Teaching

The Annual Competitions of the Paris Conservatoire

From commissioned works to jury voting, a long-standing examination tradition reveals how brass players progressed through the Paris Conservatoire.

By Benny Sluchin

The column of air

A System of Breathing for Brass Players

Explains the role of the air column in brass playing, focusing on breath support, airflow control and their impact on tone, articulation and sound quality.

By Robert Bouché

Problems of teaching methods in brass instruction

Talent isn’t enough. Krumpfer argues that brass teaching must align physiology, psychology, and method—only then can young players reach their true potential.

By Hans-Joachim Krumpfer

Part 2

French cornet methods published before Arban's Complete Grand Method for Cornet and Saxhorn

By Friedrich Anzenberger

Part 1

Jazz Improvisation

Major scalem chord-scale relationship

By Charlie Shoemake

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

Pyotr Naumovich Volkov (1877-1933)

First trombone professor at St. Petersburg Conservatory

From imperial St. Petersburg to Soviet Leningrad, Volkov shaped a distinctive Russian trombone tradition through performance, teaching and generations of pupils.

By Viktor Sumerkin

Let us play in tune!

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

On my desktop...

Special USSR

By Timofey Dokschidser

Part 1

French cornet methods published before Arban's Complete Grand Method for Cornet and Saxhorn

By Friedrich Anzenberger

Part 2

Jazz Improvisation

The harmonic minor scale

By Charlie Shoemake

Part 2

James Stamp Master in listening

Buzzing: practicing with the lips alone

By Jean-Christophe Wiener

Vladislav Mykhaylovich Blazhevich (1881-1942)

Trombonist, Composer and Teacher

From village band to the Moscow Conservatoire and the Bolshoi, a lifelong commitment to performance, teaching and wind music shaped Soviet trombone tradition.

By Viktor Sumerkin

Part 1

James Stamp Master in listening

By Jean-Christophe Wiener

About my “48 Lyric Studies”

By Thomas Stevens

Science in the service of music

Interview with René Périnelli

Where trumpet teaching once relied on intuition, René Périnelli and Jean-Jacques Greffin brought physiology, medical imaging and science into daily practice.

By Jean-Pierre Mathez

Part 3

French cornet methods published before Arban's Complete Grand Method for Cornet and Saxhorn

By Friedrich Anzenberger

Part 4

A player’s first years

The opinion of an expert

By Horst Rapp

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 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

The Royal Academy of Music and its tradition

By John Humphries