by Randy C. Gardner

Like ripples from a pebble dropped into a calm lake, the impact of teachers radiates through our lives. Words and actions of parents, mentors, and admired adults carry an enormous weight in our development, creating ripples that can profoundly impact the course and quality of our lives, and perhaps those of generations to follow.  

In this article, I will honor three special teachers who had an enormous impact on me during my formative years, without whom I would not have enjoyed my dream career. In addition, I want to applaud teachers everywhere who inspire their students to learn and serve as exemplary role models. They are heroes. 

The teachers spotlighted below were inspiring possibility thinkers who passed along their passionate love of music and encouraged my growth as a hornist. They shared aspirational performances with me, offered strategies to improve my technique and musicianship, acknowledged my improvement, and made learning fun. Their instruction was positive, encouraging, structured, and illuminating. I am very happy to say that none of these teachers ever remarked, “The horn is the most difficult instrument to play.” Nobody planted seeds of doubt in my brain. 

Jack Gordon, my jr.-sr. high school general music teacher and band director, was a young teacher overflowing with enthusiasm and love of music. He made general music class exciting and was a superb band teacher who made band time fun. A clarinetist, he played the horn quite well, and he was a skilled pianist who accompanied me for a performance of movement one of Strauss’ first concerto. 

Mr. Gordon was a consummate music educator who always treated his students equally and fairly. His goals were to motivate his students and ensembles to reach their full potential and to make students feel successful on their way to achieving that goal. He set a high standard for our band, taught us listening skills, and gave us the tools to succeed. A man of great Christian faith, integrity, and positivity, Jack Gordon was an outstanding role model who saw a germ of musical talent in me and encouraged my growth. Following 15 years in public school education, he enjoyed a long career as a church music minister.

In our small town near the steel city of Gary, Indiana, where we had no school or youth orchestras, Jack Gordon opened his students’ ears to the magical world of orchestral music by taking us on field trips to attend Chicago Symphony Orchestra youth concerts. What fantastic experiences those were! I still vividly remember the hauntingly beautiful English horn solo in Dvorak’s New World Symphony on one of these programs. He also shared recordings of Dennis Brain performing Strauss and Mozart and introduced me to Copland’s Third Symphony. Jack Gordon inspired me to love classical music, and I looked forward to following in his footsteps as a music teacher.   

I studied horn with John Nelson, an excellent player and teacher who had studied with Max Pottag in a Northwestern University studio that included Lowell Shaw, during my junior and senior years of high school. Nelson played an instrument crafted for him by Carl Geyer. After receiving his Masters’ degree, he played for several years as third horn in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, all while having a professional photography studio in Atlanta. Following his time in Atlanta, he became a public-school music educator in northwest Indiana. A dog lover, he rescued seventy-two St. Bernards during his lifetime.

Mr. Nelson worked with me to solidify my embouchure and build a full horn tone. His tone was beautifully full and resonant. He was a demanding teacher who guided me through Pottag tone studies, Kopprasch etudes, fundamental exercises, and Mozart and Strauss concerti. While having high expectations, Nelson had a positive manner and used creative analogies along with humor to make his points. He was devoted to his students and to the arts.

John Nelson offered me my first professional orchestra experience (actually my first orchestral experience of any type) playing fourth horn in the Gary Symphony, for which he was principal horn. My first concert included the New World Symphony, a transformational experience for me. Mr. Nelson modeled high standards of both artistry and professionalism.

I spent my first two years of college in the music department of Valparaiso University. Horn Professor John Little, Sr. had come to Valparaiso on a one-year sabbatical replacement appointment during my freshman year. His primary teachers were Verne Reynolds at Indiana University and New York Philharmonic hornist Ranier DeIntinis while he was a member of the First Army Band. Prior to Valparaiso, Little had developed successful public school music programs throughout northern Kentucky. After earning his doctorate, Dr. Little enjoyed a long tenure on the faculty of Berea (Kentucky) College, where he also taught philosophy courses.

