How to Play Glissando Notes on a French Horn

Video Transcript

"Hi! I'm Katie and I'm here on behalf of expertvillage.com and I'm going to talk to you about how to play a glissando on the French horn. This is what a glissando looks like. It is really pretty simple. All you do is you start on the first note and you want to get to the last note and you can hit as many notes in between as possible. What it is going to sound like is just a rip. So it is one of the few times where a horn player could just let loose. So don't be afraid to do so. The most important thing is that you start on the correct note, that you end on the correct note and that you stay in time but definitely try to hit as many notes in between as possible. You will notice that you could actually use your fingers slightly to try to hit more notes in between or if you blow all the way through it you should hit on the notes in between and you don't use your fingers. Really the ideal with this sign or the spirit of it is something like the hunting horn call and the French horn use to be a hunting horn so it comes pretty naturally. Just remember when you playing glissando let loose, let it rip, it is the most natural thing to play on the horn. "