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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Fundamentals 7. Slurring: various intervals, various dynamics, register changes
Slurring can be a problem, even a major problem. The question you should be asking is this -- is the problem you, or is...
Fundamentals 6. Tonguing: clarity, fluency, variety, double, triple, flutter
And now we have another very big fundamental topic: everything about tonguing. Hill, in his list that we are following for this series, combines...
Brief reviews: New publications on the blues and creativity by Agrell
I’ve been doing few reviews here lately, but Jeff Agrell was kind enough to send two of his recent publications, which I would like...
Fundamentals 5. Embouchure: mouthpiece placement, muscular focus, relationship to air, various...
Before turning to all these topics, I would like to remind readers that this series is based on a list of fundamentals found in...
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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
The Most Popular Horn Quartet Composer
This was originally posted as part of a report on the 2011 Mid-South Horn Workshop, hosted by Dr. Paul Stevens at the University of...
Going with the Ensemble Flow
Don't fight the group karma: the job demands alertness, flexibility and a little bit of political savvy.
On the job, the main responsibilities of the...
The Big Three Horn Concertos, according to Verne Reynolds
One discussion horn teachers have over and over with students is that of trying to select works for recitals. Years ago in a lesson...
Hornmasters on Mouthpiece Placement
I changed my embouchure twice in college, the first time right after my sophomore year and the second during my Doctoral studies. It is...
Seven Tips for Cadenzas
A long orchestral tutti builds and builds, leading towards an inevitable resolution and long fermata. The conductor signals a cut-off and after a few...
Don’t Put off Learning to Double Tongue
This weekend I got busy working on the five newly composed etudes by Douglas Akey that comprise the AMEA Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors...
