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Step 1
Assume the proper stance any time you sit down to play French horn. Sit up straight, with your chair turned slightly to the right. Sit toward the front edge on the left-front corner of the chair. Hold the horn with valves in your left hand, hold your left elbow comfortably out slightly from the body and place your right hand inside the bell, with the bell resting on your right knee or held slightly off the knee.
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Step 2
Position your fingertips near the edges of the valves, fingers slightly bent. This allows your fingers better flexibility and dexterity than if you placed your fingers flat on the valves. This dexterity translates into the ability to finger more quickly and accurately.
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Step 3
Learn and practice alternate fingerings if playing on a double horn--a French horn with a B-flat trigger and two sets of slides and tubing. Alternate fingerings made with the trigger will help you switch between the F and B-flat sides of the horn when performing more complex and high or low passages. For example, you can use the trigger to play a high D-flat with valves 2 and 3 along with the trigger rather than with valves 1 and 2 on the F-side of the horn without the trigger.
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Step 4
Consider a descant horn for higher-range horn playing. These triple horns have a brighter sound than the typical double horn. Instrument manufacturers such as Holton, Paxton and Conn make the full range of French horns--single, double and triple. The triple horn is designed for the more advanced horn player, one accustomed to playing higher, faster parts (first and third parts in an orchestra or band).
