John Ericson, Horn
Performer, author, and teacher

Horn Articles Online -- John Ericson -- ASU Horn Studio -- Kopprasch Zone

Media -- Publications -- Presentations -- Schedule

While I will always view myself primarily as a player and teacher of the horn, my name has also become associated with writings and lecture-presentations on the history of the horn. I am interested in horn history, to be sure, and I feel fortunate to have been able to make an impact in this area.

I enjoy giving presentations of any type to audiences of horn players and music educators. For those planning workshops or horn events, I can repeat almost any of the following presentations, and new ideas are always in development.

Presentations at International Horn Symposiums

“A Horn like Dennis Brain Played,” 43rd International Horn Symposium, San Francisco, CA, June, 2011. Lecture-presentation featuring performances on piston valve single horns and an Alexander single B-flat.

“Beyond Farkas: Tonguing, the embouchure, and more,” 42nd International Horn Symposium, Brisbane, Australia, July 2010. Lecture-presentation. A preview of this session was presented at the Mid-South Horn Workshop, Stillwater, OK,

"Instruments Your Teacher Never Told You About ,” 41st International Horn Symposium, Macomb, IL, June, 2009. Refereed, lecture-recital featuring the single F, single Bb, natural, descant, and triple horns, bass and tenor Wagner tubas, the alto/tenor horn, and the mellophone.

“Playing the Wagner Tuba,” “From the Natural Horn to the Triple Horn,” and “The Horn Gym,” 40th
International Horn Symposium, Denver, July 2008. The Wagner tuba session was a lecture-recital; the natural horn/triple horn session was an amateur session, and the group warm up was based on materials from The Brass Gym. A preview of "The Horn Gym" was presented in February 2008 at the Southeast Horn Workshop in Columbus, GA.

“The Solo Works of Franz Strauss,” 35th International Horn Symposium, Bloomington, IN, June, 2003. Versions of this lecture-recital were repeated at for horn students at the Aspen Music Festival, Aspen, CO, July, 2003, at Con Cornos, Aqui II, Tucson, AZ, September, 2003, at Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, October, 2003, at the Disciplining the Horn Workshop, Santa Barbara, CA, January, 2006, and at The University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa in March of 2006. PDF version of handout.

"Natural and Valved Horns in the Nineteenth-Century," 33rd International Horn Symposium, Kalamazoo, MI, June, 2001. A preview of this session was presented at Horn Day, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, April, 2000.

"Crooks and the Nineteenth Century Horn," Celebration 99!, the 31st Annual Symposium of the International Horn Society, Athens, GA, May, 1999.

Other workshop presentations--listed in order of first presentation.

“Horn Secrets: Putting Conventional Wisdom to the Test.” Southwest Horn Conference, Paradise Valley Community College, Phoenix, AZ, January, 2012.

“The Art of Mellophone Playing.” 2011 Southeast Horn Workshop, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, March, 2011.

“The Use of the B-flat Horn.” This session was presented at the Missouri Horn Day on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, April, 2009.

"Tuning the French Horns.” Arizona Music Educators Association 2009 In-Service Conference, Mesa, AZ, January 2009. Joint presentation with Nancy Sullivan, Senior Lecturer, horn, Northern Arizona University.

"Building Horn Sections," AMEA In-Service Conference, Mesa, AZ, January 2007. Joint presentation with Nancy Sullivan, Senior Lecturer, horn, Northern Arizona University.

"Go for Baroque!" (lecture-recital) Mid-South Horn Workshop, Wichita, KS, March, 2006. This lecture-recital was repeated at The University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa in March of 2006 and at the Southeast Horn Workshop in Natchitoches, LA, April, 2006.

"Playing the Descant Horn," Western U.S. Horn Symposium, Las Vegas, NV, October, 2004. This session was expanded into a session on descant and triple horns which was repeated at the University of Northern Arizona in March of 2005, at the 2005 Mid-South Horn Workshop, Austin, TX, April, 2005, at the University of Arizona in November of 2005, at A.I.R. Horns in Payson, AZ in January of 2006, at the Midwest Horn Workshop in Stevens Point, WI, in February of 2006, and at the Potsdam Brass Quintet 40th Anniversary Celebration in April of 2008.

“Myths and ‘Urban Legends’ of Horn History,” Midwest Horn Workshop, Indianapolis, IN, March 2004. This has also been presented to the combined horn studio class at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, March, 2004.

“Stuck in the Nineteenth Century? Some Lessons Learned from Study of the Nineteenth-Century Horn,” A.I.R. Horns (Arizona Intrastate Retreat for Horns), Payson, AZ, January, 2004.

“Brahms and the Orchestral Horn,” A.I.R. Horns (Arizona Intrastate Retreat for Horns), Payson, AZ, January, 2003.

“Horns, Horns, Horns, and Horns (and Mouthpieces): Thoughts on What the Variables Mean,” Con Cornos, Aqui!, Tucson, AZ, September, 2002.

"Striving for Tone: Practical Methods to Improve Tone on the French Horn," Northeast Horn Workshop, Purchase, NY, April, 2000. Revised and expanded versions of this presentation were presented at the NYSSMA (New York State School Music Association) Winter Conference, Rochester, NY, November, 2000, the Crane Festival of Brass, Potsdam, NY, February, 2001, the Arizona Music Educators Association In-Service Conference, Phoenix, AZ, January, 2002, A.I.R. Horns (Arizona Intrastate Retreat for Horns), Payson, AZ, February, 2002, the Southeast Horn Workshop, Boone, NC, March, 2002, and the Oklahoma Horn Workshop, Norman, Oklahoma, October, 2003. PDF version of handout.

"Applications of Studying the Natural Horn to Performing and Teaching in the Real World," Horn Day and Benefit Concert, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS, October, 1999.

"The Early Valved Horn," Northeast Horn Workshop, New Brunswick, NJ, March, 1999. Related but not as fully developed sessions were also presented to the horn studios at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, March, 1997, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, March, 1998, and at the Governor’s School of the Arts, Murfreesboro, TN, July, 1998.

"Friedrich Gumpert (1841-1906) and the Performing Technique of the Valved Horn in Late Nineteenth-Century Germany," Historic Brass Instrument Days: An International Symposium--Historic Brass Research, Pedagogy, Performance, and Conservation, Paris, France, March, 1999.

"Heinrich Stoelzel and Early Valved Horn Technique," Early Brass Festival, Bloomington, IN, July, 1997.

"Henri Kling, Oscar Franz, and Horn Technique in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century," Early Brass Festival, Amherst, Mass., July, 1993

Our knowledge of horn history has probably doubled since the 1970s; in my historical presentations I aim to be completely up-to-date with recent scholarship and, in the case of the descant and triple horn presentation, up-to-date with recent trends.

The horns used in the presentation may vary due to locations and exact topics, but for historical presentations may include any of the following:

Natural horn after late 18th-century English with full set of crooks (internal tapers similar to French practices), constructed by John Ericson (1989) under the instruction of Richard Seraphinoff using a Couesnon bell (ca. 1910).

Natural horn after mid 19th-century German with full set of crooks and detachable rotary valves with slides for F and B-flat, constructed by Richard Seraphinoff (1996). [Pictured with valves!].

Valved horn in F manufactured by H. K. Huttl of Graslitz, Bohemia (ca. 1910).

[See also Piston Horns at ASU, as these horns also may be used, depending on the exact topic.]

For information on hosting a master class or presentation of any type please contact me at Arizona State University.