Horn Notes Podcast

Oct 03 2024 55 ep. 19 mins 18

Horn Notes Podcast artwork

Hosted by John Ericson, this podcast looks at a variety of topics related to the French horn and music.

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Hornnotes 61. Fundamentals: Breathing, Embouchure, and Articulation, and a Unified Theory of Everything

Oct 03 2024 18 mins

In this episode John Ericson, horn professor at Arizona State, continutes his look at a fundamentals, based on three recent articles in the series on fundamentals in Horn Matters. As a part of that look he proposes a unified theory that relates the topics of breathing, embouchure, and articulation, with various personal asides.

Hornnotes 60: Fundamentals -- Posture, Fingerings, Intonation, and More

Sep 17 2024 22 mins

In this episode John Ericson begins a series looking at the fundamentals of horn playing. Following a list that may be found in the Douglas Hill book, the series begins with topics including playing postion/posture, fingering choices, intonation, and much more -- including key ideas towards playing in tune in ensembles.

Hornnotes 59: Your horn and the Music it Wants to Play, Transposition, and Intuitive Musicianship

Jul 05 2023 23 mins

In this episode John Ericson tackles questions related to how different horns work better on different music in a variety of ways, the topic of how we think of transpostion, and how intuitive musicianship can help you scope out if something is wrong in your music.

Hornnotes 58: Bad Horns, Bad Ears, and Bad Loud Dynamics

Jun 28 2023 26 mins

In this episode Dr. Ericson tackles questions relating to what makes a bad horn a bad horn, earplugs (and bad ears), and improving loud dynamic playing.

Hornnotes 57: A look at Carl Geyer and his horns

Jan 30 2023 20 mins

In this episode John Ericson looks at the topic of Carl Geyer and his horns, and reflects on his recent series of articles ("Geyer Dreaming") on Horn Maters, as 2023 is the 100th anniversary year of the Geyer style double horn. Length 20:09

Hornnotes 56: Updating the University of Horn Matters

Jul 31 2022 35 mins

In this episode John Ericson looks at major updates done this summer to the University of Horn Matters, the free rep. and pedagogy courses posted in the Horn Matters website. Length 35:25

Hornnotes 55: Remembering an embouchure change and other playing challenges

Jun 15 2022 28 mins

In this episode John Ericson looks back to a summer 40 years ago when he changed his embouchure for the first time, an embouchure injury the following year, and more. Length 27:59

Hornnotes 54 -- Stories involving Giardinelli mouthpieces and more

May 18 2022 24 mins

In this episode John Ericson has a few stories related to vintage Giardinelli mouthpieces, a brief review of a book by Arthur Brooks, and more. Length 24:23

Hornnotes 53 -- Better Mouthpiece = Better Accuracy

May 02 2022 25 mins

There are probably 1,000 ways to miss a note on the French horn, but one of the key items that will help improve your accuracy is proper selection of a better mouthpiece. In this episode John Ericson focuses on the topics of note connections, how those are impacted by mouthpiece choice, how to find better mouthpiece, and more. Lenght 25:22

Hornnotes 52 -- Pushing horn practice too far

Apr 27 2022 25 mins

In this episode John Ericson looks at the topic of practice and playing the French horn. Some teachers, in an effort to encourage progress, push duration and intensity of practice too far -- to the point of failure -- which is not a productive way to improve on the horn. Rest days, atheletic training, and tactics for good chops are discussed. Length 25:31