1971–2003
Fresh from the archive
A collection of articles, interviews and historical documents.
The subconscious, a useful friend
By Michel Ricquier
Digitized • 10 Jun 2026
From yogic practices to auto-hypnosis, mental conditioning and visualisation are linked to performance, self-control, and the body's hidden responses.
Part 4
Practical Hints
By James Stamp
Digitized • 10 Jun 2026
A single Clarke study becomes a lesson in note placement, breath control and continuity, as James Stamp reshapes a familiar exercise through preparation.
Part 1
Arnold Jacobs
Interview
By Roger Bobo
Digitized • 9 Jun 2026
Two tuba giants meet in 1979 Chicago, where Arnold Jacobs turns technique, sound, orchestral life and pedagogy into a lasting musical ethic.
Part 4
The Trumpet in the USA
Gadgets II
By Thomas Stevens
Digitized • 9 Jun 2026
Mouthpiece backbores for piccolo and C trumpet are compared through practical performer testing, linking equipment choices to sound, volume and intonation.
Brass and Strings
A note on personality types among musicians
By John Davies
Digitized • 8 Jun 2026
Behind the formal discipline of the symphony orchestra, contrasting views of brass and string players reveal enduring questions about personality, class and musical culture.
Empire Brass Quintet
Portrait in brief
By Jean-Pierre Mathez
Digitized • 8 Jun 2026
From New York to Boston, five brass players built a chamber music identity rooted in Ewald, early music and a string-quartet approach to ensemble sound.
Dr. h.c. Bernoulli (1904-1980)
Necrology of a great collector
By Emilie Mende
Digitized • 8 Jun 2026
From a Swiss castle filled with 700 brass instruments to the Historical Museum Basel, a collector’s life reflects decades of dedication, scholarship and hospitality.
The first european horn symposium
By Jeffrey Agrell
Digitized • 5 Jun 2026
A week in Trossingen brought leading horn players, Mozart debates, natural-horn controversies and lasting friendships at a landmark European gathering.
Editorial
10 Years of Brass Bulletin
By Jean-Pierre Mathez
Digitized • 5 Jun 2026
Ten years after its launch, a small specialist publication reaches readers in more than sixty countries, reflecting how a shared artistic community took shape across borders.
Part 3
Practical Hints
By James Stamp
Digitized • 4 Jun 2026
A preparatory adaptation of a Clarke technical study reframes finger technique, airflow, and efficiency through a progressive approach to daily practice.
Serious Music this Side of the Ghetto
By Rolf Urs Ringger
Digitized • 4 Jun 2026
Between Darmstadt serialism and neo-tonality, the place of serious music in society is questioned through Berg, Schönberg and the post-war avant-garde.
Brass studies in Australia
By David O'Meara
Digitized • 3 Jun 2026
As international performers, seminars and teachers reached Australia in the late 1970s, a geographically isolated brass scene began finding its own direction.
Part 1
A study of musical intonation
By Christopher Leuba
Digitized • 3 Jun 2026
Resultant tones, harmonic series ratios and chord spacing challenge equal temperament, linking acoustics and practical ensemble intonation.
Basics in breathing
An Outline to a Better Sound
By Joel Elias
Digitized • 2 Jun 2026
From breathing awareness to sound production, practical exercises link physical relaxation, air control and rhythmic precision in everyday brass playing.
Henri Renart (1887-1979)
Interview
By Robert Coutet
Digitized • 2 Jun 2026
Henri Renart looks back on a remarkable musical life, from the wind bands of northern France to Paris’s leading orchestras, performing under renowned conductors while witnessing decades of change in performance, recording, teaching, and brass playing.
Part 2 · End
300 Years of the Horn
in the Dresden Court Orchestra
By Peter Damm
Digitized • 1 Jun 2026
From Dresden’s court musicians to Hampel’s hand-horn technique, virtuoso players and court repertoire shaped a decisive shift in horn playing and orchestral writing.
Editorial
Progress by Stages
By Jean-Pierre Mathez
Digitized • 1 Jun 2026
Between technical routine and lived experience, musical growth emerges through setbacks, observation and the gradual shaping of an individual voice.
Miroslav Kejmar
Portrait in brief
By Jean-Pierre Mathez
Digitized • 31 May 2026
From Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto to Czech contemporary music, the Prague trumpeter combined Baroque precision with orchestral versatility across Europe.
