Why Use A Metronome? Using a metronome to keep the beat while you practice can benefit your playing in many ways. The most important reason is that its always right. Musicians, even the best musicians, [...]

In 2010 I released an online course entitled “High notes, low notes, and everything in between“. The course consists of lessons – or modules as I call them here – and is aimed at advancing [...]

Fill your Christmas stockings! For gift ideas, why not start here? A letter from a ‘brass meathead’ to Santa: Dear Santa, This year for Christmas, I’d like: * To play higher * To play louder [...]

Get great deals on the Zoom H4n portable digital recorder Lately I’ve been listening to some of my lessons from graduate school, specifically the two years spent working on my master’s degree with Doug Hill [...]

With the exception of trills, turns are probably the most encountered ornament in horn music – think of Kopprasch and Maxime-Alphonse, to name a few. Many excellent resources deal with the performance of both turns [...]

Strong listening skills are extremely important for both performers and educators. Try some of the following exercises to aid in developing your ability to listen actively. You can practice active listening almost anywhere, and the [...]

Just imagine – you’ve spent countless hours practicing your lip trills, starting slowly and speeding up, and practicing “flips” so that you can begin a trill immediately – you are now ready to play these [...]

Based on the title, you might think that this post would involve some sort of philosophical discussion about the nature of playing solos…actually it’s much more literal than that.  Knowing where to stand (or sit) [...]

Herbert L. Clarke’s book “Technical Studies for the Cornet” is certainly a ‘must have’ for all brass players. But why? What is it that makes H.L.Clarke’s Technical Studies from 1912 current today, almost 100 years [...]

Definitely partial to gin and cranberry juice with a slice of lime; it tastes like a Christmas tree. Don’t ask! Anyway.. We will be dealing with the major and minor pentatonic in this article. Five [...]