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
123’s, just like ABC’s
On just about every valved brass instrument, the combination fingerings of first and third valves or all three valves together are horrifically out-of-tune.
Trumpet players...
Thoughts on Using a Mirror in Practice Sessions
Ever since my college days I have always used a mirror in my practice. When warming-up especially I like to stare into it and...
Tips for Educators, and an Evolving Pedagogy
Recently, as part of a session with brass colleagues at our AMEA all-state, I presented a session for music educators, "Tips to Improve your...
Resetting a Triple to Stand in F
I did not report it here in Horn Matters but last year we were pleased to welcome a triple horn into the horn inventory...
A visit to a horn maker
One thing many wonder is, what does it look like at the shop of a working horn maker? Early this year I was able...
The Upper Lip and your Low Range
Hidden way back in the site in articles from 2009 and 2010 are two articles that show something important about how the low range...