Transposition Tricks: Old vs. New Notation
A detailed description of bass clef notation for French horn.
Since posting a blog on concert-pitch bass clef transposition, I have been getting a lot...
Why is my Horn Sharp?
One common question is that some models of horn seem to be built rather sharp, as in the main slide needs to be pulled...
Poulenc Thinks Horn Players Might Drag
This coming weekend I am performing the Poulenc Sextet on a faculty recital at Arizona State, the recital of oboe colleague Martin Schuring. This...
Mailbag: Tuning Various Models of Double Horns
This very good question just recently came in, from a music educator:
I am seeking any resources on French horn tuning, including diagrams with slides...
Mailbag: On Oral Cavity Shape and Pitch Level
Recently on the Horn People group a question was posted that related to pitch centering, and what it was getting at I believe was...
A Study on Hand Position: A More Stable High Range and...
I found the link in Random Monday this week to a recent (2009) study very interesting, on the topic of hand position.
The title of...
Improvise your Cadenza
One thing that students hate to do is write their own cadenza. Once they get going they usually find it is not that hard...
Review: Recent Innovations in Stop Mutes, and Notes on Stopping on...
New products are always of interest at Horn Matters. Recently I heard of a new type of stop mute made of wood, the Woodstop,...
Lessons in Vienna, part VII: The Long Call
This series of articles expands on notes taken by Nicholas Smith in lessons with Roland Berger in 1977.
Then he asked if I had ever...
The best French horn fingerings in the low range
A topic that comes up pretty often teaching is that of what fingerings to use in the low range, specifically in the range from...