The Whole Horn
Henri Selmer Paris artist. Professor of Saxophone. Thirty-two years in front of students.
Thomas Hornig is a Henri Selmer Paris artist and Professor of Saxophone at the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music, where he has taught for more than thirty years. His pedagogy synthesizes European conservatory tradition with the practical realities of the modern professional saxophonist-doubler — the training a working player actually needs, not just the training a conservatory has always given.
That pedagogy is published in full on this site: The Study of Saxophone, a nine-year course of study for the saxophonist-doubler; the Jazz Performance Syllabus, its companion for jazz students and improvisers; and Building a Youth Wind Ensemble, a framework for concert band programs. All three are free to read.
The Whole Horn's scale-practice tool grew out of the same instinct: most players know a scale in their head and freeze the moment it's time to play it in their own instrument's key. The app plays every major scale transposed into the instrument's written pitch, so the gap between knowing and playing closes faster.
If you want to be successful as a musician, get the best instrument money can buy — in other words, the best you can possibly afford — and play with musicians who are better than you.
Beyond music, Thomas Hornig is the founder of SOFRA, a hands-free recipe app for authentic Middle Eastern cuisine — on the App Store and Google Play.
