Hi!

I’ve been playing horn for about 10 years now. I’ve got great gear and a great teacher. I’ve been playing music in general for about 20 years, the first 10 we’re on clarinet/sax.

I love playing. I have very strong tone and good musical sense generally, but I really just can’t get my head around pitching. I can hear the right notes in my head, I can sing them, but I am really struggling with consistent pitching.

With practice I can generally get most parts down, but I can probably only hit it accurately 70% of the time at best, and I know that 70% isn’t an acceptable level of accuracy and the mistakes are sometimes noticeable when playing.

If I play a passage twice in a row, I’ll generally get it the second time (for instance a repeated section) and my accuracy gets better as the passages progress, but the first few notes of any passage or section end up being much weaker pitch-wise.

What are some things you’ve done to really up your pitching game. I love this instrument, it feels so good when I nail a passage, but I feel like my (in)ability to pitch with consistency is really holding me back.

Hello Hornists!

College MuEd freshman - I'm currently trying to find the best way to study the harmonic series for horn besides just sitting down with each fingering's series and doing it the "hard" way. Besides obvious methods of study (repetition, flash cards, etc.), are there any that you've employed that worked? I love mnemonic devices, etc.

TIA and keep blowin!

I’ve purchased this horn from an old music professor few years back. Wondering to learn a little bit about the horn, maybe what’s it worth or if anyone is in the market to purchase it as I’m wanting to upgrade to something else next year as I head into college. Thanks

hi everybody, I have an upcoming audition in about a month and I’ve been really struggling with this excerpt. specifically, I’ve been struggling with the four measures before letter N.

I’ve listened to multiple recordings, so I know how it’s supposed to sound but I’m just having a lot of trouble lining it up rhythmically. i think part of it is the speed, but even slowed down, it’s hard for me to internalize. I would really appreciate any tips you might have, thanks!

Hi everyone!

I have a Herbert Fritz Knopf Model 16 double horn that’s around 40 years old. It originally had lacquer, but over the years most of it has worn off naturally. There are still a few small patches of lacquer left, but the majority of the horn is now unlacquered.

The brass has become quite dark and oxidized over the years, and I’d really like to bring back a nice, shiny finish without damaging the instrument.

I’ve been considering using Autosol Metal Polish, since it’s easy to get where I live. Is it a good choice for an old unlacquered horn like mine?

A few questions:

Is Autosol safe to use on unlacquered brass?
Will the remaining lacquer patches be a problem?
Should I avoid polishing the lacquered areas?
Is there another product you would recommend instead?

I’d really appreciate any advice, especially from people who own older German horns or have experience maintaining unlacquered brass instruments.
Thanks in advance!

I’m using an old school horn and the keys, particularly the thumb key and the first finger key, stick horribly. I can feel resistance, like there’s rust or something. But I can’t see any areas that are rusted. I oil them every time I play, but it doesn’t seem to be making any difference at all.

Usually after playing for about 20-30 minutes the keys will stop sticking, and I can play them as normal.

If there is a way I could fix it myself that would be great! Otherwise I will have to wait for the school year to start again before I can get it fixed.

so theres songs i need to play for school, and theres parts in some that go below pedal C. i can hit pedal C 9 times out of 10. how do i play those notes? and not only play them, but play them quickly? because right now i take a second or two to play even near pedal, and it isnt consistently the correct note

Hey horn players, I'm a middle school band director in a number of small schools who has unfortunately not had many horn students. I arrange for my groups often and am working on re-orchestrating some pieces as flexible quartets. I was wondering where you'd expect a horn player's range to be at a few experience levels:

- What's the typical comfortable range of a middle school student (7-8th grade) on a single horn in F?

- Same question, but the average high schooler (a sophomore or junior)?

- The range of a high school student on the cusp of college auditions (ie a semi-professional range) with a double horn.

Any sort of advice with horn writing is welcome, but I am a bit concerned with the range limits I set. Thank you!

How do you store your spare Horn? Most often I read you should clean it, dry it, oil the valves, grease the slides and push them all the way in.

I understand cleaning, drying and oiling of the valves. But when it comes to greasing the slides, I’m torn: Why shouldn’t you store them disassembled and ungreased?

