The 6th Indiana Sackbut Workshop will pay a visit to Renaissance Naples, a melting pot of Hispano-Italian culture and ideas. We will be touching upon late 15th-century alta-capella repertoire, mid-16th-century improvisation, and the development of extensive chromaticism in the later 16th and early 17th centuries. As always, we will work towards adopting the frame of mind of a Renaissance musician: in addition to lots of playing in small ensembles, there will be sessions on solmization, theory and composition, and musical language, which includes reading from original manuscript and print sources. Of course, we want everyone to challenge themselves on an appropriate level, so modern editions of all the music will also be provided.

As was the case last year, an optional extra day of just sackbuts and dulcians from Tuesday, May 23 at 12 PM to Wednesday, May 24 at 5 PM will allow us to explore the more chromatic music from around 1600. The official workshop for sackbuts and early double reeds runs from Wednesday, May 24 at 5 PM to Sunday, May 28 at 12 PM at Waycross Conference Center in Morgantown, IN.

Here is a link to all pertinent information concerning registration and fees: http://earlymusicinmotion.org/event-registration/?ee=35

If you have any specific questions about the workshop, please feel free to contact Adam Bregman (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Juan Carlos (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). They are very excited (as always) about this workshop, so tell a friend and we look forward to seeing all those who are able to join us for this exploration and celebration of Neapolitan musical heritage!

The publication of the proceedings of Adolphe Sax, His Influence and Legacy: A Bicentenary Conference has just been announced. The conference held at the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels, was a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great instrument maker and was co-sponsored by the Historic Brass Society. The proceedings will be a special issue of the Revue belge de Musicologie vol.70 (2016). The proceedings can be ordered at the postal address of the Society: Rue de la Régence 30, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium, or via e-mail to Olivia Wahnon This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The price is 40 Euros plus shipping (free shipping in Belgium, 9 Euros in Europe and 13 Euros in USA).
Editor’s note: at the time of this announcement the publication was not yet listed on their website: www.belsocmus.org.

Contents

Billiet, Jeroen, “Adolphe Sax en de conservatoria van Gent en Brussel: de spraakmakende experimenten met koperblazers met onafhankelijke ventielen (1869-1895)”

De Keyser, Ignace, “The Introduction of the Saxophone in Urban music in SubSaharan Africa”

Haine, Malou and Ignace De Keyser, “Le musée instrumental d’un artiste inventeur : la collection privée d’Adolphe Sax”

Haine, Malou, “Hector Berlioz, chantre inconditionnel d’Adolphe Sax”

Haine, Malou, “Un réseau d’influence : les démarches d’Adolphe Sax pour obtenir la croix d’officier de la Légion d’honneur”

Herbert, Trevor, “Adolphe Sax, His Saxhorns and Their International Influence”

Howe, Robert, “Adolphe Sax: Myths Noted and Debunked. Sax’s Brass Instrument Markings. The “Orchestral” Saxophones. Ophicleide-shaped Saxophones”

Péronnet, Patrick, “Saxons et Carafons : Adolphe Sax et le Gymnase musical militaire, un conflit d’esthétique”

Postma, Marten, “‘Le cône parabolique’? een onderzoek naar de boringsprofielen van Sax’ instrumenten"

Rice, Albert R., "The bass clarinets of Adolphe Sax: his influence and legacy”

Strauchen-Scherer, E. Bradley, “Museum piece: Mary Elizabeth Adams Brown and the instruments of the Sax family at the Metropolitan Museum of Art”

von Steiger, Adrian, “Sax Figures: Can We Deduce Details of Adolphe Sax’s Instrument Production from the Sources?”

Wahnon de Oliveira, Olivia, “De l’intérêt de Fétis pour les instruments Sax à la création de la classe de saxophone (1867) au Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles”

2017 GABBF History Conference Call for Papers

8/3: The Great American Brass Band Festival (GABBF) in Danville, Kentucky announces a call for papers and presentations for the 2017 GABBF Brass Symposium. The Brass Symposium will be June 2, 2017, an educational event that serves as part of the Great American Brass Band Festival, which runs  June 1-4, 2017.

Presenters who are selected will be offered a $350 stipend plus free lodging on the Centre College campus.

Presentations are typically 25-30 minutes, plus 5 minutes for questions. There is no particular format required. Proposals may be academic paper presentations, performance demonstrations, historical lectures, or other formats. Creative or unusual presentation proposals are welcomed and encouraged. (Powerpoint, video and sound playback resources will be available to the presenter.)

The 2017 GABBF theme is "The Roaring Twenties," however, papers and presentations for the Brass Symposium are not required to be on this topic. Historically, presentations have been on topics such as  brass instruments,  brass bands, band history, performance practice, and music history/literature.

