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Articles by John Ericson

Indexed in reverse chronological order.

On Sexism and Things to Not Say in a Master Class

PUBLISHED: November 29, 2011, John Ericson

In updating the Events page recently I noted in the website for the 2012 International Women’s Brass Conference an article by co-host Lin Foulk titled “Why IWBC 2012?” This particular section was one that caught my attention, on her experience with sexism in the brass world and a story from a public master class. I [...]

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Stories, Workshops & Symposiums

Hornmasters on Setting the Lips and Breath Attacks

PUBLISHED: November 27, 2011, John Ericson

This is a topic that is really central to tonguing but not necessarily well taught or understood. To begin, for all articulations more gentle than the sforzando Farkas notes in The Art of French Horn Playing that the “air seal is broken more or less gently” depending on the exact musical context. But what of [...]

A Garland on Your Bell: Not Just Bling

PUBLISHED: November 24, 2011, John Ericson

One option out there from a few horn makers is a garland, an extra band of metal added to the edge of the bell near the rim. The idea is an old one; in this first photo is the garland on my Seraphinoff natural horn. Typical of older style garlands, it is over an inch [...]

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Tips

Turning Points

PUBLISHED: November 22, 2011, John Ericson

One turning point we horn players have in common is we all decided at some point to play and keep playing the French horn. One horn player who put some deep thought into this topic was Philip Farkas, found in the closing pages of The Art of Musicianship. As I noted in an earlier article related [...]

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Philip Farkas

Hornmasters: Farkas and Reynolds on Sforzando

PUBLISHED: November 17, 2011, John Ericson

For those following this series on tonguing closely, while many fine horn players do play with the tongue at the bottom of the teeth and near the lip opening at most or all times, Farkas was strongly against that type of approach. However, in The Art of French Horn Playing he does allow for the [...]

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Articulation, Philip Farkas, Verne Reynolds

On Prescreening Auditions

PUBLISHED: November 15, 2011, John Ericson

One recent trend in schools of music is that of requiring prescreening auditions. In my own teaching this year the exact requirement is “In order to be considered for a live, in-person audition, applicants for all doctoral performance concentrations at ASU must submit a prescreening recording by October 1 for spring admission and December 1 [...]

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Recordings

Mailbag: “Wolf” Notes on the Horn

PUBLISHED: November 15, 2011, John Ericson

A question recently came in relating to “wolf” notes on the natural horn, but it also relates to valved horn as well. The question included also information that in exploring the problem note the owner had the horn and crooks cleaned well and they also made sure the horn had no unrepaired dents, but still [...]

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