James Boldin's Horn World

Thoughts on Teaching and Playing the Horn

Posts tagged with horn blogs

New Look, New Domain Name

June 25, 2012

For me summer is a great time for practicing, but also for thinking and reflection. When I started this blog, I wasn’t really sure where it was going to go. I had several ideas for topics to cover, as well as a desire to write more about horn teaching and playing. Two years and several hundred posts later, I’m convinced that it was a good idea, and I plan to keep writing for as long as I can. Having a regular online presence has brought me into contact with many people in the music world that I otherwise wouldn’t meet. It’s truly a pleasure to get feedback from my readers, and I enjoy the correspondence. A colleague recently asked me how I come up with ideas for blog posts, and if I ever ran out of ideas. The answer is not really; I keep a list of possible topics (over 40 right now), which I continually update and modify based on what seems interesting at the time. I find myself seeking out more professionally-related activities and reading more in order to stay up to date with current events in music. Though time consuming, blogging has been worth every minute I’ve spent doing it, and I now consider it a part of my professional routine. Looking ahead, something I’ve wanted to do for a while is have my own domain, which I just recently purchased. Hornworld.me is easy to remember, and makes the site more personal (the old address at hornworld.wordpress.com still works, and will redirect to hornworld.me). In addition, I’ve updated the look of the site to something a bit more professional. I may still tweak some things here and there in the future, but for now I’m very happy with the new look of the Horn World Blog, and I hope you are too. On the home page, featured posts are organized by category at the top left, and the most recent content is located in a list at the top right. The blog roll and other “widgets” are similar to the old design, but are more aesthetically pleasing.  Whether you are a regular reader or are new to my blog, please take a few minutes and look around the site – I hope you like what you see!

Blogs, Blogs, and More Blogs

August 3, 2011

I just added a slew of new blogs to my Blogroll, and I thought it would be fun to share a bit more information about them.  I had followed some of them for a while, but just hadn’t gotten around to adding them to the roll, and others I just found within the last few weeks.  They are all well written and updated frequently, and each of the writers brings a unique perspective and voice to their discussions.  As a frequent blogger, I look to other blogs and related websites for news, inspiration, and ideas for my own writing.  Keep up the good work!

Austin Baugh: http://austinbaugh.blogspot.com/   According to his bio, Austin is a recently graduated high school student who will be attending the DePaul School of Music this fall to study with Jonathan Boen and Oto Carrillo.  I look forward to reading more on this blog.

Erin Ellenburg: http://erinellenburg.wordpress.com/  Erin is an active brass teacher and performer in North Carolina, and she and I went to undergraduate school together at Appalachian State University.  I have enjoyed reading her informative and insightful posts.  Both of us are contributing authors for brassmusician.com, an online magazine and forum for brass players.

Mindful Musicianship (Andrew Hamilton) http://mindfulmusicianship.wordpress.com/ Andy is a graduate student in horn at the University of Nebraska, and I recently stumbled across this very nice site.  Andy’s recent posts include thoughts on handguards,  a review of The Brass Gym, and some thoughts on the daily routine.

The 500 Pound Horn on My Back!! (Josh Johnson) http://hosshornlife.blogspot.com/  Josh is a recent graduate of the University of Nebraska, and performs regularly with a number of orchestras throughout the Midwest. I think what I like most about Josh’s blog is his honesty and never give up attitude toward horn playing and life in general.

Melissa Morey: http://web.me.com/mel_morey/Morey_Horn_Studio/Blog/Blog.html  Melissa is an active teacher and performer in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and a former classmate of mine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is also an excellent musician and writer, and I wish I’d come across her blog sooner.

Kaddish in Two-Part Harmony (Erin Vang, et. al) http://beitmalkhut.org/ Quoting the author, this page is “A conversation between an anthropologist and a musician along with a growing virtual minyan, on themes of death and dying, grief, ritual, and the interplay between music and words.” I initially discovered this page while looking for some information on Lev Kogan’s solo horn piece Kaddish, which I’ll be performing as part of a September 11th memorial concert next month.  As part of an ongoing project, hornist Erin Vang is recording a different interpretation of Kogan’s piece for an entire year.

Tubbs Horn Studio (Bruce Tubbs) http://tubbshornstudio.wordpress.com/ Bruce builds and refurbishes horns in Michigan, and his page is full of some amazing photographs of his work.  Definitely worth a look.

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