Proposals, or questions about proposals, should be sent via email to Jason Dovel  at Jason.Dovel -at- uky.edu.  If large files need to be sent, a Dropbox link is preferred.

Proposals must be received by November  1, 2016.

For more information, please visit: http://www.gabbf.org/festival/education/brass-symposium/

Cornetto-making Workshop

Paul E. Bierley 1926-2016

4/14 - The HBS learned of Paul Bierley's passing this past week. He was great scholar to whom all musicologists interested in band music are forever indebted. Trevor Herbert has written an eloquent obituary for him as follows:

I never met Paul Bierley, but it feels as if I did. We corresponded and chatted two or three times on transatlantic phone calls. He was always courteous, modest and generous. He usually wanted to know what I was working on. I took this as evidence of his generosity, but I also concluded that his inquiries were genuine – he was insatiably curious and as we all know, curiosity is the nourishment of research. Without curiosity the urge to inquire fades and eventually vanishes. Paul never stopped inquiring.

He died in a retirement home overlooking the Scioto River on 9 April at the age of 90. He was a man of Ohio:  born in Portsmouth, he lived the greatest part of his life in Westerville. In the later years of the Second World War he served as a bandsman and radio operator/gunner in the US Army Air Corps. After military service he spent his entire professional life as a design and product engineer and was highly respected in that field, but beyond his commitments to his close family his interests were absorbed by music. He played in or conducted bands and orchestras throughout his life. He was also of course a tireless researcher: he founded his own publishing firm (Integrity Press) and published on the life and work of Henry Fillmore, but he will be remembered primarily for his work on John Philip Sousa.

No one could accuse Paul of total objectivity when it came to Sousa, but it was his industry that led to the definitive chronicle of the life and work of one of the first global superstars of music. The first of his books, John Philip Sousa: American Phenomenon, was published in 1973, and I reviewed his final book, The Incredible Band of John Philip Sousa, just a few years ago. Both are packed with verified detail, and they will remain essential texts for anyone with a serious or passing interest in Sousa or indeed in the roots of American music culture.

He was the recipient of many honours and awards – each of them richly deserved. 

European Music Archaeology Project

4/13 - Scholars associated with the European Music Archeology Project (EMAP) have been in the news lately. For those that don't know, the project seeks to recreate ancient music - in the brass world that means Greek and Roman instruments, among others. A conference was held in Italy in 2015, in part sponsored by the HBS. For further information, feel free to peruse the links below.

New York Times article on EMAP

A document with further information on the instruments demonstrated in the above video

Brass Antiqua Workshop, North Virginia

2016 HBS Monk Awardee: Jeremy Montagu

3/17 - We are happy to announce that the 2016 recipient of the Historic Brass Society's Christopher Monk Award will be the noted organologist, curator, and instrument collector Jeremy Montagu. Montagu is the author of many important studies of musical instruments including Horns and Trumpets of the World, Musical Instruments of the Bible, The Horn, Timpani and Percussion, Origins and Development of Musical Instruments and many others. He is the current president of the Galpin Society and past curator of the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments at Oxford University. Jeremy has also emmassed one of the great private collections of musical instruments, including a wide range of brasswinds. His outstanding works as a writer and curator has made significant and lasting contributions to the understanding of historic brass instruments and their music. Jeremy Montagu will be presented with the Christopher Monk Award on June 25 at the Galpin Society Meeting held at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK.

Italian Brass Week

5th Annual Indiana Sackbut Workshop

The 5th Indiana Sackbut Workshop will be continuing a study of German wind band or "Stadtpfeiffer" repertoire from the fall, focusing on the 16th and 17th centuries.  The main goal of the workshop, through the sources which we shall be exploring, is to become fluent purveyors of late medieval and early Renaissance music in its own language, and skilled and informed practitioners of the instruments and the historical performance practices involved.  Our goal will be to play all of the repertoire in its original manuscript or print form, either becoming acquainted with this for the first time, or furthering our knowledge and fluency in it. But since we do not want to discourage anyone from attending the workshop, modern editions will be provided for all of the selections to help us out along the way.

We have a new, slightly more flexible set of dates this time around. The main workshop with sackbuts, dulcians and shawms will remain as advertised on the website as from Wednesday, May 4th at 5 PM to Sunday, May 8th at 1 PM at Waycross Conference Center in Morgantown, IN. There is, however, the option of arriving on Tuesday, May 3rd at 5 PM for one day of sackbut and dulcian ensemble playing.  We will be specifically exploring this combination of instruments, experimenting with what early 17th-century theorist and composer Michael Praetorius elucidates on the subject.