The contrabass sackbut
a modern copy
By Richard Lister
Digitized • 29 May 2026
A reconstructed 17th-century contrabass sackbut revives forgotten low brass practice, from Venetian polychoral music to modern performance challenges.
Part 2
Practical Hints
By James Stamp
Digitized • 29 May 2026
A simplified preparation method adapted from Herbert L. Clarke links transposition, tempo variation and repetition to technical fluency and mental anticipation.
Women and brass: 3 Portraits
Barbara Stone, Betty Anderson, Kate Kaminga
By Markus S. Bach
Digitized • 27 May 2026
Three British and Dutch conductors moved from brass band performance to leadership roles, confronting a scene still largely shaped by male traditions.
Cleveland Orchestra Audition in 1966
By Ronald T. Bishop
Digitized • 27 May 2026
George Szell’s demanding 1966 audition process unfolds through orchestral excerpts, dynamic extremes and the search for absolute ensemble precision.
A Trombone Martyr
Auguste Léonard de la Tuilerie
By Benny Sluchin
Digitized • 27 May 2026
A Paris apothecary turned trombone evangelist challenges 19th-century musical habits, imagining the slide trombone as the future voice of harmony.
Transcription fundamentals
By Ralf Sauer
Digitized • 26 May 2026
Between Bach fugues and Mozart concertos, Ralph Sauer questions where brass transcription renews a work — and where it merely imitates.
Trumpet articles
View all trumpet articles →
The Baroque trumpet, the high trumpet and the so-called Bach trumpet – Part 1
By Edward H. Tarr
Edward H. Tarr examines the Baroque trumpet and clarifies the origins and meaning of the so-called “Bach trumpet.”
Jean-Baptiste Arban (1825-1889) Biography – Part 1
His First Twenty Years
By Jean-Pierre Mathez
First part of a detailed biography of Jean-Baptiste Arban, tracing his early years, studies at the Paris Conservatoire and the beginnings of his career.
The Trumpet in the USA – Part 1
By Thomas Stevens
Across competitions, teaching and equipment in the U.S., trumpet practice exposes clashing ideas of musicality, raising the question of shared standards beyond national styles
Herbert L. Clarke (1867-1945) – Part 1
Boyhood Years
By David Hickman
From forbidden beginnings to cornet legend: Herbert L. Clarke’s early years reveal a path shaped by setbacks, persistence, and decisive discoveries.
Maurice André – Part 1
Biography
By Jean-Pierre Mathez
From the mine to the Conservatoire: Maurice André recalls his early years—revealing the chance, discipline, and destiny behind one of the greatest trumpet careers.
Philip Jones
Interview
By Jean-Pierre Mathez
From South London bands to the Philharmonia, Philip Jones recalls his musical upbringing, orchestral life and the rise of brass ensembles in post-war Britain.
Horn articles
View all horn articles →The first european horn symposium
By Jeffrey Agrell
A week in Trossingen brought leading horn players, Mozart debates, natural-horn controversies and lasting friendships at a landmark European gathering.
300 Years of the Horn – Part 2, End
in the Dresden Court Orchestra
By Peter Damm
From Dresden’s court musicians to Hampel’s hand-horn technique, virtuoso players and court repertoire shaped a decisive shift in horn playing and orchestral writing.
300 Years of the Horn – Part 1
1680-1980, an attempted survey
By Peter Damm
From Versailles to Bohemia, hunting horns enter orchestral life through makers, players, early works and the Austro-Bohemian tradition.
300 Years of the Horn in Bohemia
By Kurt Janetzky
An unsigned portrait from the Dresden court links the rise of Bohemian horn playing to the ceremonial world of Baroque hunting culture.
Zen and the Art of Horn playing – Part 4, End
By Jeffrey Agrell
From meditation to distance running, horn playing becomes a way of quieting mental noise, linking breath, concentration, and daily life.
Barry Tuckwell
Interview
By Jean-Pierre Mathez
Between the London Symphony Orchestra, international solo tours and Mozart or Strauss concertos, Barry Tuckwell reflects on sound, risk and musical instinct.