John Little guided me through Kopprasch, Gallay, and Kling studies, modal scale patterns, and various solo works, and he introduced me to major orchestral repertoire. He asked leading questions that taught me to self-analyze and find my own technical and musical answers. He frequently required memorization. He taught me one important lesson in an effective way that really annoyed me at first: after I performed a challenging passage well, he would often say, “OK Randy, show me it wasn’t luck. Play it three more times just like that.” Thank you, Mr. Little.  Years later, I had the privilege of teaching his son, hornist John Little, Jr., at Philadelphia’s New School of Music. 

In a very real way, I owe my professional career to John Little asking me if I had ever considered a performance career. Until that moment, I had no idea that a person could earn a living as a professional horn player! He lit a fire in me that completely changed my life. He believed in my potential and pointed the way. Words are powerful. That one question opened a whole new world to me. He inspired me to be a performer and supported me along my journey with the horn.

Teachers have the truly awesome opportunity to help myriad young people develop into the best versions of themselves, for their benefit and for the benefit of society as a whole. They inspire students to love learning and think creatively, applauding their successes and reminding them that failures are opportunities to learn. They provide structure, teach problem solving techniques, offer enrichment experiences, listen actively, and open students’ minds to possibility thinking. These three special teachers of mine fit that mold perfectly. I am sincerely grateful for their impact on my life. Ripple effects from teachers continue on and on and on...

This reflection is dedicated to the memory of my brother-in-law, John Bradford, a fine hornist and inspiring educator who touched hundreds of lives during his decades of public-school teaching.

Randy C. Gardner is retired Second Horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Artist-In-Residence at Temple University, and Professor Emeritus of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

by Mike Harcrow, Editor

Any successful periodical needs excellent content from thoughtful, dependable providers. The publications of the International Horn Society have these, starting with the many volunteers who work to produce content on all things horn-related. Since 1971, hundreds of player-teachers from around the world have provided informative reading and, more recently, engaging audio and video materials (of performances, interviews, etc.) for the IHS. The bulk of written material has come in The Horn Call, our official print magazine, and in its outstanding refereed companion piece, The Horn Call Annual (1989-1997). In 2015, IHS President Jeff Nelsen created Horn and More, our monthly Newsletter, as a free online resource which supports digital media in addition to print. The IHS also has a fantastic podcast as well as an appealing, growing social media presence. Each of these resources is meant to engage you, our members, subscribers, and visitors—and we, the content providers and editorial staff, believe that we are succeeding.

As good as things are, I am convinced that one thing we can pursue, both to improve what we already do well and to broaden our global outreach, is hearing more from you: the performers, the teachers, the students, and the countless devoted fans-of-the-horn.

• Do you have comments, questions, or suggestions for the IHS? Please contact us! No IHS officer or staff member is more distant than an email. Click the About Us button on the IHS home page and search People to initiate a conversation.

• Do you have something valuable to share? Please write for us! The Horn Call arrives in member mailboxes three times a year (October, January, and April), and information on content and authorship guidelines is available on The Horn Call home page.
  
  Horn and More comes to your inbox monthly by subscription. Contact the Editor with questions or suggestions—or if you want to serve as a content creator for the Newsletter, once or regularly. We have columnists of all ages and experience levels, and your contribution will reach those most like you as it inspires and informs every reader.
  
  
• Is the horn community in your part of the world underrepresented in our publications? Please let us know! We are international, and while we work hard for the greatest possible coverage, there are gaps—so we need to hear from you. Please contact our Executive Director or Publications Editor for direction on how to plug in and be seen.

The International Horn Society exists for you and for us all. Reach out and join the inspiration crowd!

A collective of 40 brass and percussion performers, directed by Brian Kaufman, announces its debut album, release date July 24, 2026, on Naxos (8.579190).

photo by Joshua Able-Carter

This outstanding ensemble—featuring horn players Chandra Cervantes, Justin Drew, Gabrielle Fink, Megan Hurley, Christy Klenke, and Cecelia Kozlowski—performs works by composers from the United States, Canada, Japan, and Venezuela. These include Valerie Coleman, Barbara York, Félix Mendoza, Satoshi Yagisawa, Katahj Copley, Katelyn Petersen, and Harrison J. Collins.

