Home > Articles by: Bruce Hembd

Articles by Bruce Hembd

Indexed in reverse chronological order.

Five Tips for Staying Focused When Freaking Out in College

PUBLISHED: September 21, 2011, Bruce Hembd

I have fairly fond memories of my experiences in both graduate and undergraduate school. That being said I did have the occasional odd and frustrating experience and sometimes, it was a challenge to turn those experiences around into positive learning. Some lessons are not learned until many years later. College is for many students the [...]

Random Monday: Harmony, Diplomacy and Happiness

PUBLISHED: September 19, 2011, Bruce Hembd

Lists of horn recordings One thing that I like about sites likes Amazon.com and CD Universe is that lists can be created by users and those lists can be shared with others. There are quite a few out there – here are a few examples: James Sommerville at CD Universe French horn in the Listmania! [...]

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Using a Stop Mute for Mouthpiece Practice

PUBLISHED: September 16, 2011, Bruce Hembd

Ever since reading about using a brass stopping mute for mouthpiece practice on Julia Rose’s site, I have wanted to try it out. I had given it a few half-hearted attempts but it wasn’t until recently that I decided to concentrate on a more serious effort. Why buzz? Mouthpiece and lip buzzing are great techniques [...]

Playing it Smart: Three Phone Apps for Metering Success

PUBLISHED: September 14, 2011, Bruce Hembd

This morning my car needed some repairs and so while at home waiting for it to get fixed, I decided to get some practicing done before writing this post. I pulled out my handy little smart-phone, turned on the apps and got to work. Years ago when I was a back-packing student in the big [...]

Random Monday: Jokers, Nannies and Getting a Good Buzz

PUBLISHED: September 12, 2011, Bruce Hembd
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A comic in every horn section A: I played French horn for years. The 6’5” guy with the buzz cut. Q: How did you decide on the French horn? A: We had one in the house. My older sister played. So it was there. My mom was a band teacher. So I was going to [...]

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Mini-Reviews: Now and Then, The Chicago Symphony Brass

PUBLISHED: September 9, 2011, Bruce Hembd

The legendary brass section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has recently released a new recording -  Chicago Symphony Brass Live – and it is one worth a listen. The program stems from a live concert in December 2010, which reviewer Michael Cameron has written: … for classical music lovers around the world, nothing means brass [...]

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A Limited Edition Tanglewood Plate with Mellophone

PUBLISHED: September 7, 2011, Bruce Hembd

To fill up wall space and personalize my home office, I like to collect various horn-related items to adorn the walls. While some people like to collect horns or horn texts, I like to find unusual items with French horns in them that work as wall ornaments. Regular readers may already know of a few [...]

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