Home > Articles by: Bruce Hembd

Articles by Bruce Hembd

Indexed in reverse chronological order.

From the Mailbag: Why Do I Sound So Good On a New Mouthpiece For a While, Then Crash?

PUBLISHED: September 10, 2009, Bruce Hembd
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QUESTION: Twice now I’ve switched to a different mouthpiece after using another for a long time. On both occasions my tone has been better than ever for the first ten days or so, then craters for a while. I can understand the cratering, because the lip muscles are having to readjust to the new mouthpiece. [...]

From the Mailbag: What Kind of Horn Should I Buy For My Kid?

PUBLISHED: September 9, 2009, Bruce Hembd
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QUESTION: I am trying to make sense of everyone’s opinion when it comes to buying a french horn for my son, who is 16 and been playing for 7 years. One teacher says a King, another a Holton 179 another a Merker Matic, another a Hoyer 6802. The numbers and particulars don’t make sense to [...]

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Beginners, Manufacturers, Questions

From the Mailbag: Horns in the Boot

PUBLISHED: September 8, 2009, Bruce Hembd
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QUESTION: Horns in a hot car? Or cold for that matter? What could possibly go wrong? ANSWER: In short, many things. When I lived in the Midwest, I would sometimes leave my horn in the trunk (that’s the boot for UK readers). Once after a particularly cold day, I noticed that a solder point had [...]

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Questions

A New Resource: A Dissertation on the Brahms Trio

PUBLISHED: September 7, 2009, Bruce Hembd

Joshua Garrett has kindly offered Horn Matters a copy of his dissertation “The Brahms Horn Trio: Background and Analysis for Performers.”  It is a comprehensive historical and musical analysis of the Brahms Op. 40 Trio — required reading for anyone performing this piece. It is available as a PDF download on the Downloads page. Mr. [...]

Random Monday: Maestro Christie’s Chest, My Way or the Highway and Coming Up This Week

PUBLISHED: September 7, 2009, Bruce Hembd
Drill Sargeant Music Teacher

The drill sergeant teacher This comic strip from Scott Meyer called “How to Teach” is both funny and brilliant.  Reading just the text at the top of each panel, Horndog is reminded of a few music teachers that actually use this kind of methodology — tear down a student to break their mold, then fill [...]

Food for Thought, A Recipe For Success

PUBLISHED: September 4, 2009, Bruce Hembd

Imagination + motivation = CREATIVITY. A recipe for success. Get fired up and get those creative juices going!

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Creativity

Please Don’t Poo Poo the Pops

PUBLISHED: September 3, 2009, Bruce Hembd
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Playing pops for fun and profit. Some orchestral musicians dislike playing Pops concerts… …really dislike Pops. These types of orchestra musicians are prone to complain about anything and to be frank, are best to be avoided. It is usually a grumpy minority of highbrow whiners that view playing popular music as a chore — something [...]

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Orchestra
John Ericson & Bruce Hembd
on the French horn, brass related topics, and the field of classical music.