How to Hit Low Notes on a French Horn

The French horn began life as a hunting horn consisting of a single loop of brass or other metal and capable of sounding only a few notes, all controlled by the lips. As the horn developed into a solo and orchestral instrument, players and makers added more loops, called crooks, to the horn in order to extend its range and make intonation more stable. Today's modern horns are called double horns, as they incorporate the crooks and tubing for both the traditional horn in F and the horn in B flat, which offers the opportunity for lower notes. Playing low notes are a problem many players encounter.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Make sure your jaw is loose and relaxed as you descend in register. Your lips should be puckered at the corners and open. Keep your tongue down. Practicing with slurs will help at first as it keeps the tongue out of the way. Raising the bell of the horn may also help you keep your jaw down.

2. Blow slowly into the instrument. Low notes don't need the same air speed as high pitches.

3. Use correct posture. Slouching or bending over your instrument will prevent you from expelling air from your lungs properly. Practice in front of a mirror, watching yourself carefully. If you have a tendency to hunch over, raise your shoulders, or lean, be very conscious of where your body is as you play, and keep upright.

4. Use the fingerings for low notes used for the B-flat horn; these often make low notes easier. See the link below for a chart of complete fingerings for the F horn (without using the trigger or thumb valve) and B-flat (to use with the trigger or thumb valve).

5. Check your mouthpiece if you are still having problems. If it is especially shallow or small, you won't be able to force enough air through it to sound low notes. Try out using a medium deep cup (MDC) mouthpiece.

Resources

• Philip Farkas's classic text The Art of French horn playing on Google Books
• Fingerings for notes in F and B-flat

[sunnyglitter]

on 4/16/2009 I haven't played in years; I kind of miss it now. 5*