It is important to teach your French horn player to
pivot the horn to the right rather than let all the sound go back into their body. They can turn in their chair a bit and also place their legs in a “V” shape to help achieve this. The horn itself goes across their body diagonally, as you are looking at the student. It should not be too verti- cal or most of their sound will be muffled by their body (see picture on previous page).
The mouthpiece should be placed approximately in the center of the lips from left to right and with about 2/3 on the upper lip and 1/3 on the lower lip (shown below).
tend to be with valve alignment and intonation. Please encourage your students to rent or purchase horns from reputable dealers. If the price seems too good to be true, it is. As mentioned before, if you have the budget, try to have a practice instrument for each student to keep at home. It is less helpful if one is a single and one is a double. As you can imagine, the fingerings can get a bit challenging going back and forth for students. Ideally, you will have two double horns for each hornist in your band, with perhaps your smallest beginners having two single F horns each. Some horns come with a very thick-rimmed mouth-
piece. This is probably going to hinder the success of your horn players. If you would like to replace it with some- thing fairly standard and affordable, a “Holton MDC” (Medium deep cup) is not a bad choice.
6. Maintenance and Tuning In order to keep a horn in good repair, students need
Mouthpiece 2/3 upper lip and 1/3 lower lip 5. Equipment choice and care The choice of single or double horn may be dictated
by budget and what you already have in your inventory. The single horn is smaller and simpler—only three valves instead of four. However, other than size (which may make a difference to the smallest players), most players could start on a double horn and will benefit from the superiority of the instrument—namely, the notes above written G in the staff are easier to play. However, please make sure your beginners use the F horn fingerings for all the notes below written A-flat in the staff and the thumb for A-flat and above ( a fingering chart will have both choices for all notes, so point out or circle for the student which ones they should play). The characteristic dark sound of the horn comes most from the larger “F side” of the instrument and playing their first notes on this side helps young musicians establish a strong sense of good tone right from the start. A single “B-flat” horn is not a good option because it lacks this richness of tone. Warn your students that many inexpensive horns are of dubious quality. The problems with these instruments
TEMPO 48
to avoid big dents (especially in the narrower stretches of tubing). A horn can take a few dents and still work fine, but anything in the leadpipe will probably affect the sound in a negative way. If the leadpipe becomes badly dented or bent, it must be professionally repaired and possibly replaced. The French horn has rotary valves, which work differently than piston valves. The horn should be oiled regularly on the front and back of each valve, at least once a week, with an oil specifically formu- lated for rotary valves (see pictures below).
Oil each valve on the front of the horn by unscrewing the top of each valve cap and placing a drop or two of oil on top.
MARCH 2018
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
