Guillaume Balay (1871-1943) served in the French military as a prolific Cornet player, having won first place in the 1894 Cornet Award competition at the National Academy of Music in Paris. His compositions and studies were popular in the Cornet and brass repertoire at the time, including his Fifteen Studies for Cornet.

This Balay work remains within the Cornet study repertoire to this day and is suitable to advance level players. The Fifteen Studies address features, including accidentals, breath control, intervals, range, ornamentation, chromaticism, complex rhythms, dynamics, performance directions, and variations in time and key signatures, among other aspects. These quirky studies provide the advanced Cornet player with exciting exercises to ensure progress to a high level of technique.