Wild Card Critic Allan Kozinn Rails on the NY Phil Horns

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Reaction around the Internet.

I have been tracking the response to Allan Kozinn’s New York Times article “The French Horn – That Wild Card of the Orchestra.” As of August 15th, this article was the #2 most e-mailed Times arts-related story and #17 in the overall rankings.

Beside my own commentary, here is a post of some other blog and forum reactions.

  • Kenneth Woods on his blog “View from the Podium” points out from the conductor and teacher perspective that ordering players to DO NOT MISS!!, can provoke more mistakes in “Why I Subscribe to the New York Times.”
  • While the Yahoo Horn Group has been relatively subdued on the topic, the forum discussion at TrumpetHerald.com has been quite animated.
  • At “Brass and Ivory” blog a funny story of a horn player stomping music and throwing his horn is told.
  • John Ericson’s “On Defensive Hornists and Accuracy.”
  • A brief response at the “College Confidential” forum.
  • Greg Sabo has posted a blog with the provocative title “The Worst Instrument in the World.” Apparently his experience was nothing but frustration.
  • ArtsJournal.com which normally picks up everything arts-related in the media either missed this one completely, or made a conscious decision to pass on it (!?)

As an aside to add some perspective, I also found “Eavesdropping on a Horn God” an interesting read – notes taken at a Phil Myers masterclass on taking auditions. An old CNN article is also worth a look.

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