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.)
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Most Recent Articles
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...
Brief Review: The Horn. The Book You Need
To open this brief review, I’ll start with a money quote:
The Horn by Renato Meucci and Gabriele Rocchetti is the most significant book on...
Accuracy Encyclopedia: Well Duh!?! and More
Continuing our look at accuracy and the letters D and E, our first topic is the descant horn, which can certainly help accuracy in...
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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
Sommerville on Conductors
Interview
Jamie Sommerville (principal horn, Boston Symphony Orchestra) gets the Q and A routine at James Strecker Reviews the Arts.
On conductors:
One thing that I have...
Ask Dave: How to Prepare an Instrument for Shipping
Using the following method I have had a near-100% success rate for shipping horns safely. It is an expensive method, both in terms of...
Hornmasters on Performance Anxiety, Part III: Wekre and Reynolds
Frøydis Ree Wekre in Thoughts on Playing the Horn Well notes that
The best remedy against stagefright and nervousness is to always be in the...
Picasso’s Three Musicians, with a French horn
Another tweaked classic.
The recent sweep of modern music at the Grammy awards in the classical music category inspired this "twisted classic."
Three Musicians (1921) features...
Hornmasters on Double and Triple Tonguing. Part I: Schuller and Farkas
While long considered an essential skill for the trumpet player, double and triple tonguing was not so essential that it was included in The...
How to Practice, Part I: An Overview
The basics of the basics.
An integral part of the daily practice ritual for any musician is calisthenics - the process of building physical and...