What Horn Repertoire is “Model” Repertoire?

Sometimes you will need to cut or lengthen slides on brass instruments. I have seen this on a number of instruments over the years. Recently I purchased a classic Conn 16E Mellophonium for some jazz experiments. I went ahead and “did the deed” this morning, and cut three slides. This was exactly what the instrument needed; the [...]

As my daughter and two nephews are right at the age that they could start in band either this year or next, my brother offered to send his trumpet out to me for one of them to use. This trumpet was my first instrument, and I had not looked at it or played on it [...]

A recent E-mail from David Wakefield reminded me a summer where I had a “special project,” an excerpt project, a great project for any student reading this during the summer who is not off at a summer festival or event. It was the summer between my Freshman and Sophomore years of college. I was playing [...]

With a solo recital coming up in just over a month it is time to get back to playing my normal horn and reduce the mellophone playing and testing. The day MelloCast 15 went up was the first day back. [The context being, working on the draft of my mellophone book, I spent most of [...]

The standard line for many teachers is single F horn is the best for beginners, traditional tone, etc. Is this pedagogical approach stuck in the 1950s? For some years I have said that a light double horn is best, if the player can manage to hold it. I did not begin on single horn; I [...]

Normally this time of the summer I am playing principal horn on orchestral concerts at the Brevard Music Center. I took Brevard off this summer however to perform and teach in China and Taiwan and to work on publications. This summer has turned into one where in terms of performance I am focusing on jazz, [...]