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Tips

Miscellaneous tips related to performance, practice, pedagogy, and repertoire.

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...

Tilt, the Secret to Mid-Low Range Power

People are always looking for horn secrets. One difficult range for many players is the “cash register” just below the staff, getting the notes...

Book Excerpt: Tips Toward Playing More Musically

Every so often I get a big idea. A recent one was to update the best of my publications into new editions and sell...

Tips for Educators, and an Evolving Pedagogy

Recently, as part of a session with brass colleagues at our AMEA all-state, I presented a session for music educators, "Tips to Improve your...

Is it a Reality Show? Tips on Auditions

This article of tips on taking auditions was originally posted to the site in early 2009, but was later cut (along with a large group...

On Calculating Timings of Works of Music

I am working toward a trio recording project now, and as a part of planning for that I needed to come up with timings...

An Interview on Orchestral Horn Auditions. Part IV, the Future and...

This article concludes an interview conducted 2/13/13 with Ashley Cumming, a Doctoral student at Indiana University. Part I starts here. With increased numbers of people...

Tip of the Week: Play to the End of Time

Many years ago (in a location I cannot remember) I attended a concert of the Munich Philharmonic while they were on an American tour....

Why Does my Hand Turn Green?

It was a long weekend of playing, as evidenced by a green-stained right hand in the picture below. Have you ever wondered why this happens?...

Tip of the Week: Improving Transposition Skills with ‘I-IV-V-I’ Practice

One of the most popular PDF downloads from the Horn Matters site is a transposition chart, located within our Resources area. Roughly defined, music transposition in performance requires a player...