Telling a student to memorize something is not the same as telling them to memorize it. Seth Godin explains.
Horn
In a recent blog article over at James Boldin’s Horn World blog, James discusses a recent visit to the University of Louisiana-Monroe by Dr. Eldon Matlick, who is the Horn Professor at the University of Oklahoma. His blog article briefly covers some of the topics that Dr. Matlick discussed with […]
Eldon Matlick and A New (To Me) Tuning System
I’ve really been enjoying my digital music setup over the past few years. But the amount of flexibility and the sheer number of options available in the Android app I use (MobileSheets Pro) means that the learning curve (even for a tech-savvy user) can be extreme. To help make things […]
MobileSheets Pro Tips
Practicing a musical instrument can be a frustrating experience. Lots of hours focused on just getting one or two small sections perfect, only to be faced with more the next day or week. However, practice isn’t just about focusing on small details and getting individual notes correct. At least part […]
Practice Recipe: 3 Parts Focus with 1 Part Distraction
How to plan your practice is a topic that I’ve covered before, but there’s a lot more to getting in “enough” playing than just sitting down for a practice session. The typical recommendation from the ever-popular Farkas book is that you need to get in 3 hours of practice per […]
When NOT to Practice
If you’ve watched just about any sport, you’re certainly familiar with athlete’s and their love of rituals. But, it turns out that even arbitrary or even silly rituals can have a meaningful impact on your performance and reduce anxiety. The important thing is not necessarily what you do, but what […]
Pre-Performance Rituals
A new resource is available for horn players from John Ericson, horn professor at Arizona State University. According to John’s description on his Horn Notes Edition page: A practical collection of inventive scale and arpeggio exercises to develop technique and intonation, carefully selected from the classic horn method books of […]
New Horn Studies from John Ericson
Using one or two words to improve your concentration or establish the character of a piece is not a new teaching technique. I know I’ve personally heard about using these kinds of “trigger words” for a couple of decades. These are especially useful to establish the mood or style of […]