“These pieces confront societal division, racial injustice, gun violence, global health crises, and war, while also searching for hope, resilience, and connection,” says Kaufman. “From quiet reflection to bold, urgent passages, the music moves between struggle and celebration, tension and release.”

The album opens with Coleman’s Fanfare for Uncommon Times, in the same instrumentation as Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, and written in response to the overlapping crises of the pandemic and the racial unrest of 2020. Other highlights include York’s tuba concerto Wars and Rumors of War, and Félix Mendoza’s rousing Guerra de Secciones for brass and percussion, which draws on the rhythms and sounds of Venezuela.

Featured artists include Velvet Brown, an internationally renowned tuba player who has performed around the world; Hiram Diaz, vocalist for the Marine Latin Jazz Ensemble; and celebrated Venezuelan-American percussionists Fran Vielma and Latin Grammy-award winner Daniel Prim.

Excerpt from Young Voices (world premiere recording of this version for brass ensemble and percussion) by Harrison J. Collins.

Originally from Houston, Texas, Jaksen Vargas is currently an undergraduate student at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University where he studies with Elizabeth Freimuth. Prior to attending Rice, he was a student at the Interlochen Arts Academy for two years where he studied with Dr. Lauren Hunt.

At Interlochen, Jaksen was a finalist in the Interlochen Arts Academy Concerto Competition. His horn ensemble, Best Friends Quartet, was invited to compete in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. While on tour with the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra under Cristian Măcelaru, Jaksen played principal horn on the premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s Concerto for Cello, featuring soloists Yo-Yo Ma and Tommy Mesa.

Jaksen was the 2026 Interlochen Orchestral Scholarship recipient. Additionally, he received a full scholarship for both the 2025 and 2026 seasons at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Jaksen is honored to be the 2026 Jon Hawkins Memorial Scholarship recipient and would like to thank the family, friends, and mentors who have guided him this far.

by Inman Hebert

Have you ever had a day when you practiced your horn for hours but felt as though you accomplished nothing? This experience can be common among students, including myself. We should challenge the perception of a musical world where quantitative practice appears to outweigh its qualitative contents. More importantly, we should thoughtfully consider how we maximize the time we spend with our instrument.

Constant inquiry can optimize our practice. Through examination, we become a Socratic gadfly, asking questions about the pedagogical benefits of a current action. Start at the beginning. With my warmup routine, for example, I may ask, “Why have I chosen this path? How can the fundamentals addressed in my daily routine supplement the repertoire I am preparing?” Sometimes, questions may not change our course but, rather, hone our approach by forcing intentness within an existing routine. In our practice, the “why” focuses our attention.

Excess hours on the horn may be counterproductive. Understanding this may guide us to engage more with music outside physical practice. For example, when trying to ingrain an interval in the ear, listen to the passage and sing the phrase. Take the time for the music to be correct in your head before repeating it on the horn. When you hear and can sing what needs to flow out of the horn, you become more efficient and avoid developing poor habits. When memorizing, similarly, make progress on your goal by visualizing the performance. Mentally reinforce the good habits you are working to build.

As students, we desire instant gratification when listening to professional horn players. While their stories reveal a variety of deeply personal practice styles, the common variable is intentionality. We should bear this in mind when striving to reach that level. In our eagerness, we can practice in random, ineffective ways that betray the thoughtful mannerisms that enabled their success. Instead, we must establish clear goals and plan practice sessions, being adaptable as we continue to be introspective.

Every note played on the horn should have intent. Each time the horn touches the lips, what purpose lies beneath? By asking questions like this and making more conscious decisions, we accelerate our improvement and slowly eliminate those inauspicious days.

Hi everyone!

Some exciting news! As you may have already seen on social media, my new mouthpiece collection has been launched. I have played on the same mouthpiece for years, a cup and a rim from two different makers. I am always being asked what mouthpiece I use and where one can get it…so I finally decided to do something about it. 

