Archived under: Inspiration & The Big Picture, Teaching | Beginners, John Ericson, Phoenix, Stories
A Shortage of Young Horn Players
Some things never change.
John Ericson has made it a mission to promote and encourage more young horn students in Arizona. As a private (and sometimes classroom) teacher, I share his concerns.
Along these lines here is a quote:
There are not enough horn-players, and not enough people taking up the horn today. They are frightened away, perhaps, by its difficulties, and I want to dispel this bogey by saying that the difficulties are exaggerated. You can get a great deal of pleasure out of horn-playing in the quite early stages. Progress even then is not slow, and one can advance to a useful stage quite quickly. By a useful stage I mean command over two octaves (E to E). This is a range which enables a player to take his part in many a great work. Moreover, it is the “safest” range, and I urge all beginners who may be out of reach of expert guidance to limit attention to that range.
This quote is from 1928 (!) in an article written by Aubrey Brain, “The Horn of Many Colors.”
Interesting…some things never change I guess.
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