by Jennifer Montone, IHS 57 Featured Artist; Principal Horn, The Philadelphia Orchestra

The music field is a wonderful but sometimes stressful place. We constantly ride the rollercoaster of striving for artistic excellence while accepting the sobering reality of our own humanness. Our mental well-being is hugely important to the quality of our playing. We perform better with "cheerleader" voices in our heads instead of "critics." We perform more expressively, bravely, freely, musically, and excitingly when we feel supported and respected. It's simply more joyous to collaborate musically in friendly environments. Research consistently shows that working in open, inclusive, supportive, safe, and collaborative musical environments is better for our growth, happiness, health, and excellence.

Yet, perfectionism, pedestal thinking, and power dynamics often complicate things. One powerful solution is the concept of holding space: "Creating a safe, non-judgmental environment where someone can feel seen, heard, and understood without being interrupted or controlled." What a beautiful sentiment!

Embracing Imperfection for Excellence

"Excellence is the result of caring more than others think is smart, risking more than others think is safe, trying more than others think is wise, and expecting more than others think is possible."

In this age of recordings and YouTube, where perfection sometimes feels more valued than expression, we often feel paralyzed by the fear of failure. We might feel judged by colleagues, harangued by self-doubt, berating ourselves mercilessly for mistakes, weeping into our pillows, and joking about FOMO (fear of missing out) and imposter syndrome. It's hard to ever feel "good enough" or "perfect enough."

Awesome antidotes to perfectionism include internal pep talks, meditation, yoga, proactive phrasing, using musical adjectives, playing with love, riding excitement waves, singing from the heart, and simply having fun. It's also helpful to remember: we don't choose our friends, spouses, pets, or homes for their perfection; we love them because of how they make us feel. The same is true with music. True excellence, beauty, and passion manifest in incredible, human, and therefore beautifully imperfect ways. By holding space for ourselves, we honor and celebrate every artistic attempt—big or small, close to perfect or not. We celebrate our commitment, heartfelt caring, brave risk-taking, and hard work towards excellence.

"May I feel safe, healthy, at peace.…"

Learning from Everyone: Beyond the Pedestal

"Every person is my teacher in some way: in that, I learn from them."

We live in a world of categorizing and comparing ourselves, and for most horn players, often worrying we aren't measuring up. While "pedestal thinking" can sometimes inspire us, it can also brutalize us. We can all be more mindful of how we navigate this.

The alternative to an invisible caste system is to purposefully empower and lift up ourselves and others, honoring lifelong learning from all sources. Let's celebrate every success around us, whether prestigious, high-paying, or not directly in the music field. We know that everyone who plays music is a musician, an artist—sharing their gifts, making the world a better place, inspiring, provoking thought, and opening minds and hearts. This is true no matter the location, level, title, income, or percentage of playing versus other employment. With appreciation for the specialness of each artistic voice, we hold space for each other, celebrating all types of successes based on the concept of inherent worth: each person deserving of great respect.

"May you feel safe, healthy, at peace.…"

Navigating Hierarchies with Respect

"Sometimes, courage doesn’t roar. Sometimes, courage is the quiet voice in the night, whispering, 'I will try again tomorrow.'"

Our field has natural hierarchies that organize how we learn and work together. However, these can unfortunately lead to dangerous and harmful power dynamics. We've all experienced teacher/student, coach/chamber group, conductor/orchestra musician, principal/section member, and contractor/freelancer hierarchies. These roles necessitate colleagues respectfully promoting safe, supportive atmospheres. Thankfully, this is mostly the case.

But we are all human, and many of us have also experienced or witnessed disrespectful, inappropriate, mean-spirited, or demeaning behavior—designed to make one person feel smaller or less worthy than another—for all kinds of reasons. We can collectively acknowledge the pain and inequity in our institutional past, and together, we can navigate, heal from, and move past it to change the culture for the future.

Horn players are caring, warm, and supportive individuals, giving us a unique opportunity to bond together and address problems in our own workplaces and schools. We celebrate how we hold space as a community: ensuring that people of all races, genders, ages, and orientations are treated with respect; creating an environment where it feels safe to disclose things, to say "I'm sorry, I messed up. I want to do differently next time," or "Hey, are you okay?" and to discuss equity and to problem-solve collaboratively.

"May we all feel safe, healthy, at peace.…"

The Power of Collectively Holding Space

Holding space—for ourselves, each other, and the whole world—can profoundly help with perfectionism, pedestal thinking, and power dynamics. With this collective spirit, we create safe spaces for us all to bloom personally and artistically.

