A Pamphlet for Self Improvement on the Horn by Abby Mayer Review by Ellen Martins, Cornucopia, November 1997

This pamphlet, written and published by Abby Mayer, is quick, easy, and enjoyable to read. As I read it, I felt as if I were being given an "exit" lesson from an experienced teacher. I have done something similar on a verbal basis when a student is about to go off to a new college and teacher, or to a college student when graduating and joining the world of performing and educating.

Abby has packed this 22-page pamphlet with every helpful tip you have ever thought of, and then a few tips that may be new. The material is broken into brief chapters entitled Preparation & Techniques of Practice, General Remarks, Performance, Horn Maintenance, and Physical Conditioning. Young professionals could use a quick perusal as a refresher course in rehearsal and performance etiquette (always have a pencil, wear polished shoes, how to bow, acknowledge your accompanist); students and amateurs could use it as a business-of-music tutorial.

The pamphlet gives common sense parameters on what is expected in a musical ensemble, how to practice efficiently, horn maintenance guidelines, and much more. Will it drastically improve your music-making? Probably not, but it does put all those hints teachers give into one concise, clearly written source.

Ellen Michaud Martins, Horn Professor and Brass Coordinator at UMass Lowell and a free-lance player in Boston and New England.

Comments from the Internet: Gordon Wileen: "It's an invaluable compendium of tips not found under any one cover. I shared it with our entire community band horn section and know that they all found many items of value. Any horn player can benefit from what's contained in this brief volume, as can those who teach our up and coming hornists. Here's a hearty recommendation."

David Kaslow, author of Living Dangerously with the Horn: "It contains valuable tips which all hornists, whether novices or grizzled 'old hands', will find most useful, either as new ideas or reminders."

The pamphlet is available at Osmun Music or from Abby Mayer, PO Box 388, Cornwall NY 12518 (914-534-2682)

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