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John Ericson

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Vienna Horns, part III: Their musical world and more

A year ago, I started a short series of posts related to the Vienna horn, which was left incomplete. This final article of the...

Fundamentals 13. Concentration: ability to mentally focus for long periods

Concentration is not a topic touched on directly by many horn teachers. However, the ability to focus is a key fundamental for effective practice...

Fundamentals 12. Endurance: ease of production at all levels of fatigue in all ranges

Sometimes I think of batteries when I think about endurance on the horn. Batteries run down with use, and as they deplete the energy...

Revisiting a Geyer single horn

During my sabbatical in the spring of 2021 I rebuilt four horns of interesting designs, the third of those being a Geyer single F....

Fundamentals 11. Accuracy: initial attacks at all dynamics, consistency hearing entrance notes and intervals

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 ranges

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...

Fundamentals 8. Tone quality: centered resonance, consistency in all registers, varieties of timbre

Tone quality is a very important fundamental! If you have a good tone, you are likely doing a lot of things correctly. Strive for...

Revisiting the Moosewoods

I’ve made some equipment changes recently. As I noted in this article, I recently found a particular passage I was recording to be VERY...