SubCategory Archive (tags): ‘Conn’

How It’s Made, and the Conn-Selmer Strike

PUBLISHED: August 30, 2011, John Ericson

Ever wonder how a Conn horn is made? A most interesting video was recently posted to YouTube, the Science Channel’s “How It’s Made” French horns episode. A short video well worth watching (hat tip to Horn People), with a lot of information packed in (it is more than taking a block of brass and chipping [...]

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Conn

The Vintage Conn 8D

PUBLISHED: December 2, 2010, John Ericson

Last week an article was featured on Cleveland.com, “Conn-Selmer Inc. turns out classic horns for world’s best musicians.” Also last week I got back to exploring my roots in the Conn 8D school of horn playing so it is a good time to review what a “vintage” 8D is. The first obvious thing to note [...]

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Conn

Imprinted on a Sound

PUBLISHED: November 25, 2010, John Ericson

Thanksgiving can be a time of reflection, and recently I realized a somewhat deep thought with respect to sound. Starting on a basic level, the first point is that something in me is deeply imprinted to the sound of the French horn in general. I think the comparison of a baby and mother bonding is [...]

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Conn

Getting Serious about Upcoming Performances and the 5BN

PUBLISHED: August 25, 2010, John Ericson

There are some things in horn playing that truly are mysterious. One is the interaction between lip and mouthpiece and horn. As I mentioned in the previous post, I am giving a recital in about a month where I play on several different period and modern horns. Ideally I want to minimize some of the [...]

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Conn

Nickel Silver and Horns

PUBLISHED: May 18, 2010, John Ericson

One question that comes up periodically is that of what nickel silver is and why some horns are made of nickel silver and some of brass. Silver musical instruments are seen fairly often outside of horn actually but normally they are brass that has been plated with silver. Nickel silver is a different material that [...]

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Equipment

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Conn, Custom horns, Plagiarism & Prejudice, Richard Merewether

On Owning One Horn

PUBLISHED: November 6, 2009, John Ericson

Recently at Horn Insights Jeffrey Agrell noted that Sometimes you might switch equipment to get the job done. Ever see a pro trumpet player who only owned one trumpet? A few years ago I had the good fortune to go to New York to play some gigs with some NY freelancers. I was very curious [...]

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Equipment

Sub-categories:
Conn, Professional quality horn

The Mouthpiece Wheel of Doom

PUBLISHED: September 17, 2009, John Ericson

The topic of Episode 94 of The Mellocast is the Mouthpiece Wheel of Doom. It is a term jazz hornist Mark Taylor uses relating to the testing of horn mouthpieces, and for sure since the recording of the show I have entered yet again a phase of mouthpiece testing. Even before the show I was [...]

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Sub-categories:
Conn, Laskey horn mouthpieces, Osmun, Schilke