John Ericson
Auf dem Strom and the Natural Horn
People by nature try to categorize things and find notable “firsts.” One “first” often given to Schubert, incorrectly, is that Auf dem Strom (1828)...
Hornmasters: Berv on Right Hand Position
As was seen in his discussion of left hand position, for Harry Berv in A Creative Approach to the French Horn one central point...
An Advocate for the Alto Horn in 1968
In 1990 a wonderful brass resource was published, Brass Bibliography: Sources on the History, Literature, Pedagogy, Performance, and Acoustics of Brass Instruments by Mark...
Hornmasters: Yancich and Robinson on Right Hand Position
Milan Yancich in A Practical Guide to French Horn Playing offers a practical approach to finding a good hand position.
There are many hand positions...
Nickel silver and horns — construction, look, and sound
One question that comes up periodically is that of what nickel silver is and why some horns are made of nickel silver and some...
The Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin and Crazy Horn Notations in Wagner
One excerpt horn players learn is the Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin. I was recently working on this with a young student as...
Hornmasters: Schuller on Right Hand Position
The second chapter of Horn Technique by Gunther Schuller is on the topic of tone production and the first aspect of tone production discussed...
Hornmasters: Farkas on Right Hand Position
Most active horn teachers have read the Farkas book at some point but mostly not recently. One thing that you may have missed was...
European [Alexander] Shank Mouthpieces and the French Horn [updated]
Several mouthpiece makers catering to the North American market produce mouthpieces with a European shank. It is a topic a lot of horn players...
Ascending Third Valve Horns Past and Present
The Mellocast for this week is on a topic not often discussed, that of ascending third valve horns. In short, this is a French...