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                 Daniel Grabois
                                          
Professor of Horn, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Solo Recording Artist
Chamber Musician
Composer
Arranger  

I am the Assistant Professor of Horn at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, and
the horn player in the Meridian Arts Ensemble and the Wisconsin Brass Quintet.

Before moving to Wisconsin, I was a freelance horn player in New York City for 24 years, and I served as Chair of Contemporary
Performance at the Manhattan School of Music for 4 years. I also taught for 14 years at The Hartt School and for 18 years at Princeton University.

"Daniel Grabois, horn professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is an excellent horn player, composer, inventor
of instruments, midi-programmer, maybe a rock-n-roll star, and certainly a creative genius."

From Fanfare's review of Air Names

"A terrific escapade, an attempt to free the French horn from its usual pigeon hole, a work of the finest imagination—take your pick."

Information for Prospective Horn Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Click here

Big News!
I am now a Yamaha Performing Artist. I play a Yamaha 871 and love it.

My Teaching Philosophy
Click here

Recordings
My solo CD, entitled Air Names, was released in 2016 on the Summit Records label. The disc was recorded using Ableton Live,
an incredibly flexible software package that lets you turn any acoustic instrument, like the horn, into an electro-acoustic instrument.
The disc contains 16 tracks, all of my own composition, and I play not only the horn but two invented instruments. One I have called
the noreba, and it consists of an Indian shanai, which is normally a double reed instrument, fitted with a horn mouthpiece. The other
instrument I am calling the bouchero, and it consists of a stopping mute outfitted with a mouthpiece. The disc also features a drummer,
John Ferrari, and a bass player, Nick Moran.

Etude Books

Read my blog here


Horn Excerpt Boot Camp

I expect this book will be useful, especially to students, not just for the preparation of specific excerpts but also for
helping to develop a personal mind-set and method for practicing anything with which we are confronted .... A wonderful
contribution to our horn-related resources for professional life.
--The Horn Call

I love this book. It speaks to both sides of the excerpt puzzle--the mental side and the physical--thoroughly and eloquently.
--David Jolley

Quarter Tone Manual for French Horn

I wanted to thank you for your latest and most welcome addition to my library of method books.  Your volume does a great service
to the art by advancing the discussion of possibilities that are not always exploited in the usual music we play on the horn.
-- Michael Atkinson, NYC freelance horn player (check out his website)


Twenty Difficult Etudes for the Horn's Middle Register

This beautiful music has a wonderful bonus of working the horn's mid register!  Some recital-worthy pieces for sure. 
Bravo and thank you Dan!
-- Jeff Nelsen, Indiana University, former horn of Canadian Brass

Thank you for writing your etudes! They are just the type of studies I had been looking for. Most middle register etudes are either too easy
or just don't click with me musically.
-- Julia Rose, Associate Principal Horn, Columbus Symphony