DVD Reviews

Bravo on a great instructional DVD that is loaded with vital information for hornists at all levels!
You sound great and do an excellent job of describing how to achieve results in a systematic way!
Bravo again on this fantastic addition to horn instruction!

Bruce Henniss
Professor of Horn
The Ohio State University

The videos are great and I’ll be recommending them to all my students, parents and band-directing friends.
I can tell you, if I had seen the information on your sight 3 years ago, I could have avoided a lot of wasted energy in trying the wrong things for so long.  Certainly, if anyone comes to me about a similar condition to what I went through, your site will be the first that I direct them to.

Jeremy Cucco

There are a lot of us looking for something to help us play better, and we all own lots of books on the subject, but you are the first to put in on DVD and your method could be the answer that a lot of horn players need.
It is so well done, you really make it all so clear and easy to understand. A terrific refresher. It’s the best purchase I’ve made in years. Thanks so much for putting it together and good luck with the sales.

Tim Dyess
Raleigh, NC

Regarding 9/7/10 Masterclass and Recital

Andrew:  What a total delight it was to hear your magnificent horn playing!  You have it all- great sound, blazing technique and superb musicianship! And, thank you so very much for the great master class and superb concert you presented this past Tuesday!  Our students greatly benefited from both experiences.  It was a rare treat hearing musicianship so fine!  We were all on cloud 9 after hearing you play.  Thanks so very much and we hope to have you visit and perform again at GWU in the future.

Best,
Patricia
Patricia C. Sparti, D.M.A., Chair
Professor of Music
Fine Arts Department, Gardner-Webb University
Music Director, GWU Orchestras

I have just retired after teaching instrumental music for 36 years and I wish that I had had your videos and web site to help me get those many little ones started on the correct path. As I look down the horn line in the 2 concert bands and one church orchestra in which I play I see some pretty sad excuses for horn embrasures which would benefit from your videos. I am presently principal horn in all of the organizations in which I perform so I am a little afraid to correct the set-in method of Mouthpiece placement I learned as a boy 60 years ago.  I learned horn from some pretty good symphony horn players and they were not able to describe the task as well and as clearly as you do on your videos.  By using your instruction I was able to add depth to my tone, improve my upper range, and increase my overall volume.  Perhaps the biggest change was in stamina.  I am now able to play the whole introduction to The Stradella Overture by Flotow and still have lip left over for the rest of the concert.  The surprising thing to me was that the improvements were immediate so making the change is a lot more fun.  Yes, I do slip back to my sinful ways on occasions but I know exactly how to correct the problem.  Thanks Andrew for being a good, no, excellent teacher as well as an accomplished performer.  Teaching is an art form which you have definitely mastered.

Dear Mr. McAfee,

I’m not sure if you remember me but you had offered me help with my embouchure issue. I’ve been at it for about 2 months now and I’m amazed at the progress. You were absolutely right, everything has come along nicely. I can now do everything I used to be able to do, but better, and some things I never knew were possible. I can now play all this music such as the Mozart concerto’s and Strauss that I thought would be impossible until several years away. Now they seem do-able. Thank you very much for your help, it means the world to me. I’m just a young student, but now I feel like I’m on my way. Thank you for your help, I really can’t explain how much it means to me. Also I absolutely loved your video on YouTube of Andante, and it turns out I had the sheet music for it in a book of horn solos by Mason Jones, it’s a beautiful piece and you played it to perfection.
Anyways, I just wanted to update you on my situation, and once again thank you for your help. It really does mean the world to me.

Thank you – Tyson Reimer
July 30, 2011

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Hi, Andrew. Just to let u know how much I am enjoying the CDs. Right now I am most benefitting from the teaching re: the lower lip/jaw unit and jaw/embouchere position shifts moving up and down scale…better slurring and entries for sure. I am continuing to revisit the CDs several times diring the week. The “warm up” excercise is also excellent, but I am challened by parts on the second page for now. I am so glad to have made this connection with you!

Later. Lee Wallace

I can tell you right now that I ordered the videos because I like the way you’ve broken the mechanics of horn playing down into elements that make for good mental imagery – very graspable, based in the physics of the thing – and that you describe them in a very straightforward way, clearly linking them to the anatomy, or unambiguous sensory demonstrations.  I like it.
Thanks again, with best regards,
Saludos
Joel