Welcome to West Coast Horn Playing

Left Coast Horn Playing is a way of practicing and playing that emphasizes training the body and mind to inhale and exhale correctly.  Left Coast Horn Playing takes a logical and behavioral approach and develops controlled, repeatable technique.

Our main goal is to get better every day.

Main features of Left Coast playing and practice

• A focus on controlling the air inside the horn and working daily to improve breathing
• Knowing what and where the target is and aiming the air at it 
• Getting away from the illusion that concentration and development of the embouchure is more important than focus on air control and emphasizing exercises that develop air strength and control
• Use of exaggeration in teaching. Sffz, long decrescendos and practicing in a wide range of tempi are typical
• Clean tonguing and using the tongue to focus the air
• Working to reduce or eliminate unnecessary movement of the face and tongue
• Short progressive drills designed to hone in on one particular aspect of playing or combining techniques to make learning efficient
• Working to improve ensemble skills as well as individual technique
• A mindset that wants to improve every day

As you read the articles and go through the exercises you'll notice there is a word we hardly ever use. The word is embouchure. We work on strengthening the right muscles but only change or move an embouchure via exercises unless there is a dire problem. Most embouchure problems can be solved by proper breathing and tonguing. In fact we believe the great majority of embouchure problems are really breathing and tonguing problems.

The other salient feature of Left Coast Horn Playing is that it works! If it didn't we wouldn't be in demand as players, our studios would not be full and our students would not be successful.