If you plan on participating in the extra day (beginning on May 3rd), this will be an available option on the Early Music in Motion website that you will have to register for separately from the main workshop. Here is a link to all pertinent information concerning registration and fees: http://earlymusicinmotion.org/event-registration/?ee=12

If you have any specific questions about the workshop, please feel free to contact Adam Bregman (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Juan Carlos (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Natural Trumpet Course in Arosa

3/2 - Mike Diprose will be conducting a special course in Arosa, Switzerland on August 7-13, 2016. The course has been expanded to include an entire orchestra - strings, woodwinds, trumpets with  timpani and plucked instruments – all playing only equipment that we know was in general use in the early 18^th century.

One side of the re-assimilation of historical brass instruments into Historically-informed Performance Practice is the technical challenge for trumpeters.  Nowadays, when they play in ensemble with other musicians, it can be perhaps even more daunting for all involved.  Does it really need to be that difficult?  What were those dumb composers thinking? Or could we reassess the interpretation of their work and its context? This course is designed to help bring us closer to an understanding of the composers' sound-world and expectations. Rather than post-modernising all the instruments, our course re-approaches the repertoire by applying solutions from historical sources to the equipment for which it was written. This is a resonant experience for everybody, with and without brass.

For further information: http://musikkurswochen.ch/kurse/detail/247

International Cornett and Sackbutt Conference

American Bach Soloists Summer Academy

New Information on Oskar Bohme

1/14 - We have received correspondence from Edward H. Tarr on some interesting new information that he wished to share with our members. The letter is as follows:

Dear Friends

A Russian historian has recently discovered how the cornetist Oskar Böhme came to an end. In a chapter about Böhme in my book East Meets West I had written: “The exact date and the circumstances of his death will probably never be known.” In the wake of Stalin’s “Great Terror” (1928-54) more than four million people were deported and/or executed. Especially after Central Committee Secretary Sergey M. Kirov had been assassinated on December 1, 1934, Stalin initiated a great series of purges of artists and scientists, also banishing many persons of German origin, including Böhme, to distant places. Böhme was arrested on April 13, 1935 because of supposed – i.e. trumped-up – anti-Soviet propaganda and agitation and sentenced to three years of banishment from St. Petersburg to Orenburg (Stalinist name: Chkalov), a traditionally German city at the foot of the southern Ural mountains. Until 1938 he was teaching at a music school there, without the right of correspondence. Historian Anatoly Jakovlevich Rasumov, with access to the KGB archive, has since 1995 been publishing the names and short biographies of those who were assassinated by Stalin’s henchmen; his Leningrad Martyrologium has reached 14 volumes so far. He has discovered that in October 1938 (probably on the 23^rd) Oskar Böhme was shot. See Christian Neef, “Archivar des Terrors”, Der Spiegel 53 (December 2015), 94-97, here 96.

With best wishes,

Edward H. Tarr

Early Music Workshop (Western Carolina University)

War-Damaged Musical Instruments

Encyclopedia of British Amateur Bands

Australasian Trumpet Academy 2016

2016 Natural Trumpet Building Workshop

10/29 - Details for the 2016 Barclay/Seraphinoff natrual trumpet building workshop held in Bloomington, Indiana, have been announced. The course will be held in August. For further information visit http://www.seraphinoff.com/itw/content.php?p=naw. The workshop has been held annually for many years and participants, including a number of HBS members, can testify that the course is not only educational, musical, and historical, but also a great deal of fun and a wonderful opportunity to make friends in the discipline!

2016 HBS Early Brass Festival: Northfield, Minnesota

3/23 - Preparations are underway for the annual HBS conference: the 2016 Early Brass Festival. It will be held in conjunction with the Vintage Band Festival on July 28–31 in Northfield, Minnesota. Updates will be posted here periodically. If you wish to submit a proposal to present, please do so by emailing your abstract to Jeff Nussbaum (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Other Documents and Links

Registration Form with Housing Information

The Vintage Band Festival website

10/18 - Mr. Donald Ray Johnson, Jr, age 61 of Raywick, KY, passed away Friday, October 14, 2016 in Bradfordsville, KY. He was born on July 24, 1955 in Lexington, KY. Mr. Johnson was a musician and a retired Captain of the Lexington Fire Department. He was preceded in death by his parents, Donald Ray Johnson, Sr. and Iris Jeannine Vanwinkle Johnson, and his sister Karen Faye Shupp. He is survived by his wife Cindy Oakman Johnson--Raywick, KY, his son Donald Ray Johnson III--Cincinnati, OH, his daughter: Marie Ann Colletti--Brooklynn, NY, his brother Steven Lee Johnson--Paris, KY, three step-brothers David Wilds--Three links, KY, Joseph Wilds--Irvine, KY, Paul Wilds, and his sister Michelle Wilds--Hazard, KY.

