Approach

Editorial

At the dawn of the 1980s, Brass Bulletin challenges institutional habits, avant-garde rigidity and brass pedagies through a direct appeal to younger musicians.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

The development of the amateur wind-band repertoire in Central Europe since 1950

After 1950, Central Europe’s amateur wind bands became a testing ground where inherited traditions, modern composition, popular music and education collided.

By Wolfgang Suppan

Brass studies in Australia

As international performers, seminars and teachers reached Australia in the late 1970s, a geographically isolated brass scene began finding its own direction.

By David O'Meara

The Minute counter!

By Thomas Stevens

Editorial

Is sound something you control—or something you become? Jean-Pierre Mathez challenges technique, fashion, and pedagogy: sonority is a lifelong conquest of freedom.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Listening

Musical listening begins where judgment ends, as Jeffrey Agrell questions habits of criticism, recordings and expectation that shape every performance.

By Jeffrey Agrell

The Art of the Third Horn Player

The unsung hero

By Kerry Turner

Gabinetto Armonico by Filippo Bonanni, Rome 1723

22 Illustrations

Selection of illustrations and excerpts from Gabinetto Armonico (1723), offering a visual insight into early instruments and musical practice.

By Filippo Bonanni

Dynamics in the 80's

From Reykjavik to the Hollywood Bowl, rising concert hall scale and amplified culture reshape orchestral sound, leaving acoustic limits exposed.

By Roger Bobo

Being a woman brass player... So what?

Frøydis Ree Wekre reflects on women in brass playing, examining physical assumptions, psychological factors, and practical realities across performance and professional life.

By Frøydis Ree Wekre

Ornamentation of baroque music for brass

Baroque ornamentation forgotten? Without it, performances become dull and repetitive. This article argues for a return to style, freedom, and creative interpretation.

By Marc Meissner

The Audition System

Why American Musicians Emigrate?

Behind orchestral vacancies in North America, travel costs, subjective selection and hidden hiring practices help explain a growing flow of musicians abroad.

By David P. Searfoss

Women and Brass

Statements

Female brass players in British orchestras describe auditions, section dynamics and the pressure of proving themselves beyond musical ability.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

From the pen of Roger Bobo

A bold statement from Roger Bobo: limiting yourself to your instrument’s repertoire is musical imprisonment — true musicianship begins beyond boundaries.

By Roger Bobo

The subconscious, a useful friend

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

By Michel Ricquier

Editorial

Virtuosity is framed less as method than perception, opposing formula-driven teaching and pointing to attentive listening as the ground for technical clarity and artistic control

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Part 1

Music in an American Frontier Communal Society

Aurora Colony

In a German communal settlement on the Oregon frontier, bands, choirs and original compositions shaped daily life as strongly as faith, work and education.

By Deborah M. Olsen

Editorial

International Competitions - Time, a perishable commodity...

From competition juries to the accelerating pace of modern life, Jean-Pierre Mathez questions the judgments and pressures shaping musicians and their careers

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

What's your proper job?

A social portrait of the British brass player

Four British brass players confront a profession transformed by orchestras, freelance work, social prejudice and the shrinking certainties of musical life.

By Thomas Aitken

The use of the mind in instrumental performance

Relaxation, concentration and mental imagery reshape technical practice, linking self-confidence and instrumental control beyond physical training alone.

By Michel Ricquier

Part 1

Classical music: Why bother?

By Joshua Fineberg

Part 1

The Trumpet in the USA

Across competitions, teaching and equipment in the U.S., trumpet practice exposes clashing ideas of musicality, raising the question of shared standards beyond national styles

By Thomas Stevens

Part 2

Zen and the Art of Horn playing

Beyond technique: Jeffrey Agrell explores the clash between intellect and intuition—arguing that true musical expression begins where analysis ends.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Thoughts on Competitions in Music

By Frøydis Ree Wekre