Together with the wonderful L’Olifant team in Paris, we have created what for me is a magic mouthpiece. It is designed to navigate all four octaves of the horn (and a bit more), and it is ideal for air flow, precision, and a great sound. 

There are detachable- and fixed-rim versions, and choices of 3 different rim sizes in 3 different materials to fit everyone’s preference. These are great for students, too.

Those attending IHS 58 in Kraków can try them at the L’Olifant booth in the exhibitions; otherwise, you can contact the team online.

If you try one, let me know what you think—and if you buy one, any profits on my side will go to my Cuban Mozart y Mambo project, a very worthy cause!

All the best and enjoy the summer,

Sarah

How a British horn player, a folk standard, and a tabla maestro from Gujarat quietly rewrote what the horn can be in popular music.

by Vidhurinda Samaraweera

This series is written for the curious horn player, amateur or professional, who wonders where the instrument goes when the concert hall lights go down. It assumes no prior knowledge of popular music and equally requires no deep familiarity with Indian classical music. What it does assume is an open ear and, perhaps, a willingness to be surprised by what the horn can do in hands that refuse to be pigeonholed.

In Part I, we traced the horn’s advent from the symphony orchestra into jazz clubs, rock records, and Hollywood scoring stages. In Part II, we turned our attention to cross-cultural fusion, following Sarah Willis to Havana where Mozart met mambo, and then to Mumbai where Rakesh Chaurasia’s Lalit Symphony was performed. There, in a fully orchestral context, I witnessed first-hand how the horn can serve as a bridge between Hindustani classical traditions and Western symphonic form. Nevertheless, a question lingered as I wrote that installment, one to which I promised to return. Can the horn truly transcend cultural boundaries? As it turns out, yes, and the evidence is one of the most quietly astonishing recordings I have encountered.

The man who refused the pigeonhole

Dave Lee is one of Britain’s most distinguished horn players. He was a former co-principal in the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, and the Royal Opera House Orchestra at Covent Garden, among others. He performed under Sir John Barbirolli with the Hallé Orchestra while still of school age in the late 1960s and contributed to the score of Band of Brothers as the solo horn player. By any conventional measure, he is a product of the most rigorous classical tradition Britain has to offer.

Yet what may have truly shaped the recording we are about to examine is a less-expected chapter in his career. His tenure as solo horn with the Michael Nyman Band playing with amplified instruments, the energy of rock music, relentless rhythmic ostinatos, and gruelling stamina may have taught Lee to hear the horn not as a relic of the concert hall, but as a voice capable of holding its own in any environment. His chamber trio ELF (with flautist Andy Findon and jazz pianist Geoff Eales) further deepened this philosophy. As Lee himself put it, “There are so many pigeonholes…. I have a funny feeling we don’t fit into any. It’s a melting pot we pile into.”

This is the spirit behind his 2011 album Under the Influence (Nimbus Alliance, NI 6151), a track list that places Pink Floyd’s Shine on You Crazy Diamond alongside Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel, and David Bowie’s Life on Mars alongside Tabla e Trompa (originally by Jaco Pastorius). It is a manifesto against the cliché view of horn players as “proppers up, and then sliders down, at the bar.”

Ewan McColl

Its centerpiece, for our purposes, is a remake of Ewan MacColl’s The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

A song remade three times over

MacColl wrote the song in 1957, reportedly composed over a transatlantic telephone call for Peggy Seeger, who later became his third wife. His original intent was to “mimic the heartbeat of someone wildly in love”—brisk, urgent, and acoustically spare. For over a decade, it circulated quietly in folk revival circles.

Roberta Flack

Then, in 1969, Roberta Flack dismantled it entirely on her debut album First Take, stretching MacColl’s heartbeat pulse into a glacial, jazz-inflected meditation with sophisticated piano voicings and strings. When Clint Eastwood featured her version in his 1971 film Play Misty for Me, it became a worldwide phenomenon—six weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972, and Grammy Awards for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Flack’s expansive, emotionally cavernous template was the version every subsequent interpreter inherited. Lee inherited it, too, and then introduced a third life entirely: one shaped, at its rhythmic and spiritual core, by the music of South Asia.

