Fergus McWilliam

 Fergus McWilliam Mosaic Press, Canada

The title “blow your OWN horn!” can be understood in different ways: as encouragement, invitation, even as a command. Regardless, confronting the problems of learning the horn demands greater self-reliance, independence, and a more pro-active attitude than is usual or comfortable. “blow your OWN horn!” is certainly no traditional Horn Method – perhaps it is more a kind of Anti-Method. Much may seem iconoclastic and it is certainly my intention to be controversial. I describe “Truths” about learning and teaching the horn which I have been forced to accept over the last decades, but which frequently collide with conventional or “official” thinking. Traditional brass teachers often tend to restrict their thinking to merely technical subjects and justify this with inherited or self-written “Methods”. The fact that these so-called Methods are frequently nothing more than collections of “survival tricks” is very bad psychology for ambitious young hornists. One of the most important and controversial themes of my book is that true technical mastery of the horn is only possible through musical playing. It is in fact musical playing which guarantees good technique and security, not the other way around. The reader may not be surprised that for a long time my working title was: “Horn Heresies”.