Tip: Building endurance in the age of no ensembles
With COVID, most horn players are finding themselves in an unusual situation, they have no ensembles to play in, and have not played in...
Arranging chorales, like painting by numbers
For myself as a conservatory undergraduate, four-part chorale writing was slow and sometimes laborious. It was a learning curve fraught with rules and clams.
Later...
Tips on Auditioning Horns, Part II: Mouthpieces, Leadpipes, Hybrids and the...
At the Southwest Horn Conference (SWHC) a variety of Kruspe and Geyer type horns were available to try out. I currently play on a hybrid...
PSA: Another Big Reason You Should Clean Your Horn
In the first paragraph of an NPR article we learn "One musician in Connecticut learned the hard way about the dangers of not cleaning...
Mental Health and Horn Playing: The Impact of Private Lessons
For many years, I struggled with performance anxiety. When exposed passages came up in ensemble rehearsals and performances, I would get noticeably nervous. It...
An Interview on Orchestral Horn Auditions. Part IV, the Future and...
This article concludes an interview conducted 2/13/13 with Ashley Cumming, a Doctoral student at Indiana University. Part I starts here.
With increased numbers of people...
Ask Dave: Long-term Storage for a Brass Instrument
It's the summer and you might be putting your horn away for a few months. Or, perhaps you have more than one horn and...
PSA: Your Horn will Play Better if the Valves are Correctly...
French horn rotary valves have marks on the top, as seen below. These marks are put there by the valve maker when making the...
Tilt, the Secret to Mid-Low Range Power
People are always looking for horn secrets. One difficult range for many players is the “cash register” just below the staff, getting the notes...
PSA: What is up with Baritone Treble Clef Parts?
We get questions that are not always horn related and in the fall I had a question about baritone treble clef parts. I believe...