Random Monday: Anton Horner, Siegfried, Peter Kurau and York Bowen

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 [...]

I can only say, “Wow!”  When I suggested that my repair articles become an “Ask Dave” feature, I had no idea that I’d get such a positive response!  Keep those cards and letters coming, folks! * * * Ed asks: Having oiled my valves inside the rotors with Hetman rotor oil, how do I get [...]

Being the busy working professional that I am I hardly have the time or energy to write articles for Horn Matters. I am much too busy out in the real world teaching, producing and playing music, but on this one topic I feel that I must speak out. Long ago, my great teacher Professor J. [...]

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 [...]

As someone who works in marketing and advertising, I respect the value and power of word-of-mouth opinion. While big-name consumer brands – like McDonald’s and Sony - manipulate popular opinion and end-purchasing through detailed marketing strategies, the same is not completely true in the much smaller universe of horns and musical instruments. I doubt that in our lifetime for example, [...]

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 [...]