Compiled by Inman Hebert
This listing includes postings for 2024 relevant to the horn as of the middle of January 2024, whose deadlines will have yet to pass by the end of January; however, the postings will inevitably include omissions. While the International Horn Society is worldwide, the limitations of my experience have confined the scope of this listing to the United States. Inclusion does not constitute endorsement by the International Horn Society.
Table of Contents: Sections
International Horn Society Symposium
56th International Horn Symposium in collaboration with the International Horn Competition of America.
Regional workshops include featured artists, special presenters, concerts, competitions, masterclasses, exhibits, and presentations.
While googling horn days may bring up entries related to hunting, campgrounds, or Spouting Horn in Hawaii, these days may include group warmups, offer workshops, host masterclasses, and feature students, faculty, and guest artists.
• Recently Hosted Horn Days
Festivals, Camps, and Workshops that Include College Students and, Sometimes, Adults
These entries list opportunities that include college student horn players and sometimes adult horn players and have been divided by region according to designations by the National Geographic Society. The listing is limited to those for 2024 posted by the middle of January, with a deadline that will have yet to pass by the end of January; however, exclusions will be inevitable. Orchestras sometimes have fellowships and other opportunities for college students; however, the majority of those deadlines have passed. Inclusion does not constitute endorsement by the International Horn Society.
University, College, and Conservatory Music Camps for Middle and High School Students
These entries organized by state include summer camps, institutes, and clinics that include the horn and are held at universities, colleges, and conservatories and oriented for middle and high school students. The listing is limited to those for 2024 posted by the middle of January, with a deadline that will have yet to pass by the end of January; however, exclusions will be inevitable.
Please note that composition camps are not listed. In addition, orchestra camps and chamber music programs targeted for middle and high school students often include only strings and must be examined closely, so some postings may have been missed.
Some camps are open until filled to all who apply and only require registration and payment. Others will mandate an audition for acceptance. The term registration deadline has been used for consistency but sometimes means application deadline. Some offer early bird pricing. Most institutions will have the student perform for appropriate placement in ensembles.
These camps introduce students to an institution’s music program and provide opportunities to play in ensembles, receive instruction, take private lessons, and perform. Most offer overnight and commuter options. Inclusion does not constitute endorsement by the International Horn Society.
Independent Summer Music Camps for Middle and High School Students
These camps do not seem to be affiliated with a university, college, or conservatory but offer opportunities for middle and high school horn players. They are divided by region according to designations by the National Geographic Society. Inclusion does not constitute endorsement by the International Horn Society.
by Inman Hebert
Workshops, Festivals, Summer Camps, and More
Happy spring semester to all horn students! As far away as summer may seem, now—if not earlier—is the best time for planning. Various summer music festivals and camps cater to different groups of horn students. From colleges that host summer camps for recruiting high schoolers to large orchestra festivals, horn students have a great variety of opportunities to improve their playing through summer experiences. Additionally, students can attend regional workshops or horn days even before the summer begins. In this list, I have compiled opportunities for students of all horn levels.
First and foremost, when looking for horn-specific events to attend, the International Horn Symposium and IHS-affiliated regional workshops are the best places to start. This summer, in Fort Collins, Colorado, horn players of all varieties (professionals, students, amateurs) from around the world will meet for a week of competitions, concerts, presentations, and exhibitions that showcase every aspect of the horn. As a student who has attended the last two IHS symposia, I strongly advocate participation. These symposia offer opportunities for students to interact with their peers and to meet the horn players they idolize. In addition to social networking, the symposium offers students great opportunities to learn an assortment of pedagogical tips. My daily routines have been influenced by advice from IHS presentations.
Like the IHS symposia, regional workshops offer students similar opportunities to learn and network within their region much closer to home. These workshops may include featured artists, special presenters, concerts, competitions, masterclasses, exhibits, and presentations. Horn-specific events also exist in several states. These “horn days” often occur in winter or early spring and offer similar benefits to IHS symposia and regional workshops.
While deadlines for many summer fellowships with orchestras have passed, summer music festivals, orchestra programs, and camps have music programs that allow horn students to delve deeply into orchestral excerpts, perform in ensembles, or focus on technique and musicality with distinguished faculty members. Because of such prestigious leadership, many festivals can be valuable learning opportunities for the college horn student.
Some universities host honor bands for high school horn players during the school year and summer. These honor bands and music camps exist to recruit talented musicians to the university and provide opportunities for students to become familiar with the university’s music program. In addition, playing with gifted musicians under experienced conductors improves musicality.
