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10 years of Horn Matters! A look back at the top 20 articles
Horn Matters officially launched on September 1, 2009, and has made a big impact on the horn world. What articles were the most significant? The articles below are the top twenty: all have over 10,000...
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Bordogni-Gumbert-Ericson is back, in a second edition for all brass
In 2016 I put together, set in six different ranges for all brass instruments, a new edition of the venerable Bordogni vocalises. For my version, initially developed for use in low horn teaching, I had...
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Practice and perform effectively with the “three session a day” plan
Every year in my teaching the topic of how to practice effectively and maintain good chops for performances comes up with students. The tactic I suggest to horn students is to structure the playing day...
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Bumps, clicks, bubbles, and other nuisances of horn playing
I have Gunther Schuller to thank. Before his visit to ASU in 2004, although I intuitively knew some setups were stiffer in the slots between notes – “bumps” that impacted trills especially – I had not...
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Horn technique book back, in a second edition
Back in 2011 I compiled a collection titled Ultimate Horn Technique. This book was a hybrid publication, presenting a variety of materials carefully selected (“rescued”) from the classic horn method...
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Brief review: Accompanied Kopprasch, piano accompaniments for Kopprasch etudes
The latest product in the Millennium Kopprasch series from Jeffrey Agrell is one that I think will have wide appeal, Accompanied Kopprasch. In Volume I what Agrell has done is create simple...
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Where to find accompaniments for the Bordogni Vocalises?
I recently put out my version of the first 21 Bordogni Vocalises in a second edition (available worldwide from Amazon!), and the beginning of two of those versions (low treble and low bass clef) are...
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A brief look at Erwin Miersch, and tuning the double horn
I believe many Horn Matters readers will recognize the name of Erwin Miersch (1886-1969), as he wrote a set of Melodious Studies for French Horn that are still in print (Carl Fischer) and are fairly...
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Another perspective on performance anxiety
I do not normally read articles in law websites, but recently I saw a link to an interesting recent article on the website of the ABA Journal, a publication of the American Bar Association. What made...
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On the initial setup of the embouchure, and other thoughts on the warmup
Of my recent publications the warmup book has sold the best (more info on the book here). Teaching this fall a side point came up, and I realized it is one that I’ve never addressed in Horn Matters....
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Comparing inner diameters of rims by the grip diameter
A question I get pretty often is why one rim of the same inner diameter may feel larger or smaller than another marked to be of the same size. Part of the issue is that mouthpiece makers are measuring...
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Who is playing Sleigh Ride?
In terms of social media attention, this year Sleigh Ride seems to be taking the horn world by storm! Years ago, I found a recording that intrigued me. The recording, why it caught my attention when I...
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What was the first French horn you owned?
This past week the parents of a young student I teach decided it was time to think about buying her a horn. The dad asked about Craigslist, and I was like, I know things come up sometimes, but have me...
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35 Melodic Etudes by Meifred and Schantl — back in print, in 3 (6!) versions
In 2016, as part of my original line of epublications, I was able to bring to print a group of 35 forgotten melodic etudes by Meifred and Schantl. Drawn from the method books of two important...
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A visit to a horn maker
One thing many wonder is, what does it look like at the shop of a working horn maker? Early this year I was able to visit the shop of Jim Patterson (Patterson Hornworks) in Las Cruces, NM (with the...
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What is an “F extension” on a single Bb horn (or descant)?
A topic that comes up periodically is that of the F extension and the single Bb horn (and descant). What is the advantage? First, what it does not do: it does not change a single Bb into a double horn....
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The important topic of how to refer to the 5th Symphony of Shostakovich
As a student I don’t recall anyone saying anything other than Shostakovich 5 in reference to the famous symphony and the famous horn excerpts — but as a teacher I began at some point to hear people...
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Workshop presentation: Kruspe, Geyer, and more
With the corona virus canceling so many horn events this spring, this is the first of a series of articles with podcasts, on topics presented as might be heard at a horn workshop. While the words...
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On practicing in a less than optimal space
With the present coronavirus situation, many horn players are suddenly finding they need to practice in less than optimal spaces, as in spaces where other people will be perhaps very bothered by the...
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On effective practice when your life routines are disrupted
Besides the topic of practice spaces addressed in the previous article (here), there is also the question of what and how to practice with a disrupted practice (and life!) schedule, such as now in our...
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