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Articles by John Ericson

Indexed in reverse chronological order.

Hornmasters on Rapid Tonguing, Part II: Brophy

PUBLISHED: November 13, 2011, John Ericson

Rapid single tonguing is one of the topics covered in depth by William R. Brophy in his Technical Studies for Solving Special Problems on the Horn. He offers a number of very specific suggestions on the topic. Two things are necessary in fast tonguing. First, the tongue movement must be extremely small, and second (and [...]

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Articulation, William Brophy

7 Tactics to Develop Sight-Reading

PUBLISHED: November 10, 2011, John Ericson

One skill we all know we need is the ability to sight-read music well. Some people are better than others at this. Traditionally part of the answer to the question of how to help sight reading is it will get better over time, but there is more to it than that. This is a topic [...]

Hornmasters on Rapid Tonguing, Part I: Quotes and a Video

PUBLISHED: November 8, 2011, John Ericson

We all need speed! To begin this survey on the topic of rapid single tonguing, Farkas in The Art of French Horn Playing advocated a soft “too” or “doo” to make a “much lighter seal that allows very rapid, light tonguing.” Farkas returned to the topic in The Art of Brass Playing with four aids [...]

Hornmasters on Average Tonguing, Part V: Reynolds and Hill

PUBLISHED: November 3, 2011, John Ericson

To conclude our series on tonguing in general we turn to two more recent American horn teachers. Verne Reynolds in The Horn Handbook ties the action of the tongue stroke to the air and that it all must happen in one, uninterrupted and automatic motion. The tongue stroke and air flow must be timed precisely. [...]

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Articulation, Douglas Hill, Verne Reynolds

Hornmasters on Average Tonguing, Part IV: Tuckwell and Cousins

PUBLISHED: November 1, 2011, John Ericson

Barry Tuckwell in Playing the Horn is open to the idea that there is no one placement for the tongue in the mouth in articulations. The exact position of the tongue will vary from player to player. Most people will find that putting it against the hard palate for a ‘D’ sound is best, while [...]

Name that YouTube Horn

PUBLISHED: October 30, 2011, John Ericson

Embedded in the article yesterday was one of the more recent videos of horn solos by Steve Park. It gave me a case of the game lots of horn players play, “name that horn.” In his older videos he used a Conn 8D. This video, for example (his number 1 video in his YouTube series [...]

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4 Key Things the Great Horn Players Have

PUBLISHED: October 27, 2011, John Ericson

You love the horn. You want to ramp it up to a new level. Besides accuracy and general technique there are four key things that the great horn players all have that you need to focus in on developing to the maximum as you practice. Strength and endurance. So how do we develop that? The [...]

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