Approach

Wynton Marsalis

Interview

At Montreux in 1987, Wynton Marsalis condemns commercial pop culture and defends the transmission of jazz traditions through education and close attention to its masters.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Can jazz performance be taught?

A profile of Charlie Shoemake

By Thomas Stevens

Editorial

Music teaching depends on more than routine: in 1984, Jean-Pierre Mathez argues that living contact with artists keeps transmission open to new generations.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Brass and Strings

A note on personality types among musicians

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

By John Davies

Part 2

Sampling? A hard rality !

By Thomas Stevens

Why pretend to be Mozart?

Reply to Bernhard Krol

Should a cadenza imitate Mozart? Peter Damm argues for stylistic fidelity without imitation—at the heart of a debate with Bernhard Krol.

By Peter Damm

Part 1

Cesare Bendinelli (1542-1617)

Biography

Cesare Bendinelli (1542–1617), imperial trumpeter and teacher, shaped a tradition and wrote the first trumpet method — a key document of Renaissance brass playing.

By Edward H. Tarr

Comments on the First International Brass Congress

Montreux 1976

National styles or personal voice? Roger Bobo finds in Montreux that individuality prevails—yet notes the absence of key traditions.

By Roger Bobo

Part 1

Herbert L. Clarke (1867-1945)

Boyhood Years

From forbidden beginnings to cornet legend: Herbert L. Clarke’s early years reveal a path shaped by setbacks, persistence, and decisive discoveries.

By David Hickman

Part 1

Tubes - Tritones - Theses

By Patrice Sciortino

Brass Players in Rome

Behind Rome’s musical prestige, RAI brass players describe shrinking salaries, insecure orchestral careers and the compromises required simply to remain musicians.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Editorial

Between disciplined practice and creative folly, musicianship emerges where scales and systems give way to imagination, instinct and the unsettling freedom to think.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Editorial

Mass media, record-industry economics and the return of cornet virtuosity collide in a sharp warning about fashion, manipulation and musical independence.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Why pretend to be Mozart?

The concerto’s cadenza: copy of style — or bold but true?

Should a cadenza imitate the past—or speak in today’s voice? Bernhard Krol questions the tradition of stylistic imitation and argues for cadenzas that bridge past and present with authenticity.

By Bernhard Krol

Special Finland

Brass achieves academic respectability

Once treated as marginal, Finland’s brass septet tradition entered academic research, challenging where folk practice ends and music history begins.

By Kauko Karjalainen

Scraps of Thoughts and Memories concerning “Passages” for trumpet and strings

Between waiting and movement, Passages reimagines soloist and orchestra—inviting exploration, listening, and the acceptance of the unexpected.

By Victor Fenigstein

The brass septet tradition in Finland

A hidden tradition revealed: over 200 Finnish brass septets shaped regional music life—blending military roots, festivals, and composers like Sibelius into a living legacy.

By Kauko Karjalainen

The Midwinter Horn

De Midwinterhoorn

A Christmas horn tradition from eastern Netherlands preserves ancient construction, ritual and performance, linking rural practice with Leopold Mozart's Sinfonia pastorella.

By Herman Jeurissen

Part 2

Tubes - Tritones - Theses

By Patrice Sciortino

The Fellowship of the Minstrels

Exploration of the medieval minstrel’s world, from marginalization and suspicion to the creation of fellowships that offered protection and structure.

By J. E. Spruit

Suppose they had an orchestra audition and nobody won?

By Thomas Stevens

Musical Piracy

Plagiarism, Photocopying

Long before digital piracy, publishers and performers were already confronting plagiarism, photocopying and blurred artistic ownership across the brass world.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Women and brass: 3 Portraits

Barbara Stone, Betty Anderson, Kate Kaminga

Three British and Dutch conductors moved from brass band performance to leadership roles, confronting a scene still largely shaped by male traditions.

By Markus S. Bach

Composer Interpreter Teacher Student

Clains and demands in musical life today

What is the musician’s role today? Willi Gohl questions creation, teaching, and society—and argues for a more human, free, and living music.

By Willi Gohl