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 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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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
Memes: Updated Verne Reynolds Memes
Back in 2014 I posted an article (here) comprised of "Hornist Hamster" memes that were all Verne Reynolds quotes. It is kind of a...
Excerpt: The Ravel Pavane
Performance suggestions.
I had the pleasure of performing this piece - Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte - over the weekend and while it is...
On Incentive and Reward
This video raises a number of questions in terms of incentive and personal drive in music education and in the music business in general.
While...
Video Podcasts: Talking triple horns and mouthpieces with Gabriel Kovach
Update 2017: These episodes are also now on available as Podcasts on iTunes.
Triple horns and mouthpieces are the topics of two conversations with Gabriel...
Auf dem Strom and the Natural Horn
People by nature try to categorize things and find notable “firsts.” One “first” often given to Schubert, incorrectly, is that Auf dem Strom (1828)...
Review: Quick Horn Rinse ESW Device for Cleaning a Horn
I must admit that at first I was somewhat skeptical of the Quick Horn Rinse ESW (QHR) cleaning device. I was doubtful of its efficacy above...
