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.)
- - Please visit: International Horn Competition of America - -Most Recent Articles
Many broken links? UPDATE: Horn Articles Online is not online any...
It has come to my attention that within Horn Matters all links to materials in my original Horn Articles Online site (online since 1998...
Sabbatical horn update: improved details
Back in the spring of 2021 I was on sabbatical from Arizona State, and, as reported here in Horn Matters, my project involved horn...
Fundamentals 16. Muted horn: tonal control, responses, projection, noiseless manipulation of...
Mutes?!? It is very interesting to me that Douglas Hill included in his list of fundamentals (found in his Collected Thoughts book) a special...
Fundamentals 15. Stopped horn: tonal control, responses, projection, F and B-flat...
Continuing our series on fundamentals (using, as prompts, the list of fundamentals found on pages 92-93 of the Douglas Hill book of Collected Thoughts),...
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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
Brief review of a bell cover, and making the most of...
Before getting to the review, I would like to open by noting that COVID protocols are all over the map for schools and ensembles.
I...
Frøydis on Breaking the Rules of Horn Playing
I recently noted an interesting online article from Frøydis Ree Wekre on the rules of horn playing. Basically she says in “Never Say Never...
Sabbatical Extra: Comparisons of the finished horns, and a video
During and immediately following my sabbatical semester from ASU I completed four major horn rebuilding projects, documented in this series of articles on Horn...
Kopprasch 18. Vivace. Cruel Joke?
Following up on the Golden Clam for the Boldin Kopprasch project, one thing I would think many of you out there have noticed is the markings in...
What was the first French horn you owned?
This past week the parents of a young student I teach decided it was time to think about buying her a horn. The dad...
Bad Conventional Wisdom, part 1: Background, and a breathing story
As I shared in a workshop presentation back in 2010, I became a better teacher in 2008. I generated an article for Horn Matters...
