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Reader Mini-Poll: What is your Favorite Slow Movement from the Mozart Horn...
Three of the four concertos for horn by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart have lovely slow movements that rank highly among my favorite, all-time classical compositions. Excluding the 1st concerto (which has no...
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On the Demise of “Playing High Horn,” a Descant Dissertation, and E-books
Last week I was able to post a video of my performance last year of the Bach B minor mass on descant horn. Randomly in another search I also stumbled upon a very interesting 2011 University of Miami...
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Random Wednesday: Failure, Diversification, Diligence and Peggy Lee
A Twitter fail-horn The caption claims that this is a corno da caccia (no, it is not). Putting that aside, it is a pretty cool re-imaging of the Twitter fail-whale image. The benefit of...
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E-books for Horn
It has been reported that at Amazon.com E-books now outsell hard copy books. With that thought, there is a changing dynamic to the sales of horn books that the market is also adjusting to. As a...
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Review: Tales of Imagination
Recent months have seen several CDs come in for review, and to start a short series of reviews first up is Tales of Imagination by J.D. Shaw, a new recording of works for horn and wind ensemble. This...
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Random Monday: Myth Busting, Controversy and Sound Projection
More myth busting David Wilken offers a very reasoned counter-argument to perceived dangers that playing “on the red” (an embouchure that rests completely within the lip vermillion) is bad for you. On...
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What your Mozart Concerto needs to Sound Like
Recently I was pointed to the blog of Barry Stees, Assistant Principal bassoon of the Cleveland Orchestra and a former colleague of mine at the Brevard Music Center. Two very recent articles caught my...
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Anatomy of an Orchestra Gig: Getting Out-of-Town and Staying Overnight
When working in Chicago as a freelancer many years ago, a portion of my work involved commuting very long distances. For a few jobs this meant travelling out-of-state, to northern Indiana, southern...
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Archibald Noodlefish: What Defines Worthy Professional Experience?
With all due respect to Mr. Hembd and his lofty opinions, I feel that I must chime in on the topic of professionalism and what is a true professional experience. I do this mostly for the benefit of...
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Hornmasters: Fox on Tone Production
One of the things I enjoy in working on this series of quotes from classic horn method books is seeing different perspectives on topics. With respect to the topic of tone production Fred Fox in...
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Random Monday: Beer, Community Orchestras, Art Song and Beat-Boxing
Beer as a brass polish? An article titled “5 New Uses for Beer” had me wondering if this technique would work on an un-lacquered brass horn. When your kitchenware, faucets or other metal around the...
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Review: Bohemian Horn Concertos
Continuing with reviews of a few CDs that came in recently we turn to Steven Gross and Bohemian Horn Concertos, a 2010 release from Summit Records. Three works are featured: Jirí Havlík: Concerto for...
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A Look at Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2, ‘Romantic’
In the relative scope of Western music history, composer Howard Hanson is a bit of an unknown, a throwback to a bygone era. His music represents a school of American composition whose roots were tied...
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Professor Corno on the Most Inspirational Horn Camp
You have heard it already. Attend a horn workshop or camp. Summer horn study is good for you; make a semester of progress over the summer if you are serious about making it. Those Horn Matters folks...
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Review: Quick Horn Rinse ESW Device for Cleaning a Horn
I must admit that at first I was somewhat skeptical of the Quick Horn Rinse ESW (QHR) cleaning device. I was doubtful of its efficacy above and beyond my current tried-and-true method for cleaning a...
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University of Horn Matters: The Horn Before 1750
With this article we begin a regular feature on Horn Matters, a series under the heading University of Horn Matters. This series will present new resources on horn history and pedagogy topics and...
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University of Horn Matters: Who Invented Hand Horn Technique, and the Early...
To continue this series we today have what is likely to be one of the longer articles posted, as it is on a topic where the conventional wisdom needs reexamined. It will conclude as well with a look...
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Brief Reviews: Music from the Americas and A Passionate Horn
Today we have short reviews of two recent CDs. First up is Music from the Americas featuring the Lieurance Woodwind Quintet on the Summit label. The recording features works of Liduino Pitombeira,...
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Random Wednesday: Good Lighting, A New Horn and the World’s Most Interesting...
University articles If you are enjoying John Ericson’s new University of Horn Matters articles as much as I have been, there will be plenty more to come over the next few weeks. Stay tuned! The...
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(Ouch!) Four Practical Tips for Painful, Swollen Lips
Back when I was in graduate school, swollen lips were more-or-less a regular thing for me to deal with. This was due to a number of factors, but in hindsight I would attribute it mostly to my own...
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