More on Dave Lee’s rendition and South Asian influences on horn playing in the next issue. Happy reading everyone!

by Layne Anspach

Trygve Madsen’s Trio, Op. 110, for violin, horn, and piano, is the focus of this month’s Chamber Music Corner. Trygve Madsen (b. 1940) is a Norwegian composer. He started music-making at a young age, writing works for piano by age 7. His formal training took him to Vienna where he studied at the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst. His compositions have been performed around the world, from Argentina and Columbia to Australia and Japan. Many of Madsen’s works were commissions including a few of his operas and his horn concerto.

Op. 110 has three movements totaling approx. 17 minutes of music. The first movement, Allegro moderato, alternates two sections: the opening Allegro, followed by Andante. Allegro moderato starts with horn melody and piano accompaniment. Once the violin converges with the horn, the piano assumes leadership into the initial Andante which begins with sustained pitches in both violin and horn while the piano plays a smooth, soft melody. Violin and horn provide intriguing lines in support of the piano until all three arrive at the second allegro moderato. This time, the violin presents an abbreviated melody prior to the piano taking over. Fragmentation of the initial melody on a repetitive dotted quarter-eighth rhythm increases the intensity. The familiar held notes in the violin and horn tease at a possible re-transition to the Andante, but the horn melody interrupts to frustrate this. The second andante finally returns with the piano leading the way; but instead of a full ensemble transition back to the original tempo, the piano softens into the third and final allegro moderato. Here, a restatement of the melody with violin and horn together leads to a strong conclusion.

The second movement, Andante con moto, starts with a methodical monophonic melody in the left hand of the piano. The horn and violin present the theme in turn. Poco più mosso finds the theme slightly altered for the first time. The original tempo returns, along with the first theme thickly harmonized in the piano, while the violin and horn play in octaves. The movement concludes, as it started, with piano alone.

Each movement showcases a different member of the ensemble presenting the melody, so the final movement, Allegretto, starts with violin. Poco meno mosso opens with a rhythmically elongated section which leads to a piano solo marked Poco adagio. Horn and violin add melodic fragments from previous movements as the piano continues. A startling Allegretto is an iteration of the first movement melody which dissipates via the long, held notes, also from the first movement, blending to the Allegretto third-movement material. A short iteration of the Poco meno mosso reappears before a tempo indicates the conclusion. The energy grows to the finish; the peak is four measures from the end, followed by a chord sustained in all parts.

The reference recording is from Works for Horn: by Trygve Madsen (*1940) (Genuin). The hornist is Christoph Eß.

Our excellent illustrator, Florian Dzierla, is stepping aside for other pursuits. Along with his spectacular cover for the April 2025 issue of The Horn Call, Florian has faithfully provided colorful, whimsical illustrations for Horn and More 38 months in a row—every single month since April 2023.

In addition to his engaging artwork, Florian is solo horn of the French Air Force Orchestra in Bordeaux and horn teacher at the Gradignan Conservatory.

Florian, thank you so much for the smiles and laughter. We appreciate you deeply. Keep your joy evident in all you do—and please send us something fun to post any time you want!

by Caiti Beth McKinney

Hello horn friends! Happy summer!

This month I’m thrilled to introduce a recently rediscovered gem of a composer, Francine Aubin (1938-2016). Even though she lived until recently (this August marks the ten-year anniversary of her passing), few in the United States have heard her name. If you’re up on your French composition history, you may recognize her Prix-de-Rome-winning husband, Tony. No less accomplished, Francine was the first woman to earn a certificate of aptitude for the functions of conservatory director from the Paris Conservatory, and she won both the first prize for piano improvisation at the Lyon International Competition and the Grand Prize in composition at the Divonne-les-Bains Competition.

