Horn Matters is the leading online resource on the French horn, co-founded by John Ericson and Bruce Hembd. The mission of Horn Matters is: to encourage, inspire, inform, and challenge horn players, and; to promote the best musical instrument ever, the French horn. (More.)
- - Please visit: International Horn Competition of America - -Most Recent Articles
Mailbag: The Top 3 Horn Concertos
A question came in earlier this year asking generally what are the top 3 horn concertos. With the end of the semester for my...
Ultrasonic Cleaning and your Horn
You know that you need to keep your horn clean. If you are proactive about maintenance you will hardly ever need to have your...
Geyer Update: Engravings, Serial Numbers, and More
I could also have titled this article “Things I got wrong” in the Geyer Dreaming series (which starts here), or the related article published...
Revisiting the Art of French Horn on LP Records
The past year the vast majority of my actual classical music listening has been to LP records. With the recent passing of Hermann Baumann...
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Horn Etudes by Female Composers
Many Horn Matters readers will be familiar with the Works with Horn by Female Composers website by Dr. Lin Foulk. If not, this is...
Julius Watkins, jazz French horn pioneer
Talking with colleagues recently, a topic that came up was how some great players of the recent past are unjustly neglected today. In terms...
Overview of Trusted Brands in French Horns
A survey titled "What Brand Names Do You Trust?" collected the opinions of 392 participants. The results are in and while it may take...
Choosing a French Horn Mouthpiece (I): The Basic Parts
Part I: The Rim and Preliminary Thoughts
Part II: Cup, Throat and Bore
Part III: Weight, Plating and Shopping Tips
For the past decade...
French Horn Transposition Chart
A complete reference.
Transposition Chart (PDF) (updated 2012)
Over the past few months, I have been posting various transposition tricks, including how to transpose:
A and...
Farkas on Stagefright (and more)
In the world of horn there have been few that made as much impact as Philip Farkas (1914-1992). The Art of French Horn Playing...
Random Articles
Transforming negative into positive
This comic strip from Odd Quartet hits on a note of truth and is also great advice.
On Learning the B-flat Horn Fingerings with Louis Stout
A topic that has come up in several lessons recently is that of learning B-flat horn alternate fingerings in the middle register where I...
Horn Pedagogy Week 3: Right Hand Position, Fingerings, and Intonation
Three closely related topics are on the agenda for this week -- related in that all of them impact intonation
Readings this week
Keeping it simple,...
“Hey, I Did Not Miss Any Notes”
Ever think this after a concert? The first time that stands out in my memory is a performance of the Gounod Petite Symphonie for...
A Tunable Horn Mute FAQ
While this topic came up in a sectional last week, it is actually a topic I have meant to post on for quite some...
Son of Clam; A Twist on René Magritte
Artist René Magritte has been quoted on his work Son of Man, saying:
Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what...