A noted figure in historical brass performance, Don founded and led the Kentucky Baroque Trumpets. He organized and led President Lincoln's Own Band, a group featured in Stephen Spielberg's Lincoln (2012). When the crowd sings "We Are Coming Father Abraham" in that movie it is his cornet playing that you hear. An active figure in historical bands in Kentucky, Johnson played in the Advocate Brass Band, Danville, Kentucky for a number of years and was frequently heard on stage at the Great American Brass Band Festival. He also frequented our annual HBS Brass Symposiua, including this past year at the Vintage Band Festival in Northfield, Minnesota, presenting on the keyed trumpet. We will always remember Don as a humble scholar, an energetic, passionate, and enthusiastic performer, and a person who has left us a legacy of wonderful recordings and insights into historical trumpet and cornet performance. For information on his recordings and life see http://kybaroquetrumpets.com/.

Steven Plank and Bryan Proksch

The Great American Brass Band Festival (GABBF) in Danville, Kentucky announces a call for papers and presentations for the 2017 GABBF Brass Symposium. The Brass Symposium will be June 2, 2017, an educational event that serves as part of the Great American Brass Band Festival, which runs June 1-4, 2017.

Presenters who are selected will be offered a $350 stipend plus free lodging on the Centre College campus.

Presentations are typically 25-30 minutes, plus 5 minutes for questions. There is no particular format required. Proposals may be academic paper presentations, performance demonstrations, historical lectures, or other formats. Creative or unusual presentation proposals are welcomed and encouraged. (Powerpoint, video and sound playback resources will be available to the presenter.)
The 2017 GABBF theme is "The Roaring Twenties," however, papers and presentations for the Brass Symposium are not required to be on this topic. Historically, presentations have been on topics such as brass instruments, brass bands, band history, performance practice, and music history/literature.

Proposals, or questions about proposals, should be sent via email to Jason Dovel at Jason.Dovel -at- uky.edu. If large files need to be sent, a Dropbox link is preferred.

Proposals must be received by November 1, 2016.

For more information, please visit:
http://www.gabbf.org/festival/education/brass-symposium/

2015 Monk Awardee - Wim Becu

3/10 - The HBS is pleased to announce that the 2015 recipient of the Christopher Monk Award is to be the trombonist Wim Becu. The selection committee recognized the contribution that Becu has made to further the aims of the Society though his period instrument performances and recordings in a wide range of repertoires. More information about Wim Becu’s work can be found at http://www.concertopalatino.com/Wim_Becu.html and http://www.oltremontano.com/

12/8 - update: we have posted pictures of Wim receiving his award (above left) and Wim with Jeff Nussbaum and Trevor Herbert (above right).

2015 EMAP Conference Report

12/18 - Jeremy Sexton has written up a report on the 2015 European Music Archaeology Project. The report can be read here: 2015 EMAP conference report.docx. Pictured left: Peter Holmes discussing a salphinx. Pictured right: Gabriele Cassone demonstrating some Baroque trumpet techniques. 

IGEB (International Society for the Promotion and Research of Wind Music)

Ralph Bryant 1943-2015

10/26 - Ralph Bryant was one of the unsung heroes of the early brass community. Born in North Adams, Massachusetts, he studied music and German at Washington University in St. Louis. After service in the Army Band at West Point, he went to Munich on a scholarship to study musicology. In 1971 he was appointed assistant solo trumpet of the Zurich Tonhalle and Theater Orchestra (now: Orchestra of the Zurich Opera), a position he held for over thirty years. In Zurich he performed on cornett and baroque trumpet in the legendary cycle of Monteverdi operas conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. With the Concentus Musicus Wien under Harnoncourt’s direction, he participated in a number of recordings for the Teldec Bach cantata cycle. Moreover, in the mid-1970s he played second trumpet to Edward Tarr on what was possibly the first recording of Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Trumpets on historical instruments (albeit accompanied by a modern chamber orchestra). Ralph was also a talented woodworker whose baroque-trumpet mutes are still very much sought-after. Ralph Bryant died on 3 September 2015 in Männedorf near Zurich.

ANIMUSIC 2015

Indiana Sackbut Workshop

HBS Session at EMAP Event

EMAP commissioned a number of instrument makers to copy ancient brass instruments that will be demonstrated at this event. They will include; the Tintignac Carnyx, Loughnashade Iron-age horn, Etruscan Cornua and Litui from the Tomba dei Riliervi in Cerveteri, Italy, Roman cornua from Pompeii, Roman Tubae from iconography on Trajan's column, Tutankhamun's silver and copper trumpets, Boston Salpinx, Drumbest horns from Northern Ireland, Tattershall ferry Carnyx,  Pian di Civita Etruscan lituus, Etruscan and Greek salpingi, Gullakra lur, Huseby lurs.

