Category: Horn
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Make One Note Count/Make Every Note Count
A few days ago Seth Godin posted this video of his TED Talk on his blog. It does such a great job of explaining a lot of about music, music teaching, and life in 3:35, that you should really just watch it: With all the flash you can find in music today, it’s worth remembering…
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Make Practice More Enjoyable in One Simple Step
If you’re like most music students, the activity of practice doesn’t thrill you. While it’s great fun to get better on your instrument and be able to perform more challenging repertoire at a higher level, the actual day-in-and-day-out practice regime isn’t exactly exciting or glamorous. One Solution From The World Of Fitness A relatively recent…
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Fix Your Focus, Improve Your Playing
Focus, especially when playing a piece with many challenging sections, can often make the difference between a successful performance and a not-quite-successful performance. However according to a recent study on golf, where you should focus matters just as much as if you focus. The Golf Study According to this blog post on the Bulletproof Musician, a study…
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Erik Ralske Interview: Playing in the Met and the Dangers of Over-Hydration
The International Horn Society website has just posted an interview with Erik Ralske, former 3rd horn and then Associate Principal with the New York Philharmonic, and now principal horn with the Met Opera Orchestra. In addition to playing with the NY Phil and the Met, Mr. Ralske has also played with Houston (Associate Principal), Vancouver,…
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New Metronome Practice Idea: No Instrument Necessary!
“Have you practiced this with a metronome?” Just about every music student has heard this from their teacher at least once. There’s a very good reason for this – being able to maintain a steady tempo is very important. If you can’t stay in time, you won’t play well with others! Protip: If your teacher…
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Kendall Betts, Former Principal Horn of MSO, Dies
Some sad news in the horn world today, as it was just announced the Kendall Betts – former principal horn of the Minnesota Orchestra (1979-2004), founder and director the Kendall Betts Horn Camp, and the current owner of Lawson horns – passed away on August 16 at the age of 68. In addition to a…
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Quick Feedback From Teachers May Slow Progress
As a horn teacher, I often say to my students that my ultimate goal is to put myself out of a job. That is, I want them to have a strong knowledge of their own strengths and weaknesses so they are able to practice and improve without my constant nagging…err..feedback. My Method… One of my favorite ways to try…
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The Beginnings of a New Chamber Ensemble
These days, chamber music comes in all sorts of ensemble sizes and instrumentation, but here’s one that I haven’t seen before. Bonus: Finally, the horn is freed from the inanity of playing the upbeats in a waltz! Now if someone would go ahead and make a Sousa chair. I hope composers (and instrument makers) are paying…
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Timothy Jones & LSO Section Horn Hangout
This Horn Hangout was recorded the day after the Tony Halstead video, again at Paxman’s horn shop in London. This video features the members of the London Symphony Orchestra horn section: Timothy Jones – Principal horn Angela Barnes – 2nd horn Alexander Edmundson – Co-principal/3rd Jonathan Lipton – 4th Hugh Seenan – Former principal horn,…
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Tony Halstead Horn Hangout
Sarah Willis’ most recent Horn Hangout video to be archived is her discussion with acclaimed natural hornist Anthony Halstead. As someone who has done very little with the natural horn, this was a very interesting chat, and makes me wish I had some spare change to put toward a real valveless instrument! Anthony Halstead –…