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
A Single B-flat Horn FAQ
Are you trying horns again?
Yes. I always tell people they need to keep their eyes open, a better horn is probably out there, keep...
Hornmasters on Mouthpiece Pressure, Part II: Cousins and Wekre
Continuing our look at mouthpiece pressure, as time passes we can see authors react to the approaches of part I.
Lips are tough
Farquharson Cousins expresses...
Lady of the Lake, with Hornistic Twist
A fantastical twist on an old legend.
I love the imagery and symbolism in Pre-Raphaelite works.
This piece is an experiment with some new Photoshop techniques...
On the single F horn, part III: Gearing up for a...
It took over two months but at this point I am fairly comfortable with playing a period single F horn.
In part I of this...
Conductors Say the Darndest Things, part I
Earlier this year I had a couple interactions with conductors (not in Arizona) that gave me pause. One conductor, on a work that was...
Horn Repertoire Week 12: The Wagner Tuba
Continuing our look at some of the standard works horn players perform often from the nineteenth century our next topic is the Wagner tuba....