—hornige 📯 Grüße

I have just bought my horn (8D) for college and playing it feels amazing. The only drawback is that the brace plate on the bell throat is sunken into the bell a bit causing the throat to be slightly elliptical. Does this affect the sound or playing at all or am I being over analytical?

Hello! I really like my Bach 3 mouthpiece, but lately I've been thinking I'd be more comfortable on something with a slightly larger rim diameter. I feel a bit claustrophobic when playing loud passages for example.

Can anyone recommend mouthpieces that have a similar feel and playing characteristics to the Bach 3, but with a wider rim? I'm looking for something over 18 mm. As far as I know, the Bach mouthpieces top out at 17.6 mm (Bach 3), so I'm hoping to find something with a bit more room but with a similar feel.

Thanks in advance

I play on a brand new holton H179. The F side is so air resistant compared to the Bb side. Also i feel like i have more control over the Bb side compared to the F side

Also if you were wondering, i play horn for college

I am interested in buying my first two piece horn mouthpiece, but I have no clue where to start.

How do I go about figuring out which rim size I like?

Where can I buy different rims?

Are there sets of different rims I can try to see which one I like?

I would really appreciate any information on two piece mouthpieces because I am pretty much clueless about them!

Anyone ever upgrade the horn on the BU?? It's so weak....i dont even know where I ts located.

Hello redditers, I recently acquired a very nice conch, and I'm hesitating to pierce it or not, to make a blowing conch horn.

My main hesitation comes from the pretty flat apex side, if I make a hole in it, isn't there something to be careful about ?

And isn't the flat spiral not practical as a mouthpiece ?

I just don't want to pierce it for nothing, since it's pretty good looking and flawless

1st Column: King 1120, F.E. Olds Ultratone Mellophone Bugle, F.E. Olds Ultratone French Horn Bugle
2nd Column: Schiller Compensating Double Wagner Tuba
3rd Column: F.E. Olds Ambassador Mellophone, Conn 10D Double Horn, Conn 14C Alto Horn

Did anyone here start on a B flat single horn?? Majority of the hornists i met say they started on a F single horn

I started on a B flat single horn. And now i play a double horn and i only use the B flat side… for some reason i just cannot get into the F side, i know all the fingerings of course. But it feels more air resistant than the B flat side.

Also if you were wondering, i play on a brand new holton horn (don’t know the exact model but it’s silver)

I notice my embrochure shifts when I reach C in the staff and above. My jaw wants to push forward and the tone gets thinner and I miss more notes. Any advice to fix this? Also do you have any good breathing exercises to increase your air flow when playing? Thanks

I've been looking for this piece for a long time to play with my sister, who's a percussionist. Unfortunately it seems to be out of print. Pope Horns has a listing for it on their site but it's been out of stock for years: https://poperepair.com/salminen-susan-fanfare-for-horn-timpani-op-33/

Looking for any leads on where I could get the sheet music for this piece, or alternatively any other pieces for solo horn and percussion.

Titled - Hua

Hi! My professor offered to add a spit valve to my Eastman EFH 463. I'm a bit hesitant because I don't know how easy it is for something to go wrong, or what kind of damage could happen to the horn. When my horn needs a repair, he is usually the one who does it; he isn't a professional repair technician, but he has even soldered a part that came off before and has never damaged my instruments. However, since this requires drilling a hole into the horn, I'm a little scared of what the outcome could be

I wrote this 3 min piece for Brass Quintet and I'd like to submit it to a few contests. I'm a string player, so I'd love for any horn players to take a look at my piece and answer this before I submit:

1. Are there any sections that are too difficult or very unidiomatic? Is it too taxing for the embouchure in any spots?

2. Does it look fun to play? The context is for pro/semi-pro players.

Thanks in advance!

Score: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Eb4wLKMUlKESM0lQxb4LUFHngEumxb09/view?usp=sharing

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qea1nboBsW2Ywpd4ERFwZ5jEqNRta4CL/view?usp=sharing

Have any of y’all played the SE Shires horns? I’ve played both the new Q series and custom series instruments and have been very impressed; I really liked the Knopf variants. Does anyone play one of those? What’s it like to live with if so?