I am part of an amazing new nonprofit, the Coalition of Musicians for Ethical Change, and we hope you'll consider joining us! We are a community of musicians supporting the establishment of safe and supportive work and school environments where musicians of all ages, genders, and races can thrive musically and professionally. We offer educational programs at schools and festivals, provide support if you need it, and host town halls to discuss these topics in a warm, open, inclusive, non-judgmental forum. For more information, please visit: https://www.musiciansforethicalchange.org/

Additionally, at IHS 57, as in the past few years (thank you, wonderful IHS leaders, for promoting these important sessions!), there will be a panel discussion about equity in the horn world. I hope you'll all come for an uplifting, collaborative conversation about how we can experience more joy through holding space for ourselves, each other, and our entire field!

by Kate Warren

Hi! I’m Kate Warren, hornist, music educator, and Social Media Coordinator for the International Horn Society. I am currently the featured horn soloist for the Tony and Emmy award winning Broadway show Blast! as well as a Lecturer in Music at Ocean County College—but you probably know me most from my online music education work on Instagram through @katewarrenmusic.

@katewarrenmusic is a passion project that evolved from practice accountability to the free-flowing knowledge base it is now. As a young hornist whose family could not afford lessons, most of my early knowledge came from free online resources such as hornmatters.com and the archived interviews and articles on the IHS website. My goal now is to contribute just as much knowledge to others as I needed then.

Currently, I’ve got a fascinating series going that looks at the inner workings of the aperture (literally) using an endoscopic camera inside a 3D printed mouthpiece. I’m testing all sorts of things from register and articulation shifts to lip trills, pedal notes, and multiphonics. If this type of pedagogy experiment sounds interesting to you, I encourage you to explore my account!

I’m very excited for our upcoming gathering at James Madison University—it will be my very first IHS Symposium! I’ll be documenting the conference for IHS’s social media channels as well as conducting informal mini-interviews of attendees. My goal is to hear from as many different voices in our horn community as I can, so if you see me floating around, please come say hello and ask to be interviewed .

in English

por Ricardo Matosinhos 

Este é o primeiro de uma série de pequenos artigos dedicados ao registo grave da trompa.

“Nem só de pão vive o homem, nem só de notas agudas vive o trompista.”

O registo grave é um domínio essencial a desenvolver. Constitui a base para a formação de uma embocadura adequada e para a produção de um som de qualidade. Por isso, deve ser trabalhado desde tenra idade — caso contrário, os intérpretes podem vir a arrepender-se mais tarde.

Contexto histórico: a influência da trompa natural

Tradicionalmente, os métodos de trompa e as peças a solo começam por volta do dó central e tendem a subir em direcção ao registo agudo. Esta tendência tem origem na trompa natural, cujo espectro harmónico se torna mais prático acima do dó central. Nesse registo, os intervalos entre harmónicos estreitam-se — de terceiras para segundas, e eventualmente para meios-tons por volta do sol agudo — permitindo uma execução melódica com pouco ou nenhum recurso à técnica de paragem com a mão.

A invenção das válvulas no século XIX expandiu as possibilidades cromáticas da trompa, sobretudo no registo grave. Notas que antes exigiam uma combinação de técnicas da mão direita e flexibilidade labial passaram a poder ser tocadas em posição aberta, utilizando as válvulas. Poder-se-ia pensar que tal inovação teria levado de imediato os compositores a escrever de forma mais extensiva neste registo — mas a tradição mostrou-se mais resistente.

Havia, e de certa forma ainda existe, uma regra não escrita segundo a qual a música escrita para trompa com válvulas deveria continuar a ser exequível na trompa natural. Esta abordagem idiomática manteve-se durante grande parte da era das válvulas e teve várias consequências — especialmente no que diz respeito à notação.

O dilema das claves

A música escrita para trompa natural era maioritariamente escrita em clave de sol, sendo a clave de fá reservada para passagens graves muito específicas — normalmente por volta do segundo e terceiro harmónicos (por exemplo, dó grave e sol grave). Para complicar ainda mais, os sistemas de notação mais antigos utilizavam a clave de fá uma oitava abaixo do que hoje é considerado standard.

O registo natural da trompa situa-se essencialmente na zona média. Contudo, devido ao uso tradicional das claves de sol e fá, a trompa nunca chegou a adoptar a clave de dó, que poderia ter oferecido um sistema de notação mais eficiente para esse intervalo.

