The Whole Horn
The week between lessons is the part none of us can reach. This is what I built for it, after thirty years of the same problem in my own studio.
New in 1.5.0
Assign almost anything to a whole class.
Pick the exercise, the key and the tempo. Every student opens it written for their own instrument, in their own key and clef — trumpet, alto sax, flute, trombone, cello, voice, 69 instruments in all. The major scales, long tones, vibrato, eight ear-training games, the Milestone, and much more are free; and whatever you assign opens for your student even if it sits in the Full Studio, up to two octaves (the full range is the Full Studio).
Dear colleague,
You know the shape of the problem better than anyone. You have an hour on Tuesday. Everything that decides whether the student improves happens in the six days you are not there, and for most of my career the only instrument I had for those six days was a sentence in a notebook and a hope.
So: you build the week — the exercise, the key, the tempo, the note values, how much range, how many hours — and one tap turns it into a single link. You send it however you already talk to that student. They tap it and the app opens already set to their instrument, their transposition, the tempo you chose. There is no interpretation left for them to get wrong.
The app keeps a record of what was actually done: repetitions, minutes, and when each exercise was last practised. That record belongs to the student and lives on their device. They can export it and send it to you, and they can also not. I built it that way on purpose — I wanted to replace I practised, I promise with something real, without turning a practice app into surveillance pointed at a child.
The range is a slider, which matters more for beginners than anything else in the app. A student who can play three notes practises three notes, and the written scale grows one note at a time as their embouchure allows, instead of a method book demanding an octave their face cannot yet support.
You can assign almost anything in the app, and whatever you assign opens for your student, even if it sits in the optional Full Studio, up to two octaves; the full range is the Full Studio. Nothing you assign will ever require a purchase.
Thank you for reading this far.
Tom HornigSaxophone professor · Henri Selmer Paris Artist · Beirut
Families who speak another language at home? Send them the page in theirs: the app’s short film in 30 languages.
Each row carries the key, the tempo, the note values and the hours for the week, and up to ten rows go into one link. Choose written pitch for each instrument, or concert pitch. Range, articulation, groove and swing feel sit one tap further in. Tap Make the link, then Copy link, and paste it into Google Classroom, a group chat or an email.
For beginners, the fundamentals come intuitively. Scales, patterns, shapes and intervals teach how notes relate; the ear games teach you to hear those relationships — in melodies and in harmony. Reading gets easier too: note names, note values and subdivision are right there on the staff.
For players who want jazz, the seven modes, the ii–V–I, swing phrasing and the twelve-bar blues bass line — the map improvisers return to — all in every key.
For Arabic musicians, and anyone curious, the 22 Arabic maqamat with real quarter tones, in the same studio as jazz and classical technique — a way to build improvising technique the way a jazz player prepares, and a bridge when Arabic and Western musicians play together. Two ear games train the quarter tone and the maqam’s home note.
Behind the exercises are written and spoken explanations of why — how serious players build technique and prepare for a gig. The app’s interface is in English.
Yes. In For Teachers in The Whole Horn, pick the exercise, the key and the tempo, tap Make the link, then Copy link, and paste it into Google Classroom, a group chat or an email. Every student opens it written for their own instrument, in their own key and clef, across 69 instruments. Up to ten exercises go into one link for the week.
No. Whatever you assign opens for your student, even if it sits in the Full Studio, as long as their app is version 1.5.0 or later. An assigned range opens up to two octaves; the full range is the Full Studio. There are no student accounts.
Yes, all eight — Higher or Lower, Drop, Name It, Lock-On, Echo, Half-Flat, Maqam Map and Chord Colors — each at the level you choose, with the time for the week. The game opens at that level and waits for a tap before any sound plays.
Yes, in any key, with the tempo you choose. It opens on each student’s own instrument with the chord symbols above the staff.
On a phone or tablet the link opens straight in the app. Where the app is not installed, the student taps “Play it here, in this browser” and the week plays with sound in any web browser, with nothing to install.
Not by the app. It has no names and no logins, it collects no data, and the App Store privacy label reads Data Not Collected. The practice record stays on the student’s device unless they choose to send it to you. This website counts anonymous page visits with Vercel Web Analytics: no cookies, no names.
Home · Why all twelve keys · Every claim, explained in full · The letter to directors and teachers · App Store · Google Play
