Home > Articles by: John Ericson

Articles by John Ericson

Indexed in reverse chronological order.

Words to Live By from Verne Reynolds

PUBLISHED: August 24, 2008, John Ericson

In auditions and concerts what to people want to hear? In the back of The Horn Handbook by Verne Reynolds there are two very interesting pages. The “Epilogue II” section is an interesting one as essentially he is quoting himself, things that he either said to me or I can easily imagine him saying to [...]

A Horn at Home, a Horn at School

PUBLISHED: August 24, 2008, John Ericson

For beginners and old pros alike, dragging around your horn may be a bit of a bother. I am very aware of the low numbers of horns in Arizona and this year I have a number of projects underway to try to impact this including directly teaching lessons to three sixth graders. I love these [...]

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Stories

Horn Playing Can be Fun

PUBLISHED: August 22, 2008, John Ericson

As you are reading a horn-related blog, my guess is you might be a horn player. Why did you start playing horn? There are many reasons but one element of why you kept doing it was because it was enjoyable. On some level it is fun to sound a horn, to make and control a [...]

Big News for The Breathing Gym

PUBLISHED: August 21, 2008, John Ericson
The Breathing Gym

Today I became aware of a press release dated August 18, 2008 that relates some big news for The Breathing Gym–it is slated to be the focus of a one million dollar research study funded by The National Cancer Institute. The release reads, Researchers from the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center and the IU School [...]

Thoughts on Choosing a School for Advanced Horn Study

PUBLISHED: August 19, 2008, John Ericson

The topic of choosing a school for horn study is a large topic. Any talented horn player will find themselves with several good choices as to schools, but underlying the topic at all is a larger question. Is college level horn study a good idea? I may be biased but I would still say yes. [...]

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Arizona State University

Nashville: A Bright Spot in the Orchestral World

PUBLISHED: August 17, 2008, John Ericson

Last week I joined the Nashville Symphony Facebook fan page and today a post in the Sticks and Drones blog, “Nashville: (Classical) Music City!” also caught my attention. My first full time job was as Third Horn in the Nashville Symphony and my good experience there left me generally more optimistic than some seem to [...]

How to Make Horn Players Less Accurate

PUBLISHED: August 16, 2008, John Ericson

Reading the most recent post on accuracy in the Horndog Blog, “Wild Card Critic,” reminded me of several ways teachers and conductors make things worse for horn players. Conductors. The big cue is really not a good idea. Give a cue like you trust a hornist; make them feel like you believe that they can do [...]

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