Trombone articles
View all trombone articles →The contrabass sackbut
a modern copy
By Richard Lister
A reconstructed 17th-century contrabass sackbut revives forgotten low brass practice, from Venetian polychoral music to modern performance challenges.
A Trombone Martyr
Auguste Léonard de la Tuilerie
By Benny Sluchin
A Paris apothecary turned trombone evangelist challenges 19th-century musical habits, imagining the slide trombone as the future voice of harmony.
The double-slide trombone
museum-piece with a future?
By Boris G. Manzora
As virtuosity reshaped 20th-century brass playing, Boris G. Manzora argued that the forgotten double-slide trombone could redefine technique and range.
Benny Sluchin
Portrait in brief
By Jean-Pierre Mathez
Between Paris, Cologne and Tel Aviv, Benny Sluchin brings mathematics, acoustics and contemporary performance into the brass world.
Anton Hansen (1877-1947) – Part 3, End
Father of trombone playing in Scandinavia
By Per Gade
From Sibelius to Paris, Anton Hansen’s later career links Scandinavian trombone playing with French repertoire, teaching, and orchestral reform.
A woman trombonist, Yvelise Girard
Women and Brass
By Jean Douay
From Paris conservatories to police bands, a young trombonist confronts isolation, scrutiny and ambition as women slowly enter the brass world.
Euphonium articles
View all euphonium articles →
Tuba and Euphonium today
By Willi Kurath
A new era for low brass: Willy Kurath explores how modern tuba and euphonium design—driven by innovation and collaboration—redefines sound, technique, and solo potential.
Some thoughts on the euphonium and euphonium technique
By Barrie Perrins
The euphonium revealed: Barrie Perrins explores its history, technique, and expressive power—making a compelling case for its place as one of brass’s most versatile solo voices.
Tuba articles
View all tuba articles →Arnold Jacobs – Part 1
Interview
By Roger Bobo
Two tuba giants meet in 1979 Chicago, where Arnold Jacobs turns technique, sound, orchestral life and pedagogy into a lasting musical ethic.
Henri Renart (1887-1979)
Interview
By Robert Coutet
Henri Renart looks back on a remarkable musical life, from the wind bands of northern France to Paris’s leading orchestras, performing under renowned conductors while witnessing decades of change in performance, recording, teaching, and brass playing.
Cleveland Orchestra Audition in 1966
By Ronald T. Bishop
George Szell’s demanding 1966 audition process unfolds through orchestral excerpts, dynamic extremes and the search for absolute ensemble precision.
John Fletcher
Interview
By Jean-Pierre Mathez
From brass bands to chamber ensembles, John Fletcher reflects on the rapid rise of young British tubists and the changing role of the instrument.
A guide to commercial tuba playing in the Los Angeles area
By Tommy Johnson
Hollywood reality check: Tommy Johnson reveals what it really takes to become a commercial tuba player in Los Angeles—skill, versatility… and patience.
Symphonic tuba playing
By Lewis Waldeck
A warning from the orchestra: Lewis Waldeck challenges modern tuba playing—calling for a return from solo brilliance to the dark, blended power of true symphonic sound.
A living archive — growing every week
We digitize, proofread, and index Brass Bulletin so it becomes fully searchable online.
- Total articles
- 1’245
- Digitized articles since 1 Feb 2026
- 214
- Overall progress
- 17.2%
- Complete issues online fully digitized
- 30
Fully searchable. Structured. Growing weekly.
Archive
1971-200330 years of international brass history — featuring articles by and about leading players, composers, teachers and instrument makers.
The archive is progressively digitized and fully searchable online, with new complete issues added every week.
Browse 124 issues and over 1,200 articles — filter by instrument, topic, author or issue.
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From the archive
A few lines worth reading
Trumpet • Career
“Well, out there I'll play the Hummel and Tartini Concertos, or the Haydn Concerto and the Jolivet Second. Yes, good schemes, aren't they? I'm looking forward to it. That's how it goes. Are we having lunch now?”
Maurice André
Trombone • Careeer
“As a freelance player, my interest is divided between making money and making music. So I've learnt that in the money-making music, that I don't necessarily expect pleasure in playing”
Miles Anderson
Woman in brass
“When first asked by the Brass Bulletin to write an article on any aspect of "women and brass playing", I was tempted to reply by just sending the title and signing it — sincerely yours.”
Frøydis Ree Wekre