Horn

Marching Mellophone — Nothing. Well, almost nothing (I kid – mostly). John Ericson, Horn Professor at Arizona State University, and one of the founders of the French horn website HornMatters.com, has a book about playing the various marching horns called A Mello Catechism: A Guide to the World of Mellophones and Marching Horns. This […]

What do “playing musically” and the mellophone have in common?

18 Apr, 2018 in Horn tagged horn equipment / horn playing / horn problems / horn teaching / practice by Colin Dorman (updated 29 days ago)

Most intermediate to advanced horn players have at least some sort of warm-up routine. While warm-up routines are great for maintaining and improving your playing, I find that periodically mixing things up can really highlight blind spots in your playing or help with certain repertoire demands that aren’t encountered on […]

20+ Warm-up Routines Available Online

11 Apr, 2018 in Horn tagged horn playing / horn practice / horn teaching / horn technique by Colin Dorman (updated 28 days ago)

French horn tuning — Over the past several years of teaching, I’ve noticed that lots of students (and a few directors here and there) are thoroughly confused about the proper procedure to tune a French horn. Many students aren’t even sure what all the different slides (anywhere between 8-10) actually do! John Ericson also […]

New Page: Tuning the French Horn

4 Apr, 2018 in Horn tagged horn equipment / horn playing / horn practice / horn teaching / practice by Colin Dorman (updated 34 days ago)

recording equipment for horn — If you’re looking for a way to get into recording the horn, Dr. James Boldin has a nice article on his current recording setup on his website. According to his post, he was looking for something a bit more advanced and flexible than a handheld Minidisc or digital recorder (like […]

Basic Gear for Recording

28 Mar, 2018 in Horn tagged horn equipment / horn playing / horn practice / practice / recording by Colin Dorman (updated 40 days ago)

Being (or Feeling) Rushed Can Hurt Your Practice

21 Mar, 2018 in Horn tagged horn playing / horn practice / horn teaching / practice by Colin Dorman (updated 40 days ago)

If you’ve never heard of Seth Godin, and you’re in any type of entrepreneurial or customer-focused field (like musicians and teachers), you should check him out. His daily blog entries are both incredibly insightful and ridiculously short. Take this 7-sentence entry posted a few weeks ago as an example. Short, […]

Don’t want to practice? Listen to this instead.

14 Mar, 2018 in Horn tagged horn playing / horn practice / horn teaching / podcast / practice by Colin Dorman (updated 45 days ago)

calendar schedule — The past couple of years, I’ve been on a pretty big productivity kick. I’ve read books, blogs, downloaded apps, and watched Youtube videos, all in an effort to try to maximize my ability to do things quickly and effectively. I’m still pretty far from where I feel I should be […]

No time to practice? Here’s how to do it!

7 Mar, 2018 in Horn tagged apps / google / horn playing / horn practice / horn problems / horn teaching / practice by Colin Dorman (updated 45 days ago)

A new blog post over on The Bulletproof Musician really breaks down the science behind making sure that your practice is never too easy. Now, this idea isn’t something new or groundbreaking, but it’s interesting (and useful) to take a more data-driven look at these kinds of statements. I won’t give away […]

Why the (practice) struggle is real (and good)

8 Jan, 2018 in Horn tagged horn playing / horn practice / horn teaching / practice by Colin Dorman

Colin Dorman

Horn Player, Tech Enthusiast