Health

Nerves, Pills and Doping

Behind a debate once confined to musicians lies a wider shift in how performance anxiety, medication and professional responsibility began to be separated instead of confused.

By Christian Baechler

Part 3

Maurice André

Biography

Maurice André reflects on maturity—balancing performance, recordings and teaching, refining his approach to instruments and audience, and preparing for the limits of a virtuoso career.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Brass Techniques Series • Part 1

The Brain

Instrumental mastery begins beyond the instrument itself, where motivation, concentration and self-awareness shape the musician’s progress and artistic development.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Breathing and the physiological mask

Air is not everything: Michel Ricquier challenges the “air column” myth, revealing how breathing and the “physiological mask” together unlock control, power, and ease.

By Michel Ricquier

Part 1

Zen and the Art of Horn playing

Beyond technique: Jeffrey Agrell explores how Zen challenges Western thinking—revealing a new path to awareness, focus, and deeper musical experience in horn playing.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Part 4

The Trumpet and the Cornet in Jazz and Popular Music

The instrument for jazz

Jazz trumpet playing balances equipment, embouchure and articulation, as changing sound ideals reshape mouthpieces, technique and the physical approach to playing.

By Michel Laplace

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

Part 18

Dental Clinic for Wind Players

Influence of the lateral teeth upon sound production

By Toshio Nemoto

Part 22

Dental Clinic for Wind Players

For brass players having wisdom teeth extracted is not without risk

By Toshio Nemoto

My Experiences with Colleagues and Pupils

in 50 Years as trumpet player and trumpet teacher

Across five decades, Heinz Burum links trumpet embouchure, mouthpiece design and teaching practice to concrete cases from orchestras, pupils and colleagues.

By Heinz Burum

Overlays and bonding

New dental aids for brass players

A trumpeter’s dental experiments in the 1980s turned teeth, mouthpiece pressure and embouchure into an unexpected field of collaboration with dentistry.

By Jeffrey Agrell

Brass players athletes

Brass players are athletes. Bengt Belfrage reveals how training, recovery, breathing, and mental focus—borrowed from sport—can transform performance and endurance.

By Bengt Belfrage

Editorial

Artistic progress is measured not only in technique but in doubt, self-awareness and hope, as Jean-Pierre Mathez looks beyond the instrument to the person playing it.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

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

Basics in breathing

An Outline to a Better Sound

From breathing awareness to sound production, practical exercises link physical relaxation, air control and rhythmic precision in everyday brass playing.

By Joel Elias

ASA-Method, ASA-Technic

Virtuosity grows from disciplined work on scales, articulation and reading, arguing that consistent fundamentals matter more than chasing the upper register.

By Rolf Quinque

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

Part 6

Dental Clinic for Wind Players

Causes and cures of sudden vs. gradual embouchure and playing problems due to neuropathy

By Toshio Nemoto

My teeth

A dentist visit that changed everything: René Périnelli reveals how his teeth directly shaped his trumpet playing.

By René Périnelli

Sophrology and Music

For brass players, physical tension and concert anxiety can become habitual obstacles, while sophrology offers a different approach to posture, memory and performance.

By Robert Ischer

Part 20

Dental Clinic for Wind Players

Difficulties following a simple dental treatment

By Toshio Nemoto

Part 4

Dental Clinic for Wind Players

Unknown to most players, there may be significant changes in the internal oral environment of a musician during the process of wind instrument playing

By Toshio Nemoto

Editorial

A warning from the machine: Jean-Pierre Mathez reflects on Kaufmann’s robot—questioning whether technology is shaping music… or slowly replacing the human artist.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Part 11

Dental Clinic for Wind Players

Median space method

By Toshio Nemoto