Horn Matters is the leading online resource on the French horn, co-founded by John Ericson and Bruce Hembd. The mission of Horn Matters is: to encourage, inspire, inform, and challenge horn players, and; to promote the best musical instrument ever, the French horn. (More.)
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Accuracy Encyclopedia: F is for Fundamentals
As we continue with the letter F, a third elephant in the room is the whole topic of fundamentals, or the study of fundamentals...
Accuracy Encyclopedia: F is for First Note Accuracy
Continuing with this series on the letter F and accuracy on the horn, the second elephant in the room is first note accuracy.
I don’t...
Accuracy Encyclopedia: F is for F Horn
There are so many topics that fall under the letter F that this is the first of four articles relating to “F” topics, with...
Mailbag: The Top 3 Horn Concertos
A question came in earlier this year asking generally what are the top 3 horn concertos. With the end of the semester for my...
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Horn Etudes by Female Composers
Many Horn Matters readers will be familiar with the Works with Horn by Female Composers website by Dr. Lin Foulk. If not, this is...
Julius Watkins, jazz French horn pioneer
Talking with colleagues recently, a topic that came up was how some great players of the recent past are unjustly neglected today. In terms...
Overview of Trusted Brands in French Horns
A survey titled "What Brand Names Do You Trust?" collected the opinions of 392 participants. The results are in and while it may take...
Choosing a French Horn Mouthpiece (I): The Basic Parts
Part I: The Rim and Preliminary Thoughts
Part II: Cup, Throat and Bore
Part III: Weight, Plating and Shopping Tips
For the past decade...
French Horn Transposition Chart
A complete reference.
Transposition Chart (PDF) (updated 2012)
Over the past few months, I have been posting various transposition tricks, including how to transpose:
A and...
Farkas on Stagefright (and more)
In the world of horn there have been few that made as much impact as Philip Farkas (1914-1992). The Art of French Horn Playing...
Random Articles
Stepping Up (I See a Huntsman)
The aria "I See a Huntsman" has been arranged by Mason Jones for his Solos for the Horn Player. Here is the original performed...
Monster Mash Wednesday
The truth that Hollywood tried to hide!
Today's monster horn player had to overcome both physical and mental setbacks, most notably a lower jaw overbite...
PDF Etudes from the Oscar Franz Method
Oscar Franz (1843-1886) was one of the most prominent teachers and performers of the horn in the late nineteenth century. Franz spent most of...
One Cause of Focal Dystonia in Brass Players
One of the most serious problems a brass player can face is that of an embouchure dystonia. Why it is such a hard problem...
On the single F horn, part I: 19th century low horn...
A major long term interest of mine is the valved horn in the 19th century. It was a time frame dominated by single horns...
Hornmasters on Mouthpiece Pressure, Part II: Cousins and Wekre
Continuing our look at mouthpiece pressure, as time passes we can see authors react to the approaches of part I.
Lips are tough
Farquharson Cousins expresses...
