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...
- - Please visit: Horn Notes Edition - -Featured Articles
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
Farkas and a Blood Oath to use the F Horn?
The Nancy Jordan Fako book Philip Farkas & His Horn has quite a few little known facts and scenes from the career and training...
Review: A Resource For Playing Horn in Brass Quintet
Another excellent online resource.
One great thing about the Internet is that scholarly materials once hidden away in dusty library shelves have become more readily...
The “Right” Fingering (II)
Continuing from Part I.
To recap the general rule-of-thumb for tuning pitches within a chord:
The tonic or root note should be relatively "on pitch."
The third...
What is the difference between an orchestra and a bull?
A twist on an old joke. Wait for the final punch.
WARNING: PG-13 rating for brief cartoon female nudity. I blame it on crazed groupies...
On the Singer “Heavy Routine”
This week in the pedagogy class we focused on warm-up routines. One old standard discussed was the “Heavy Routine” found in Embouchure Building for...
Using a Video Recorder For Practice Sessions
An Addendum to "Physician Heal Thyself"
The tutelage received from your private teacher is only as good as your application during practice. A few years...
