Brass Bulletin No. 33

10 Years of Brass Bulletin

Jean-Pierre Mathez

Ten years after its launch, a small specialist publication reaches readers in more than sixty countries, reflecting how a shared artistic community took shape across borders.

Jeffrey Agrell

A week in Trossingen brought leading horn players, Mozart debates, natural-horn controversies and lasting friendships at a landmark European gathering.

Necrology of a great collector

Emilie Mende

From a Swiss castle filled with 700 brass instruments to the Historical Museum Basel, a collector’s life reflects decades of dedication, scholarship and hospitality.

Portrait in brief

Jean-Pierre Mathez

From New York to Boston, five brass players built a chamber music identity rooted in Ewald, early music and a string-quartet approach to ensemble sound.

A note on personality types among musicians

John Davies

Behind the formal discipline of the symphony orchestra, contrasting views of brass and string players reveal enduring questions about personality, class and musical culture.

Gadgets II

Thomas Stevens

Mouthpiece backbores for piccolo and C trumpet are compared through practical performer testing, linking equipment choices to sound, volume and intonation.

Interview

Roger Bobo

Two tuba giants meet in 1979 Chicago, where Arnold Jacobs turns technique, sound, orchestral life and pedagogy into a lasting musical ethic.

James Stamp

A single Clarke study becomes a lesson in note placement, breath control and continuity, as James Stamp reshapes a familiar exercise through preparation.

Michel Ricquier

From yogic practices to auto-hypnosis, mental conditioning and visualisation are linked to performance, self-control, and the body's hidden responses.

Christopher Leuba

From harmonic-series tuning to valve-slide adjustments on the horn, practical listening and resonance become more reliable guides than equal temperament alone.

Emile Ferron

Behind every brass note lies a compromise between acoustical theory and instrument design, as E. Ferron questions what players call a harmonic.