The conference website is http://www.emaproject.eu/events/conferences.html#brassinstruments. For further information on the HBS papers involved (abstracts, etc.) click here. (link updated 9/28/15)

Early Brass Mouthpiece Maker

Cornetto Maker

Gunther Schuller 1925-2015

Natural Trumpet Class in Switzerland, August 2015

Call for Papers: European Music Archaeology Project

The Historic Brass Society has been invited to give three sessions on Friday, November 13, 2015,  the penultimate day of a four day conference in Viterbo, Italy. The conference more generally is the finale of a European wide project in the Ancient Brass Project segment of EMAP a project devoted to musical archaeology. Further on the conference see: http://www.emaproject.eu/

It may be helpful to think of the HBS sessions as a colloquium within the conference that is both complementary to and integrated with it. Proposals for presentations should address one or both of two broad topics: 1) Brass musical instruments in antiquity. 2) Transitions and interpretations of brass instruments between antiquity and post-antiquity eras. These may include apparent references to instruments between antiquity and the middle ages and renaissance, and the interpretations of brass instruments of antiquity in later times.These themes may be interpreted freely and approached from the perspective of iconography, organology or any other branch of musical and cultural history. The term "brass instruments" should be taken to mean lip vibrated instrument.

Proposals should be of no more than 300 words in length. They should contain a brief outline of content and the perspective/s from which it will be addressed (iconography, historical musicology, organology etc). The proposals should be for a paper of 20 or 30 minutes (excluding discussions) and the length of paper that is proposed should be mentioned in the proposal.

Proposals should be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  to arrive no later than June 16 2015. The conclusions of the program committee will be communicated by 1 July 2015. Presenters will have the conference fees waived for the entire four day conference.

HBS Early Brass Festival 2015 Information

The HBS  Early Brass Festival will be held at Oberlin College, July 10-12, 2015.

Housing and Registration (different this year!)

EBF registration, dorm room charges, and meal plan charges need to be made in advance. All checks should be payable to: Historic Brass Society and sent to: HBS, 148 West 23rd Street #5F, New York, NY 10011 USA.

Dorm rooms in the Harvey/Kade Halls are $32 per night. Note, No A/C, lines included. Fan rental available for the weekend, $10 deposit ($5 return upon return of fan).

Indiana Sackbut Workshop

The Third Vienna Talk on Music Acoustics

We want to address scientists, researchers, musicians, makers, and conservators of musical instruments. The idea, “Bridging the Gaps”, means to focus on the dialogue between the aforementioned groups. Scientists will be encouraged to present their papers in a generally understandable way, and instrument makers and musicians will be able to communicate their observations, hypotheses and problems to an interested scientific audience. This way, research might be directed towards new questions, while manufacturers, musicians, instrument conservators and collectors will have the opportunity to find answers and get access to new methods and tools.

2015 UK Natural Trumpet Building Course

12/9 - The 2015 Annual Trumpet Making Course with Robert Barclay, Michael Munkwitz & Richard Seraphinoff will run from Monday-Friday June 22-26 in Cambridge, England. Information and registration can be found at: http://cambridgewoodwindmakers.org/info/courses/trumpet-making+102.html. Those interested in attending are encouraged to register as soon as possible, as the course typically fills up quickly.

New Ophicleide Repertoire Website

12/9 - Nicolas Indermuehle is pleased to announce a new website dedicated to the ophicleide repertoire: ophi.referata.com. The site includes a searchable database of composers and works as well as links to libraries and archival materials.

New Louis Armstrong Documents

12/26 - A brief news item by William Grimes in the December 24, 2014 edition of the New York Times reveals some important information about the great trumpeter's youth. It is well known that young Armstrong was placed in the Colored Waif's Home in 1913 but the report of the incident that placed him there in the New Orleans Times-Democrat of January 2, 1913 described Armstrong as "an old offender" a description that has caused researchers confusion for years. Information known since 1980 but only now fully explored has shown that through daily census records kept by the home that Louis Armstrong was sent to the home previously in 1910. Also, a previously unknown news item about the brass band at the home lists Armstrong as the band's leader. 

Reine Dahlqvist 1945-2014

Reine Dahlqvist was born on September 2, 1945, and died on October 17, 2014 of complications arising from prostate cancer.

