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
Fundamentals 11. Accuracy: initial attacks at all dynamics, consistency hearing entrance...
The proverbial elephant in the room in horn playing is accuracy. In the prompt from Douglas Hill (this series is based on a list...
Review: Two Gig Bags
Among my activities I like to work on horns, continuing the type of projects I was doing during my sabbatical (more here). I enjoy...
Fundamentals 10. Dynamics: response, control, intonation at all extremes in all...
Elsewhere in this site I have shared (probably several times) a story involving my Master’s degree studies with Verne Reynolds. He had a thing...
Fundamentals 9. Ranges: extremes, clear controlled sounds (high, middle, mid-low, low)
Ranges are fundamental. This prompt from the Douglas Hill book is pretty broad, but focuses on two elements; extreme ranges and good control 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
Ask Dave: Water Keys 102
So, you decided to install a water key or two or three on your horn.
You just take it to your technician and say, "Put...
On Bonding with your Horn
Up today are two topics. First, making the rounds of social media the past few days was an article on the topic of the...
What horn models do they really play in London?
Many hornists recommend the London Horn Sound CD for their students, it is a classic and full of inspiration for younger hornists. I have...
Article and Podcast: Horn Opera Excerpts, “Beyond the Short Call”
One Internet resource not that well known among horn players is the Horn Opera Project website of Ericka Tyner Grodrian. Dr. Grodrian is horn professor...
Geyer Dreaming II: The Development of his Horn
Continuing our look at Carl Geyer and his horns, as noted in part I he had his own shop running by 1918. At that...
The $50,000 Alexander Uberhorn
One of my DMA students sent me the link to this eBay auction tonight, for a rare Alexander that can be yours for only...