Category: Horn

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Can You Practice on Vacation WITHOUT Your Instrument?

It probably comes as no surprise, but being a professional musician comes with a lot of compromises to a “normal” lifestyle. Odd working hours, working on holidays, needing to maintain a high baseline level of playing; the behind-the-scenes of a musician is not always glamorous. For me, at least, that includes the need to do some…
Some Links for Summer Horn Reading

Looking for a bit of online horn reading for your summer break? A new (to me, at least) resource on the University of Iowa’s Horn Studio page has a fairly comprehensive list of instruments played by today’s biggest names in horn playing. It doesn’t have every single horn player, of course, but it does cover…
Interview(s) with Julie Landsman

I think that it goes without saying that Julie Landsman has had an incredible and inspiring career. Julie was the principal horn of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for an incredible 25 years (1985-2010), a teacher at Julliard since 1989, and has long been a proponent of mind and body balance and conditioning in horn playing…
Looking to Remove Bad Habits? Two Strategies You May Not Have Tried

Too much pressure. Incorrect mouthpiece placement. Too much “smile” in the embouchure. Lousy right-hand position. Too little attention to intention. These are some of the bad habits I’ve had in my playing over the past 20+ years of playing the horn. These bad habits weren’t learned overnight, and moving past them also didn’t happen overnight.…
New Custom Horn Model – Lukas/Pinc Horn

As I write this post, I was able to try out a new model horn several weeks ago from one of the best custom horn makers working today – Dan Vidican. Dan is fairly well-known for his excellent Lukas horn, and this new horn will likely become just as popular as his flagship instrument. This…
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…
What do “playing musically” and the mellophone have in common?

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 book discusses the history, technique,…
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…