Sociology

Editorial

One magazine disappeared as another opened its pages, turning economic necessity into a rare act of editorial solidarity that reshaped the brass press.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Editorial

Mouthpiece, instrument, practice—what’s really holding you back? A reflection on doubt, competition, and finding the inner balance that shapes true musicianship.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

A woman trombonist, Yvelise Girard

Women and Brass

From Paris conservatories to police bands, a young trombonist confronts isolation, scrutiny and ambition as women slowly enter the brass world.

By Jean Douay

Editorial

More than a magazine: a call to musicians. This editorial reveals Brass Bulletin’s mission—to inspire, connect, and survive through the support of its readers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Serious Music this Side of the Ghetto

Between Darmstadt serialism and neo-tonality, the place of serious music in society is questioned through Berg, Schönberg and the post-war avant-garde.

By Rolf Urs Ringger

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

Editorial

A life that shaped a century: Jean-Pierre Mathez introduces the extraordinary rise of Maurice André—an artist whose brilliance transformed the modern trumpet.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

John Fletcher

Interview

From brass bands to chamber ensembles, John Fletcher reflects on the rapid rise of young British tubists and the changing role of the instrument.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

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

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

Tower-watchmen and night-watchmen in Bohemia

From Hussite suspicion of musicians to tower signals over Bohemian towns, horns and trumpets shaped civic life, danger warnings and ritual memory.

By Vaclav Hoza

Part 3

Music in an American Frontier Communal Society

Aurora Colony

Aurora’s bands, chamber groups and restored instruments show how communal faith, German heritage and American public life met in sound, from parlors to parades.

By Deborah M. Olsen

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

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

Listening

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

By Jeffrey Agrell

Working with the Posaunenchor

From Württemberg youth groups to mass brass gatherings in Ulm, a community tradition links faith, education and amateur brass playing across generations.

By Max Sommerhalder

Salvation Army in Japan

Western-style brass music entered a once-isolated Japan through unexpected channels, with Salvation Army bands becoming part of a remarkable cultural transformation.

By Taku Satoh

Tuba Editorial

Roger Bobo reflects on orchestral auditions, examining imbalance between candidates and positions and questioning training, selection criteria and prospects for aspiring tubists.

By Roger Bobo