Attending music workshops, festivals, and summer camps offers horn players a chance to improve and build a network of mentors and potential future colleagues. These opportunities, ranging from IHS symposia to orchestral festivals, can positively impact students’ careers and experiences.
Hello horn players! My name is Erin Futterer, and I need your assistance! I am a horn player myself, and I am working to finish the biography of Frøydis Ree Wekre. In order to provide the multifaceted perspective required to accurately portray the vital space she has occupied in the horn community, I am dividing the biography into 3 parts:
Written submissions can be sent to frwbiography@gmail.com, and/or I am very happy to schedule phone calls, Facetime/Zoom meetings etc. at your earliest convenience. Please email to schedule. This book has been a long time in the works. Many thanks to those who have already shared their insights, and gratitude in advance to all willing to take the time to help me tell the story of Frøydis’s place in history as accurately and as holistically as possible…at least so far!
by John McGuire
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Lanette Compton, IHS 56 Competitions Coordinator
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Greetings, everyone, from your IHS 56 team here in wintery Colorado! We hope you have seen IHS 56 posts on social media, and, assuming so, you likely saw that a few days ago we woke up to temperatures of -20 degrees Fahrenheit! But don’t worry…I promise that we will have much warmer temperatures in late July…no need to pack your parka!
Although we have already announced it on Facebook, Instagram, and the Horns on the Horizon website (www.hornsonthehorizon.com), I want to take a moment to tell you about some of the competitions that we have planned for IHCA-IHS 56. The biggest and most notable addition to this year’s programming is the collaboration with the International Horn Competition of America (IHCA), which has been in existence in various iterations for the better part of half-a-century. The 2024 IHCA will happen July 26-29, 2024, overlapping the first day of IHS 56, with the final rounds of both the University and Professional Divisions happening on our opening day. Over the years, winners and finalists from both of these divisions have gone on to establish themselves as some of the best players of their generations, a veritable Who’s Who among horn players! Make plans to witness the newest up-and-coming horn players at the highest level of artistry…quite literally “horns on the horizon!”
On the IHS side of the event, I am excited to announce that we will be hosting a university horn quartet competition as well as a university horn ensemble competition! Anyone who knows me knows how much I value and appreciate all my years of participation in quartets and ensembles and how much those experiences helped shape and mold me and my career. As such, it is incredibly important to me personally to provide opportunities for our younger players and future professionals, giving them the same chances to grow and develop that I had. Specific information will be provided on the IHS 56 website, including repertoire, time requirements, age limits, and other pertinent information. Please note that any and all members of each competing quartet and ensemble will need [1] to be members of IHS as well as [2] to register for the full week of the Symposium.
I would also like to publicly acknowledge Lanette Lopez Compton, horn professor at Oklahoma State University, for agreeing to help us organize these competitions. If you know or know of Lanette, you know how wonderful she is as a performer, teacher, and mentor—not to mention as a friend and colleague! IHS 56 is fortunate to be able to have someone of Lanette’s stature assist us!
by Caiti Beth McKinney
Hello everyone!
This month, I would like to share an amazing work by musicologist and composer Edith Borroff. She wrote music for a wide variety of settings and ensembles, including chamber works for saxophone quartet, string quartet, and wind quintet, as well as larger scale works for orchestra and stage productions. The focus of this article, however, is her Sonata for Horn and Piano. Written in 1953, this piece is finally experiencing a well-deserved resurgence in popularity. The work is divided into four movements which represent different eras in music history including elements from Baroque, Medieval, Classical, and Romantic styles. No doubt her extensive knowledge of music history aided in the composition of the Sonata. The first movement, “Rhapsody,” is a lyrical, melodic ode to Romantic musical tastes, with upwards arpeggiated motion in the piano which keep the music flowing. The drama of the first movement is in sharp contrast to the second—a quick scherzo that recalls the hunting horn calls of Classical horn writing. The third movement is inspired by the Baroque sarabande, a slow dance form used by many composers in the 18th century, such as we find in the famous cello suites of Johann Sebastian Bach. The fourth movement is also in the style of a musical dance, this time the Medieval estampie, which carries energy through its lilting 6/8 meter. I particularly enjoy that this movement begins with solo horn, allowing the player a chance to really shine before the piano joins in after the first statement. All in all, Edith Borroff’s Sonata is an enjoyable and approachable work suitable for any recital. Give it a listen!
by Marty Schlenker
Dear Fellow Amateurs,
When we left off in the previous column, I’d had my first lesson in over two decades and experienced several revelations:
In my first lesson back, it was tonguing…too much, and too far forward. Great, I thought…something to work on!