A clave de fá antiga permitia aos intérpretes ler num registo grave alargado sem necessidade de mudanças frequentes de clave — de forma semelhante ao papel da clave de dó noutros instrumentos. Mas com o desaparecimento da notação antiga em clave de fá, os trompistas modernos ficam obrigados a navegar entre a clave de sol, a clave de fá (na forma moderna) e numerosas linhas suplementares abaixo da pauta.

Alguns tratados de orquestração recomendam o uso da clave de sol para a trompa, excepto nos extremos do registo. Isto faz sentido se considerarmos o repertório para trompa natural. Por exemplo, o método de Oscar Franz indica notas bastante graves ainda em clave de sol. No entanto, a realidade é mais complexa. À medida que o cromatismo e as técnicas alargadas se tornaram mais comuns, estas directrizes perderam clareza.

Qualquer trompista o confirmará: ao chegar à quarta linha suplementar abaixo da pauta em clave de sol, a leitura torna-se um desafio. Em contextos de textura complexa, ou quando há multifónicos envolvidos, o uso paralelo das claves de sol e fá (como acontece na notação para piano) pode revelar-se uma alternativa útil. Tenho adoptado esta solução em algumas das minhas composições, embora esteja longe de ser uma prática padronizada.

Desafios na leitura das claves — e porque são importantes

Os trompistas devem estar preparados para ler em clave de sol, clave de fá (tanto na forma moderna como na antiga), e lidar com múltiplas linhas suplementares — frequentemente combinadas com notas em som bouché transposições. É exigente, mas necessário.

Compreender o uso histórico das claves ao longo do registo da trompa dá-nos um contexto valioso para perceber a importância e os desafios da execução no registo grave atualmente.

Na próxima edição, abordarei as oportunidades e dificuldades do uso da trompa grace nos dias de hoje.

by Ricardo Matosinhos

This is the first in a series of short articles dedicated to low horn.

“Man shall not live by bread alone, nor the horn player by high notes only.”

The low range is an essential register to develop. It forms the foundation of proper embouchure formation and tone production. For that reason, it must be practiced from a very young age; otherwise, players may regret it later in life.

Historical background: the natural horn influence

Traditionally, horn methods and solo pieces begin around middle C and tend to rise toward the stratosphere. This tendency can be traced back to the natural horn, where the harmonic series becomes more practical above middle C. In that register, the intervals between harmonics narrow—from thirds to seconds, and eventually semitones around high G—allowing for melodic playing with little to no hand-stopping.

The invention of valves in the 19th century expanded the horn’s chromatic possibilities, especially in the low range. Notes that previously required a combination of right-hand technique and lip bending could now be played open using valves. One might expect that this would immediately lead composers to write extensively in the low register, but tradition proved more resistant.

There was, and to some extent still is, an unwritten rule that music written for valved horn should remain playable on the natural horn. This idiomatic approach persisted well into the valve era and had several side effects—especially regarding notation.

The clef conundrum

Music for the natural horn was mostly written in G clef (treble clef), with F clef reserved for very specific low passages—usually around the second and third overtones (e.g., low C and G). To further complicate matters, older notation systems used the F clef an octave lower than the current standard.

The horn’s range is naturally centered in the middle register. Yet because of the traditional use of G and F clefs, the horn never adopted the C clef, which could have offered a more efficient notational system for this range.

The old-style F clef allowed players to read over an extended low range without frequent clef changes—very similar to how C clef works for other instruments. But with the demise of the older F clef notation, modern horn players are left to navigate between treble clef, bass clef (in its modern form), and numerous ledger lines below the staff.

Some treatises on orchestration recommend using treble clef for horn except in the extremes of the range. This makes sense when considering the natural horn repertoire. For instance, Oscar Franz’s method notates very low notes in treble clef. But reality is more nuanced. As chromaticism and extended techniques became more common, these guidelines slipped into a gray area.

Ask any horn player: once you reach the fourth ledger line below the treble staff, it becomes a struggle. In complex textures, or when multiphonics are involved, using both G and F clef in parallel (as in piano notation) could be a useful alternative. I have adopted this solution in some of my compositions, although it remains far from standard practice.

Challenges of clef reading—and why it matters

Horn players must be prepared to read treble clef, bass clef (both modern and old notation), and deal with multiple ledger lines—often combined with stopped notes and transpositions. It’s demanding, but it’s necessary.

Understanding the historical use of clefs across the horn’s range gives valuable context to the importance and challenges of low horn playing today.

In the next issue, I will focus on the opportunities and struggles of low horn today.