Musings on Oiling Rotary Valves, and Brief Review: JM Lubricants
A new lubricant line for horn players to consider is the line of products by JM Lubricants. Manufactured by J. Meinlschmidt GmbH, a company that has produced rotary valves since 1866, the line has a...
View ArticleOn Bill Broughton’s “Orchestra of the Americas” and Learning from Adversity
Recently, I became aware that recordings I participated in over 25 years ago with the Mexico City Philharmonic are available on YouTube. Below is the Wagner “Ride of the Valkyries,” recorded in 1994,...
View ArticleGeyer Dreaming V: The Mouthpiece Man
Continuing to the topic of Geyer and mouthpieces, there is an article by Milan Yancich, “Carl Geyer — The Mouthpiece Man,” that was published in the March 1962 issue of the NACWPI Bulletin. Wait, the...
View ArticleThe Trauma of Elliott Higgins
**Trigger Warnings: Elliott Higgins, thoughts on misogyny, straight talk aimed at men. Background story is here. Mr. Higgins is teaching me that trauma in the horn world exists, and that it is...
View ArticlePersonal Safety Tips for Lessons
If you are concerned about your safety with a horn teacher or colleague: 1.) Trust your feelings. If you feel uneasy or creeped out by someone, ask yourself “why?” 2.) Talk to others. They may be able...
View ArticleGeyer Dreaming VI – Some Final Stories
This series has covered a lot of ground! So much so that it has been a challenge to write the conclusion – but it is, of course, a story with no conclusion yet, the Geyer dream will continue well...
View ArticlePros and Cons of Changing your Embouchure
Over the course of my studies, I changed my embouchure twice while in college. The first time was in the summer of 1982 while studying at the Aspen Music Festival between my sophomore and junior years...
View ArticleBig News: The New 8D for the 21st Century
Conn just dropped some big news on the horn world, that they have upgraded the venerable 8D model horn, following extensive focus group testing of design upgrades with professional hornists who are...
View ArticleCrushed Tube Braces and the Natural Horn
Recently I’ve been working toward finishing a natural horn build, and worked out how to make the crushed tube braces. These are highly iconic to some natural horn makers. A quick search also suggests...
View ArticleChart of Tube Lengths of Natural Horns (and Valved Horns)
Working through organizing my files I found notes I put together back in 1989 about the lengths of natural horns in all keys. I was using the info to derive a plan for the crooks and couplers for my...
View ArticleA Word on “Brushed Finish” Horns
A type of finish that has been showing up on some of the used horn postings you see is what they call a “brushed finish.” A potential “hot button” topic that I don’t believe has been much commented...
View ArticleIntroducing the Redesigned Conn 6D
Back in March (here) I posted about the new and improved Conn 8D for the 21st century. I have still yet to try one, so far as I know no example has made it to the Phoenix area, but I remain interested...
View ArticleWhat Makes a Horn a Bad Horn?
Often, I see listings of horns for sale that emphasize that the horn would be a good horn for a student. And some of them probably would be, but others are in reality substandard or even bad horns you...
View Article“Each instrument has a different personality,” or, different horns are in...
There is a big amorphous topic that is rarely discussed related to horns and repertoire. Over the years it has become more and more clear to me that different music feels better and worse on different...
View Article3 Main Aspects of Playing Improvement
I have heard it said that we are standing on the shoulders of those that have gone before us. In terms of horn playing, this is very true, and it is something I have thought about often as I worked on...
View ArticleRethinking the “Inner Game”
For many years many have recommended The Inner Game of Tennis as a resource for improving your performance. I found it helpful — an article getting specifically into some aspects of the inner game is...
View ArticleAccuracy Encyclopedia: Adjust your Thinking
In notes dating back to 2008 I’ve been working off and on toward a possible book on accuracy. Some of the notes have found their way into Horn Matters here and there (click here for a list of articles...
View ArticleMental Centering and your Warmup
On social media very recently, I saw a brief comment pass by related to how warmups helped with mental centering.** That thought resonated with me strongly, and I think is one for every good horn...
View ArticleAccuracy Encyclopedia: Air and Alternate Fingerings
Today as we continue our tour the subject of accuracy we have two unrelated topics, air (the use of) and also alternate fingerings (pro and con). The use of air as it relates to accuracy For me, the...
View ArticleNavigating Performance Anxiety
For our second Brass Area of the semester the ASU brass faculty had a panel discussion, part of our Career Forward series, on the topic of “How we successfully navigate performance anxiety.” We each...
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