If I was in high school or college again, it would be easier to take the guidance and run with it. Zip from lesson straight back into practice room and start adjusting. Instead, I got on a plane…not immediately, but within a day or two, because my job requires me to spend about half my time in Los Angeles, even though home and lessons are in Pennsylvania. And so began horn hopscotch.
My primary horn is a pre-letter Conn 28D, medium fixed bell, unlacquered, with a 17.75 mm Houghton 101 mouthpiece. With the fixed bell, I’m not inclined to fly with it. Luckily, I’d let Dennis Houghton talk me into a new flare for my century-old Alexander 103 a couple of years ago. It was a great decision both acoustically and practically. With the bell cut, I chose an MB9 case. The flare case unzips from the main case, making it very easy to fly with, even in a smaller regional jet that forces everyone to gate check their rollaboard luggage. So, the Alex became my California horn. I use a Holton Farkas DC mouthpiece that I’ve had since high school with it. It’s a great combination for thickening the light, zingy Alex, but the inside rim diameter is noticeably narrower than my H-101. More on that contrast later.
My California practice space is the office lunchroom. The fun part is that it’s very cathedral-like, with high ceilings, hard surfaces (glass, block, concrete) and lots of right angles. The not-so-great part is that to avoid impeding the company’s work, I have to finish by about 6:45 a.m. Pacific time. I aspire to “stay on Eastern time” when I’m out there, and being forced into this very early practice window helps, but aspirations always outpace execution, so California practice is a bit spotty—but full of flattering reverb when it happens! If you ever find yourself saying, “Tell me again…why’d I ever choose this treacherous instrument??” find a place to practice that answers you back with every note.
Back to tonguing. Not just in music but throughout life, I tend to overcompensate when I get redirected, and my tonguing change was no exception. I went searching for the highest-up, farthest-back point on my palate that my tongue could reach. Interesting. I kind of liked what I heard, with the percussive strike that I had put on the front of most notes replaced at first with a kind of squish. But I could no longer find notes that were once secure, and felt as if I had to reset frequently as I went up and down scales. I was going in the wrong direction from the increased flexibility I sought.
I eventually got things under control with a happy medium around the first ridge on my palate, and I started paying a lot more attention (per lesson advice) to what part of my tongue, and how much, was actually touching the palate. Less touch and a more vertical orientation of the front of my tongue definitely helped me get some control back. Travel and other distractions turned this into about a five-month process.
Unexpectedly and fascinatingly (to me at least), adjusting how my tongue addressed my palate changed the shape of my oral cavity and the trajectory of my air, and worked muscles toward the front of my cheeks that I’d obviously not engaged enough before. I’ll talk more about that soon and leave you with this: making a significant change to one aspect of your playing will likely change other aspects also.
I was pleased to hear from Richard Davis of Franklin, TN after the previous column. Like me, he’s a business professional and committed amateur hornist. You’ll get to know him more in an upcoming column. Be like Richard—get in touch and tell me and the world about your playing!
See you next time,
Marty Schlenker, Amateur Hornist
…using your character strengths
by Katy Carnaggio
Let’s break this down: the best way to drive results in your playing isn’t to work on your weaknesses. It’s to work toward what you want. Otherwise, all those hours of, “That was sharp. I gotta fix that trill before tomorrow’s concert. The start of that note wasn’t clear,” build into a painstakingly vivid self-image of all the ways you fall short.
Imagine the breakthroughs you could achieve when you relinquish the burden of everything you need to fix and, instead, saturate your mind with sounds you love: “I want that D rich and centered! Fluid trills are on the agenda! Ooh, let’s get a crystal-clear front!”
I know, it sounds so simple. But, in my work expanding performance education resources at the Jacobs School of Music, I’ve found that even the world’s best musicians can at times fear that a step towards love and enjoyment also means a step towards complacency.
If you’re thinking, “Sounds familiar,” I invite you to try a simple, evidence-based exercise:
Research shows that using your signature strengths can boost your growth, productivity, and resilience. Yet, this method is more than just a practical tool; it's a way to discover joy and build self-trust.
I get it. I’d sooner rely on familiar tools like my trusty metronome, too, where hard work feels straightforward and goal-oriented. But your richest and most effective work lies in learning to find enjoyment in the process. That means separating yourself from your fears and defenses—letting go of judgements of who you are, what sounds you can make, or what you can do—and instead choose simply to be present with the horn and, using all your strengths, step towards what you love.
And love, in any context, is immensely powerful and inherently unpredictable in both the best and worst ways. Hard work might never end but love stories do; love demands vulnerability.
But the beauty of this risk? It's in the music you'll create when your authenticity and love blend seamlessly with your skill and discipline. That's where you find not just improvement but transformation.
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