A highly important researcher into the history of the trumpet, my Swedish colleague and friend Bengt Eklund acquainted me with him from the very start of his work. As a trumpeter, he was self-taught. He could play high notes on his piccolo trumpet, but I am not aware that he ever participated in orchestra performances. Dahlqvist’s groundbreaking dissertation—Bidrag till trumpeten och trumpetspelets historia från 1500-talet till mitten av 1800-talet med särskild hänsyn till perioden 1740-1830, two vols. (Gothenborg University 1988)—was written in Swedish but had a long summary in English that enabled non-Swedish speakers to gather important information.

Reine Dahlqvist wrote other important articles, including one on Anton Weidinger and the invention of the keyed trumpet: The Keyed Trumpet and Its Greatest Virtuoso, Anton Weidinger (Nashville: The Brass Press, 1975). In addition, he was concerned about bringing out a new edition of his dissertation that would be written in English and would present information that he had not known about in 1988. This work went on for decades, and since I was the one who helped him put his language into a presentable English, we were constantly in contact. About two years ago, his transmissions of texts in “Swinglish” (i.e., his brand of English) ceased, and we were only about one fifth through the text.

Reine lived alone in the house which formerly belonged to his parents. He is survived by his sister. He never held an academic position; throughout his life he subsisted through scholarships that he had received to continue his research. During the past decade he worked part time as a postman while continuing his research in the Gothenborg University library. Several years ago he developed prostate cancer. The treatments seemed to be successful for a time and he was optimistic to the end. He seems to have died a lonely death some two days before his neighbors discovered him in his house.

The trumpet world is much the poorer without Reine Dahlqvist and much the richer for his contributions to brass history. We can only hope that he typed the results of his research into his computer at the university library and that it is preserved in a state that will someday permit its contents to be made available.

Edward H. Tarr

Cornett and Sackbut Workshops

11/7 - Starting in January 2015 Sam Goble will be presenting workshops for cornett & sackbut ensemble on a regular basis in Berlin, Germany and a Summer School with Master Classes in Northern Germany for three weeks in August courtesy of the Renaissance Workshop. Goble is a member of the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble who is also well-known as a mouthpiece maker. For further information information visit www.renaissanceworkshop.org.

Sounds of War and Victories: Military Musicians on Battlefields and Promenades

10/13 - The thirteenth conference of the Research Center for Music Iconography will be held at the City University of New York Graduate Center on 11 November 2014. The conference theme will commemorate the centennial of World War I. It has been organized by Zdravko Blažeković with support by the Historic Brass Society.
For conference program and information please follow this line: http://rcmi.gc.cuny.edu/parent-page/sounds-of-wars-and-victories-military-musicians-on-battlefields-and-promenades/.

Immer Masterclass Ferrara, Italy, 27-29 March 2015

9/29 - On 27-29 March 2015, the association Amici della Musica di Sant’Agostino from Ferrara (Italy) under the artistic direction and contribution of the Ensemble Ottoni Romantici, will hold the 7th International Masterlclass on Baroque Trumpet. The Masterclass is taking place in Sant’Agostino (Ferrara), and will be led this year by Friedemann Immer. Both individual and group lessons are available and masterclass topics will include performance techniques, historical interpretation of the trumpet repertoire for soloists and orchestra, and the trumpet and timpani ensemble. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request further information.

World Record Shofar Ensemble

9/29 - 1043 shofar players blew their way into the history books on Sunday in Whippany, New Jersey, setting a new record for the world’s largest shofar ensemble. Participants blasted the shofars in unison for five straight minutes in the parking lot of the Alex Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus. The purportedly "meditative" sound of the horns gave way to jubilant cheers, as instrumentalists and spectators celebrated the achievement. New Jersey now can ring in the Jewish New Year on Wednesday with bragging rights as home of the biggest shofar band on the planet, at least according to Guinness World Records.

Big Carl Resurfaces

9/29 - Big Carl, the giant tuba that was on display for decades over the entrance door of the music publisher Carl Fischer has resurfaced after mysteriously disappearing in 1999. There is still much mystery about Big Carl, all 8 feet tall, 60 feet of tubing, 100 pounds of the BBBb monster. An article in the September 27, 2014 issue of the New York Times describes much of what is known about the instrument (it's valves are not functioning). The instrument was made in Bohemia by Bohland and Fuchs. Carl Fischer had Steve Dillion restore the instrument and there is talk of Big Carl making an appearance at he Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and at the Tuba Christmas Concert in Rockeffeller Center in New York. The instrument currently resides in a small conference room at 48 Wall Street in New York.  A NY Times video describes the instrument.

