WE SELL HORNS!
plus horn-related accessories and compact discs

Every horn sold by HALSTEAD MUSIC is personally tried and tested by Tony Halstead

*NEW FOR 2006-2007: A SUPERB EDUCATIONAL TOOL*       “Halstead Music’s Karaoke for horn players.” We are pleased to announce the launch of a series of new accompaniment CDs: ‘MUSICIAN MISSING!’  Our first CD, MM01, released on 18th December 2006, is of the BRAHMS Horn Trio and the SCHUMANN Adagio & Allegro, performed by members of The Pantheon Ensemble: pianist Jonathan Rutherford and violinist Christian Halstead, but without the horn player. These splendid works, two of the horn’s best-known chamber pieces of the 19th century, are here recorded in the warm, intimate acoustic of Daneby Hall, Kent, UK.  Produced by Tony Halstead and engineered by Harold Barnes, this beautifully recorded  CD includes several tempo options for study purposes. Also on the disc are pdf. files of the horn part, viewable and printable, including Tony’s suggested breathing and slurring marks in the Schumann. ‘MUSICIAN MISSING’ CDs are available direct from our website - click here

The majority of our sales are 2nd-hand horns, but we also have a modest supply of brand new ones, and occasionally, other brass instruments.  Our stock of ‘collectors’ horns (19th/early 20th century) is probably the largest and the most reasonably priced
in the UK.

We act as agents for customers wishing to sell instruments, and for this service we charge a reasonable commission rate.

If you have a horn you wish to sell, please phone or e-mail us; however, we reserve the right to reject poor-quality instruments.

Our policy regarding the much-discussed topic of ‘restoration/ repair/ conservation’ is:  
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”  Furthermore, we avoid the use of invasive, corrosive chemical cleaners when preparing instruments for sale. Of course, this means that we never, ever, flush out the entire length of a horn with ‘brass-dip’ or any acidic ‘pickle’.

Tony Halstead is convinced, after more than 40 years of professional playing, that a certain amount of internal surface‘patina’ in the cylindrical sections of a brass instrument is actually desirable, giving reassuring acoustic feedback to the embouchure.  However, if valves are sticking, we carry out a very mild, non-abrasive cleaning process in the area of the valve-block only.

Tony himself performs small adjustment, ‘tweaks’ and minor repairs, and specialist craftsmen do more complex repair work.

‘HORN’ or ‘FRENCH HORN’?
"The International Horn Society recommends that ‘horn’ be recognized as the correct name for our instrument in the English language."  [From the Minutes of the IHS First General Meeting, June 15, 1971, Tallahassee, Florida, USA.]