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
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...
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...
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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
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...
Knopf or Geyer?
One of the perennial favorite articles in Horn Matters is on the topic of Kruspe or Geyer. Both terms reference the names of classic horn...
Hornmasters on Trills, Part II: Various Tips
As it is a problem for so many players, basically every book on the horn has some thoughts on the topic of lip trills....
Mailbag: Playing a Horn that Fits In, Internationally
A question recently came in from a reader from the United States that was playing in a foreign orchestra. Their horn of choice in...
The Trauma of Elliott Higgins
**Trigger Warnings:
Elliott Higgins,
thoughts on misogyny,
straight talk aimed at men.
Background story is here.
Mr. Higgins is teaching me that trauma in the...
Ask Dave: How much will it cost to fix my horn?
It never fails. One week into school I get a call from an over-wrought parent. "My daughter's French horn isn't working. She has class...