Low Brass Conference: From the Serpent to the Tuba

9/17 - A special conference on many aspects of low brass instruments will take place from November, the 7th to 9th., 2014 in at the Stiftung Koster Michaelstein in Blankenburg, Germany. Of special interest to HBS members will be the presentation of the HBS Christopher Monk Award to Arnold Myers.

Click here for the pdf of the program with further information: tubakonferenz_2014.pdf Click here for the English-language program: programme_eng.doc. Click here for the full website: http://www2.kloster-michaelstein.de/de/start

2014 HBS Christopher Monk Award to Arnold Myers

9/17 - The distinguished organologist, Arnold Myers will be the recipient of the 2014 Historic Brass Society Christopher Monk Award. The Award will be presented to Arnold Myers by HBS member Sabine Klaus, at Michaelstein during the special low  brass conference, From Serpent to Tuba,  which will be held  on November 7-9, 2014. The Christopher Monk Award was established to honor distinguished members of the brass community for significant and life-long contributions to the field.

A special plaque will be inscribed with the following: Arnold Myers is one of the most distinguished organologists and musical instrument curators of his generation. Throughout his career he has worked tirelessly and with the highest scholarly standards to increase understanding of brass musical instruments. His work has benefited performers, other researchers, his students and the public at large.

2014 Vintage Band Festival

8/6 - Paul Niemisto once again organized the Vintage Band Festival on August 2, 2014 in Northfield, MN. There were 12 bands presented in concerts over a period of 12 hours. Pictured above are the "Roving Ophicleides" (Paul Schmidt and Clark Wolf), who have been present at each of the past VBFs. The next VBF will be held on July 28-31, 2016 in Northfield, which will be held in conjunction with the annual HBS Early Brass Festival conference.

Kickstarter Campaign for Horn Recording

Trevor Herbert Receives Baines Prize

8/6 - The Galpin Society has awarded the 16th Anthony Baines Memorial Prize to Trevor Herbert. The Baines Prize, established in 1997, is presented to musicians who have made important contributions to the field of organology. Trevor Herbert was noted, not only for his important scholarly contributions to the field of organology and the history of music and instruments but his important contributions as a teacher and performer as well. Herbert has written or co-authored many important books and articles including; "The British Brass Band", "Music in Words", "The Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments", "The Trombone", and most recently, "Music and the British Military in the Long 19th Century." Trevor Herbert is a long-time member of the Historic Brass Society Board of Directors and the HBS Editorial Board as well as a past recipient of the HBS Christopher Monk Award. 

Adolphe Sax 2014 Bicentenary Conference

7/8 - The Historic Brass Society joined forces with the Musical Instrument Museum of Brussels and Belgian Society of Musicology in presenting a conference celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of great Belgian instrument maker, Adolphe Sax. The conference held in the beautiful city of Brussels on July 3-5, 2014 was a great success and paved the way for future research on Sax as well as other 19th century brass topics. Click here for the Program and Lecture Abstracts.

Photo captions: Adrian Steiger (left), Trevor Herbert and Arnold Myers (center), Al Rice and Arnold Myers (right)

Danny Lucin Cornetto Mouthpieces

6/6 - Danny Lucin is now making cornetto mouthpieces and has a variety of styles with a range of different shapes & sizes to suit individual requirements.
Mouthpiece Specs:
Total length: 34mm
Cup diameter: 14mm or 15mm (or larger if required)
Rim: 2mm, 2.5mm or 3mm (trumpet style mouthpiece)
Shank length: 18mm
Shank diameter: 8mm - will fit a Monk plastic instrument
Throat: 2.9mm with a tapered back-bore
Material: Black buffalo horn

Price: $80 AUD

For further information email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Bugles Across America

5/29 - In response to cutting back of the playing of TAPS in live performance by buglers for American military men and women, in 2000, Tom Day made it his mission to have TAPS played by a bugle player at every military funeral across the country. He created Bugles Across America to achieve that goal. For further information please visit  www.buglesacrossamerica.org.

Call for Papers

5/12 - The HBS has recently becoming a supporting organization for an upcoming conference, "Sounds of Wars and Victories: Images of Military Musicians on Battlefields and Promenades." This conference will be presented at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York under the direction of the Research Center for Music Iconography and held in New York on November 11-13, 2014. The conference will focus on the iconography of military musicians of all times and performing in any occasion. The submission deadline for abstracts of proposals (200-300 words) is June 15, 2014. Submissions may be sent to: Zdravko Blazekovic at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  More information is available at http://rcmi.gc.cuny.edu.

