Tag: horn practice

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Keep Your Face in Shape – Embouchure Health Thoughts

Embouchure health is something that is probably not talked about enough in most brass-playing groups. While you’ll find hundreds of discussions on how to play high(er) or loud(er), or what mouthpiece is the best, you won’t necessarily find a lot of discussion on how best to manage the very sensitive muscles and tissue that brass…
Online Horn Master Class Resource

Masterclasses are a great and underrated resource. I went to my first master classes when I went to my first horn workshop (a pretty awesome experience in and of itself) and I still enjoy going whenever I get the chance. I feel like watching a great teacher work with a student makes me both a…
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Horn Hangout

The Chicago Symphony is probably best known for their incredible brass section. The sound of the CSO brass section has been a legend for decades, and one of the core components of any great brass section is the French horn section! In this episode of Horn Hangouts, Sarah Willis sits down with all five members…
20+ Warm-up Routines Available Online

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 a daily basis. While you…
Being (or Feeling) Rushed Can Hurt Your Practice

Carrying on from my post a couple of weeks ago about finding time to practice (and just about anything else you need or want to do), this post from Bulletproof Musician illustrates some of the downsides of being rushed. The Iowa Gambling Task The article goes into more detail (definitely check it out), but basically…
Don’t want to practice? Listen to this instead.

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, to-the-point, and incredibly insightful. A…
No time to practice? Here’s how to do it!

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 – productivity wise – but…
A New (To Me) Resource for Brass Players

I recently stumbled across TromboneTools.com, a website by David Vining. David Vining is the trombone professor at the University of Northern Arizona and a co-owner of Mountain Peak Music, as well as a member of the Flagstaff Symphony and a freelance trombonist. Although (obviously) geared toward trombone players, TromboneTools.com features lots of great resources and…
Reducing Frustration and Rage Quitting During Practice

Like I mentioned in my post a few days ago about optimizing your practice sessions by using ship dates, the All-District auditions for Kentucky are happening over the next couple of weeks, with lots of playing tests and chair auditions occurring around the same time (and usually on the same music). Right after Thanksgiving, those students…
Practice Strategy: Use Ship Dates to Optimize Practice Time

It’s getting pretty close to All-District and All-State auditions here in Kentucky. That means that lots of students are starting to feel the pressure to get their audition music finalized. Of course, these students that are stressing most about the audition are the same students that have been practicing in an unorganized way (or not…