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
Using drones to improve warmup and practice of etudes and excerpts
As we come out of this year of not great practice it is very important to have drones be part of your daily practice...
Off Topic: The Price of Facebook
The hidden cost of social networking?
While Facebook's Mark Zuckerman has posted a blog claiming that I own and control my own information that I...
Ask Dave: What Can I Do About a Leak?
Ryan asks:
I've been using a older, heavily used Conn 6D until I can afford a better horn. It has a few quirks, but it's...
“Well, Duh!?!,” a Key to Accuracy
The comments to my recent article on "tut" tonguing are a reminder that tonging is always a good topic to address. You don't want...
Hornmasters: Farkas on Holding the Horn and the Left Hand
Continuing in our series of quotes from classic publications on the the horn, now that we have our horn selected and in working order...
Quote of the Week–Gardner on the High Register
If you are looking for a book to read over break, the Randy Gardner book is to be recommended. In particular I found this...