Natural Horn Events This Summer

Wanted: J.W. York Catalogs

Jeffrey Snedeker Name National Phi Kappa Phi Artist

4/29 - Jeffrey Snedeker, natural hornist, frequent HBSJ author, and professor of music at Central Washington University, has been selected as the 2014-2016 Phi Kappa Phi Artist by The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi — the nation’s oldest and most selective all-discipline honor society. The award is in recognition of his accomplishments as a musician, professor, and campus leader. “Dr. Snedeker has had a sustained career as one of the foremost proponents of the historical importance of the natural horn. His extensive range of performances, compact discs, journal articles and presentations at international conferences have garnered widespread accolades throughout his impressive career,” said Dr. David Northington, chair of the Phi Kappa Phi Artist selection committee. Snedeker has been a performing artist and scholar for more than 25 years. He’s played concertos, recitals, and natural horn and jazz performances throughout the world. He has released two critically acclaimed solo recordings featuring the horn in a jazz setting and two solo recordings of the natural horn.

Snedeker has received numerous performance and teaching awards; most notably, first place in the Natural Horn Division of the 1991 American Horn Competition. He also holds the 2012 Washington Music Educators Association Higher Education Educator of the Year and the 2014 Washington State Ormsby Award for Faculty Citizenship. Since 1991 Snedeker has been at CWU where he teaches horn, music history, and brass literature and pedagogy. He was the 2012 CWU Distinguished University Professor for Service, and the 2008 CWU Phi Kappa Phi Scholar of the Year. “What the artist award represents to me is a wonderful acknowledgement of day-to-day work and taking risks. It’s really nice to get a pat on the back,” said Snedeker, whose decision to pursue a career in music came later than many musicians. “I wanted to be a baseball player,” Snedeker said. “Basically, when the obvious shortcomings on my part finally ran their course, I was looking for something that would sort of resemble that. And the act of practicing music, making music, has an athletic approach to it.” Playing an instrument and performing took the place of his athletic ambitions. Sports have an artistic aspect, says Snedeker, who sees music as a worthy alternative to baseball. “I don’t have rotator cuff problems and knee problems and I still play every day,” he said with a laugh.

First presented in 1983, the Phi Kappa Phi Artist Award recognizes the achievements of those who, in addition to their outstanding scholarship, have displayed talents in the broad realm of the arts—creative, graphic, performing, visual, and fine arts, according to a Phi Kappa Phi news release. The award is given once every two years. Recipients receive a $1,000 honorarium, a life membership, and a trip to the society’s biennial convention on August 9 in St. Louis, MO, where the award officially will be presented. “I still have much to learn, and look forward to the challenges that lie ahead,” Snedeker said. “I pride myself on my versatility, but as much as I want people to appreciate the wide range of possibilities of the horn, I also know that any musical instrument is limited first by the performer, and I embrace my responsibility in pursuit of my goals.”

For more information on Phi Kappa Phi visit www.PhiKappaPhi.org.

New Trumpet Book

Friedemann Immer Master Class

Peter Barton 1930-2013

Brussles Conference on Adolphe Sax

7/11 - A conference entitled "Adolphe Sax His Influence and Legacy: A Bicentenary Conference" will be presented at the Musical Instrument Museum (Brussels, Belgium) on July 3-5, 2014. Keynote speakers will be Steve Cottrell and Trevor Herbert. For information on submitting a proposal and/or attending the conference, please click here.

UPDATE: The conference schedule has been set and everything you need to prepare for it has been posted here: http://www.mim.be/adolphe-sax-his-influence-and-legacy-a-bicentenary-conference

UPDATE (3/21): The conference schedule has been tweaked somewhat, so please use this updated version: http://www.mim.be/adolphe-sax-his-influence-and-legacy-a-bicentenary-conference

3D "Printed" Cornetti

3/14 - There has been a flurry of discussion about 3D Printer cornetti recently. One maker is Ricardo Simian (http://www.ricardosimian.com/3D_Instruments_Home.html. Bruce Dickey is reported to have said that they play very well at A=466, but maybe not quite as well as the best wooden ones. This is encouraging. He also says that they haven't been scaled to A=440 yet, but the website seems to indicate they are available. Discussions on the "Cornettozink" group on Yahoo have revealed another website of interest: http://www.3dmusicinstruments.com/.

A Mute Cornett has been designed by instrument maker Steven Silverstein as well (silversteinligature.com). Steve reports, "I did nothing but take his measurements and put them into stl files. The Cornett needed to be cut into four pieces to fit into my print area. To facilitate gluing the pieces together I created alignment cones meant to keep the pieces aligned in the X-Y plane during the glue up. These truncated cones are the negative space at the center of the Cornett. I glued each piece together with two part epoxy. To keep the internal alignment cones from getting glued as well I wrapped the alignment cones in silicone embedded parchment paper. Both the alignment cones and the pieces of parchment paper came out with no fuss". You can