Playing

Akim Alexeyevich Kozlov

A Trombone Artist

Behind decades of orchestral excellence, one trombonist shaped a school of playing whose influence reached far beyond Leningrad and the concert hall.

By Anatoly Barantsev

The attack

Precision often begins with doing less, not more—a principle Louis Davidson places at the heart of trumpet playing with surprising practical consequences.

By Louis Davidson

The Pitch Finder

A 1980 attempt to make trumpet intonation mechanical shifts familiar pitch corrections from the embouchure to the fingers, with striking consequences for playing.

By Jack Holland

The Leningrad School of Horn Playing

From St. Petersburg to the Soviet era, generations of horn players shaped a distinctive approach to sound, interpretation, and orchestral playing.

By Frøydis Ree Wekre

Sergey Nikolaevich Yeryomin (1903-1975)

The Distinguished Soviet Trumpeter and Teacher

Between Soviet military bands, the Bolshoi and the Moscow Conservatory, Yeryomin helped shape a trumpet tradition in which virtuosity remained a means, not an end.

By Yuri Usov

A talk with Rolf Quinque

What if strength is the wrong approach? Rolf Quinque traces his shift from force to mastery through controlled breathing, discipline, and relaxed playing.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Mouthpiece pressure in Horn Playing

Graduation project in technical method

Long before sensors entered the practice room, one horn student measured embouchure pressure by hand, challenging assumptions that still shape brass pedagogy.

By Edgar Bürger

Part 3

The Haydn Trumpet Concerto

Haydn’s trumpet concerto becomes a study of manuscript detail, performance choices, and the fragile ways listeners receive a familiar work.

By Alfred Willener

Part 3

The Trumpet in the USA

Gadgets I

From Schilke soundposts to piccolo trumpet extensions, American performers turned technical frustrations into specialized tools for modern playing.

By Thomas Stevens

The lead trumpet player

A survey of training, practice and equipment

Article on lead trumpet playing, covering training, practice methods and equipment for achieving accuracy, endurance and style.

By John Harding

Part 4

Practical Hints

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

By James Stamp

Part 2

The Trumpet and the Cornet in Jazz and Popular Music

The “Classical” Period 1927-1945 — The Golden Age of the Trumpet

Between Armstrong’s rise and bebop’s arrival, the trumpet became jazz’s dominant voice, reshaping technique, orchestras, sound, mutes and virtuosity.

By Michel Laplace

My new developed descant double horn

Why does the ideal horn not exist? Theo Westhof designs a new descant double horn to solve tuning and tone issues—without compromise.

By Theo Westhof

Part 2

The contrabass trombone

Picture and sketches, taking particularly into account the construction principles (1973)

Inside the workshop of innovation: Heinrich Thein reveals how rethinking every detail—from valves to bell—transforms the contrabass trombone into a modern orchestral instrument

By Heinrich Thein

Some thoughts on the euphonium and euphonium technique

The euphonium revealed: Barrie Perrins explores its history, technique, and expressive power—making a compelling case for its place as one of brass’s most versatile solo voices.

By Barrie Perrins

Tuba and Euphonium today

A new era for low brass: Willy Kurath explores how modern tuba and euphonium design—driven by innovation and collaboration—redefines sound, technique, and solo potential.

By Willi Kurath

The founders of the French Trumpet School

Merri Franquin, Eugène Foveau and Raymond Sabarich

Franquin, Foveau and Sabarich appear through their Paris careers, teaching legacies, recordings and role in shaping modern French trumpet playing.

By Michel Laplace

An Introduction to "In Tune"

the Scale of Just Intonation

Long before electronic tuners, brass players faced a choice between mathematical order and acoustic truth, with consequences that still shape ensemble playing today.

By Jack Holland

Brass instrument research at Surrey University

Acoustics, materials, bore design, and player perception meet in Surrey research linking laboratory measurements with the realities of brass performance.

By John Goodwin

The tuba in Europe

Why does the tuba sound different across Europe? Robert Tucci explores national styles, instruments and orchestral traditions.

By Robert Tucci

Use of a spectral model in developing concepts of tuba timbre

Can great tuba sound be measured? This groundbreaking study turns timbre into data — offering a visual model that could transform how players hear and shape their sound.

By Daniel D. Stancil

The French Hunting horn, its history, its technique and its music

Centuries-old hunting signals still shape performance today, where technique, ritual and oral tradition preserved a musical language unlike any other brass practice.

By Daniel Bourgue

Relaxation and musical performance

Breath, fingers and muscular tension form a hidden technical chain in wind playing, as Michel Ricquier links virtuosity to bodily awareness.

By Michel Ricquier

Part 3

Ornaments in 18th-century Horn Concertos?

Deliberate divisions

Improvisation, articulation and ornament were once inseparable: Peter Damm recovers an 18th-century horn practice later narrowed by increasingly precise notation.

By Peter Damm