aspire to the careers of playing in an orchestra or college level teaching, and people who have done only one of those two career paths full-time may also dream of doing the other....
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14 books published on the horn, 2013-18
A question I recently needed to research was that of what books on the horn (and middle brass) have been published in the past five years? That is, books with substantial text, not just music and...
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Mailbag: Exercises for increasing tonguing speed and improving transposition.
A student wrote in looking for suggestions of materials to increase tonguing speed (single and double) and also to improve transposition. The exercises I most often go to for improvement in single...
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2 more secrets to improve accuracy
Nobody likes missing notes. Unfortunately, no one thing will improve your accuracy, as it is a combination of many small (often very small!) factors that ultimately bring improvement. I’ve been working...
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Brief review: Rhythm Kopprasch by Jeffrey Agrell
The Kopprasch etudes are a staple of horn (and brass) teaching, yet they are a conundrum; some love them, some hate them. Those that love them tend to like the range and length of the etudes, combined...
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A Punto award, and 20 years of Horn Articles Online, a site that changed the...
To many readers it probably seems as if Horn Matters has always been there. A university horn student of today has not known a world without Horn Matters, which was launched in September of 2009. But...
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