John Ericson, 02/20/2010
Hornmasters: Cousins on Mouthpieces
Farquharson Cousins in On Playing the Horn opens his discussion of mouthpieces with this most interesting statement.
A box of mouthpieces is a fascinating possession and potentially fatal. The hornist’s beatitude could well be: “Blessed are they who start with a good mouthpiece and stay with it.”
As to selecting a mouthpiece, “There are two approaches to [...]
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John Ericson, 02/19/2010
A Trumpet Mouthpiece I can Manage
For years and years I felt that I simply sounded awful on trumpet. This year however with the retirement of our longtime trombone professor Gail Wilson I took over leading the brass methods classes and with that, I also checked out a trumpet to give it another try. I started on trumpet in 6th grade [...]
John Ericson, 02/18/2010
Hornmasters: Berv on Mouthpieces
Harry Berv has a number of thoughts on mouthpieces in A Creative Approach to the French Horn, noting in the following passage how the mouthpiece over time creates a “groove in the lips.”
The correct mouthpiece is important in producing a beautiful tone and in adding strength and endurance to the embouchure. It will influence your [...]
John Ericson, 02/17/2010
My All-State Seating in High School
A post from the archive, dated 4/15/05, aimed at those working on or reflecting on recent auditions for All-State ensembles. At some personal risk, this is the inside info on how good I really was in high school.
Arizona All-State is being held on the campus of ASU over the weekend and several of my [...]
John Ericson, 02/16/2010
Hornmasters: Yancich on Mouthpieces
In A Practical Guide to French Horn Playing Milan Yancich notes with regard to mouthpieces that
Special care should be taken in the selection of the correct mouthpiece for the student. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to choose the proper mouthpiece….
When one begins to realize that there are at least 24 different bores to contend [...]
Bruce Hembd, 02/15/2010
Random Monday: Enjoying President’s Day
President’s Day
Since I am now gainfully employed at an institution of higher learning, today’s Random Monday was composed from the couch at home. 
New pedagogy blog
At Brass Pedagogy and Performance Practice, Roger Rocco is posting extended quotations from Arnold Jacobs (and others) and following them up with his own words.
Shrinking audiences?
Alex Ross looks at the [...]
John Ericson, 02/14/2010
Why is the Short Valve in the Middle?
Following up on the post on why the valve was invented, another question that comes in periodically is why is the second valve in the middle, as in it might make more logical sense to have the first valve be the short one, the second one longer, and the third longest.
In a sense it is [...]
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