Aubin was a wind instrument specialist; many of her most exciting works are for saxophone, clarinet, tuba, and—of course—horn. The piece to which I want to draw your attention is her Concerto for Horn and String Orchestra (1998). This piece is a technical tour de force, demonstrating the performer’s virtuosity and command of the instrument. Arpeggios abound, underscored by Aubin’s rich harmonic language. The piece is firmly tonal, although Aubin plays with dissonance, especially in the first movement. The second movement is captivating, though no less challenging—high register fans, take note! The last movement, marked molto vivace, frolics in a quick, joyful compound meter. Alternating lyrical lines with quick scalar and arpeggiated passages should keep both the listener and the performer engaged. In my opinion, this work falls squarely within the tradition of 20th-century French conservatory-style pieces but also possesses clear Neo-Romantic and Neo-Classical elements. It is far past time for this excellent work to enter the standard canon of horn concerti, and I hope you enjoy listening to it!

by Sarah Schouten

What to do when you don’t want to practice.

The word practice—even the idea of practicing—can bring up different feelings for different people. Some people naturally love it, others work to find the joy, and some do it because it gets them to an end goal. It is inevitable that, at some point, most of us will sigh and think, “But I don’t want to.” What do we do then? Following are some ideas for when you just don’t want to pick up your instrument.

• Rhythm
  Secure, solid, impeccable rhythm is essential for success as a musician, and you can work on your rhythm without your instrument. Select a piece of your own music, borrow an etude book from a non-horn playing friend, find a piece of music that is public domain, then focus solely on the rhythm. Can you count it? Can you clap it? If it includes a piano part, can you clap the left-hand rhythm and sing the right-hand rhythm? Turn on your metronome and record a performance: are you in time?
• Listen to different instrument
  Listening counts! Exercise this skill in a different way by listening to different instrumentalists. Think critically about their musicianship and style and how it could impact your own playing. What do you like about their tone? What do you like about their breathing? If it’s a non-wind instrument, do they approach phrases differently since they don’t have to breathe to play? For chamber music, what’s the balance like between instruments? What else did this composer write? The opportunities for exploration are deep, and the answers at the end of the rabbit hole will only help your playing.
• Conduct a concert
  Find a score (orchestral, chamber, solo, etc.), find a recording, and start conducting. You can sing along, cue different instruments, pretend you’re in a glorious concert hall! The opportunities are plentiful here along with the rewards. You’ll be practicing your conducting, singing, rhythm, cues, score reading, and more. You have just been highly productive for not wanting to practice!
• Play something fun!
  The word “play” means to do something for enjoyment. Most of us started our journey as musicians because it was something fun—and I hope it still is! Practice doesn’t always have to be serious. If you need to get the horn on your face, find your favorite song and buzz or play along, pausing as needed to learn pitch, rhythm, etc. Play favorite etudes or lip slurs you enjoy. Play other instrumental solos, orchestral excerpts, or arias. Find what you like, start there, and see where it takes you.

Practicing won’t always spark joy, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find ways to get started, stay engaged, work on musical skills, and have a little fun in the process. Good luck!

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

On behalf of the International Horn Society, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to the 58th International Horn Symposium in the beautiful and historic city of Kraków, Poland.

Each year, our symposium brings together horn players, educators, students, composers, instrument makers, and enthusiasts from around the world to celebrate our shared passion for the horn. It is a unique opportunity to learn from one another, exchange ideas, and strengthen the friendships and professional connections that make our international community so special.

Kraków is an inspiring setting for this gathering, with its rich cultural heritage and vibrant musical life. I extend my sincere gratitude to our host institution, the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music, for its generosity and support. I would also like to offer special thanks to Wojciech Kamionka and the entire local organising team, whose vision, dedication, and countless hours of work have made this symposium possible.

Over the coming days, we will enjoy exceptional performances, presentations, masterclasses, competitions, and exhibitions showcasing the remarkable talent and diversity of the global horn community. Whether this is your first symposium or one of many, I encourage you to embrace every opportunity to connect, collaborate, and be inspired.

The International Horn Society is proud to represent a community that spans more than 55 countries, united by a shared commitment to excellence, friendship, and the transformative power of music. Gatherings such as this remind us of the important role our art form plays in bringing people together across cultures and generations.

Thank you for joining us in Kraków. I wish you a rewarding, memorable, and inspiring symposium.

Warm regards,

Peter Luff, President
International Horn Society