John Ericson

Sabbatical, part 2. My Original Horn Building Projects

When I was a Doctoral student, I was able to create a special minor for my degree at IU, the minor being in brass...

Sabbatical, part 1. Sabbatical?

With the end of this fall semester of classes, I am going on sabbatical from Arizona State for the spring of 2021. Which leads...

A closer look at a vintage “Kruspe Kruspe”

A Kruspe Kruspe? Any serious student of the horn today has heard of Kruspe style (or Kruspe wrap) horns, but many do not realize...

A “Popup Concert” and other COVID horn notes

COVID has changed the performing landscape of fall 2020 drastically. But before looking at that, there is good news out there, the proverbial “light at...

Auditioning for college in the age of COVID

Any reader looking at auditioning for college music programs right now knows that they are looking at a changed scenario due to COVID. Before this...

Tip: Building endurance in the age of no ensembles

With COVID, most horn players are finding themselves in an unusual situation, they have no ensembles to play in, and have not played in...

COVID and innovation in brass chamber music at Arizona State

We are doing something different than normal this semester for brass chamber music at Arizona State. During the summer our large ensemble directors began exploring...

It is time to use some new etudes (with samples to try)

Especially in this time of COVID teaching, it is time to try some new materials. The same old, tired etudes seem especially old and...

DeRosa and Almeida: The Intimate Bach [UPDATED]

A great recording that is not much known by now several generations of horn players is The Intimate Bach, Vol. 2, which includes a...

Watkins, Schuller, and Barrows — Temptation, 1962

Following up on the recent post on jazz horn pioneer Julius Watkins, I made an effort to buy a couple more of his recordings...