Horn Playing in the New Millenium: The Triple Horn, by John Cerminaro, published in The Horn Call, February 2005 (pp. 33-34).

"As I sit at my desk writing this now, dusk has given way to dawn and an old millennium has yielded to a new. At such a moment, one wonders across the vast expanse of time how a fellow horn player, centuries ago, must have felt with the dawning of the valve horn age upon him. History tells us that many eighteenth century players persisted in clinging to their hand horns even until the turn of the nineteenth century, though keyed horns had already existed for nearly fifty years. Brahms wrote his famous horn trio for the natural horn although Clara Schumann and others tried to convince him it would sound better on one of the new valve horns. It is reminiscent of the end of the Silent Era of movie making: so many great actors, so many great films. Yet all, finally, in the end, succumbed to the inevitability of 'talkies.' "

• To read the complete article as a small Adobe Acrobat document, please click here.

• To read a letter written in response to this article as an Adobe Acrobat document, please click here. Letter and Response published in The Horn Call, May 2005 (pp. 8-9).

The Audition System in America, by John Cerminaro, published in The Horn Call, May 2000 (pp. 35-36).

"It is now nearly three decades since orchestral auditions in America began being decided by player's committees rather than at the maestro's total discretion. Having enjoyed a career that spans both the 'before' and 'after' of these two opposing systems, and having been a member of numerous audition committees myself as principal horn of both the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, I would like to present a personal summing up as we enter the new millennium."

• To read the complete article as an Adobe Acrobat document, please click here.

Martin Smith (1947-2005), by John Cerminaro, published in The Horn Call, February 2006 (pp. 65-66).

"A month after hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf coast, one of New Orleans' favorite sons, hornist Martin Smith, died suddenly of heart failure at the age of 58. Martin was one of my oldest and dearest horn player pals."

• To read the complete article as an Adobe Acrobat document, please click here.