Oscar Sala standing with his horn in front of a large mural in an industrial building

Horn · Performance · Teaching

From the stage
and the classroom.

I am a working horn player and teacher. Here I bring together the areas in which I work with musicians and teachers: from preparing for an audition to planning a course, always grounded in the real experience of playing and teaching.

Areas of work Teaching to teach
  • Concert preparation
  • Auditions
  • Orchestral repertoire
  • Performance anxiety
  • Horn pedagogy

Performance

Ready when it is time to play

Guidance for horn players who want more resources to face a concert, an audition or, quite simply, their daily practice.

  1. 01

    Concert preparation

    Building a programme in good time: reading, endurance, pacing your effort and rehearsals that feel like the real day.

  2. 02

    Orchestral repertoire

    The solos and excerpts that come up again and again, worked on with a performer’s judgement: style, context, intonation within the section and what the conductor expects.

  3. 03

    Audition preparation

    Strategy for orchestral and conservatoire auditions: excerpt lists, mock auditions, time management and that first minute in front of the panel.

  4. 04

    Performance anxiety

    Practical tools so that nerves do not make the decisions for you: pre-performance routines, focus of attention and gradual exposure to an audience.

  5. 05

    Instrumental technique

    Sound, attack, flexibility, extreme registers and articulation. A precise diagnosis and exercises with a purpose, not generic routines.

  6. 06

    Practice planning

    Making the hours count: work cycles, rest, priorities and a plan that fits your real calendar, not an ideal one.

  7. 07

    Chamber music

    Wind quintet, brass ensemble and mixed groups: listening, blend, shared leadership and rehearsals that move forward.

  8. 08

    Related instruments

    For horn players who need to bring other members of the horn family into their work, in the classroom or on stage.

    Natural horn

    Hand technique, crooks, intonation and historical awareness for the Baroque and Classical repertoire.

    Descant horns

    The high register with a different tool: when to use them, how to adapt and for which repertoire.

    Wagner tuba

    Adapting embouchure and sound, reading, and the repertoire in which it appears: Wagner, Bruckner, Strauss.

    Oscar Sala holding a Wagner tuba
    With the Wagner tuba

Teaching

Teaching to teach

Knowing how to play and knowing how to teach others to play are different crafts. I share the pedagogy of the instrument with those who are training to become teachers, or who already teach and want to rethink their practice, so that they understand the reality of music education as it truly is.

The reality of the classroom

Mixed levels, motivation, families, timetables and class sizes. What the textbooks do not always mention, yet shapes every lesson.

Curriculum planning

From the regulations to the actual course: objectives, content, assessment criteria and a coherent, well-argued sequence.

The teaching unit

Designing units that come alive: activities, resources, timing, attention to diversity and assessment that helps students learn.

Horn-specific pedagogy

Breathing, embouchure, the right hand, transposition, the instrument at each age, the first years of study and repertoire by level.

My approach

  • Active professional experience

    Everything I share is put to the test every week, on stage and in the classroom.

  • Tailored to each person

    We start from where you are and what you need, not from a fixed syllabus.

  • Judgement, not recipes

    The goal is for you to leave with the tools to make your own decisions.

Resources

Practice materials

Tools for daily practice, free and ready to use. Install them as an app and keep them to hand, even offline.

Book · Free PDF

Calentamiento para trompa

Warm up for French Horn · 圆号热身练习

A daily warm-up routine for horn in three languages: Spanish, English and Chinese. Published by Geometría del desconcierto ediciones.

PDF · 28 pages · 6.7 MB

Download PDF

Game

Horn trivia

Technique, studies, repertoire, history and related instruments in rounds of 15 questions. No answers given away. Currently in Spanish only.

Play (in Spanish)

Tool

Tuner

Chromatic tuner with adjustable reference A and readings written for horn in F or at concert pitch.

Open tuner

Tool

Metronome

Accented bars, subdivisions and tap tempo. Precise and distraction-free.

Open metronome

Career

Experience that backs up what I teach

Oscar Sala with his horn on the stairs of an industrial building

My work is divided between the stage and the classroom, and each one feeds the other.

As a performer, I play with the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, which keeps me in direct contact with the real demands of the profession: repertoire, the pace of work, auditions and the stage.

As a teacher, I teach at Musikene, Higher School of Music of the Basque Country, where I guide students on the higher-education programme in Orchestral Repertoire, Horn, Chamber Music and Horn Pedagogy.

Oscar Sala playing the horn, standing in front of the orchestra during a rehearsal
Britten rehearsal
Oscar Sala performing the Brahms Trio with violin and piano on stage
Brahms Trio, Op. 40
Wind quintet in concert, with Oscar Sala on horn
Wind quintet
Orchestra
Orquesta Ciudad de Granada
Teaching
Musikene · Higher School of Music of the Basque Country Orchestral Repertoire, Horn, Chamber Music and Horn Pedagogy Masterclasses in
  • Germany
  • The Netherlands
  • France
  • Portugal
  • Finland
  • USA
  • Colombia
  • Peru
  • Bolivia
  • China
Guest appearances
Most Spanish orchestras, as well as ensembles in:
  • USA
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • France
  • Colombia

Contact

A conversation, no strings attached