Welcome to /r/horn

Hey everyone,

My gf is looking to get a D.M.A. in horn performance and we are trying to figure out where the right program for her would be and would love y’all’s thoughts and suggestions. Ideally we’d like to find somewhere that has a graduate assistantship and is located in or bordering a state with good if not protected women’s healthcare (obgyn/non abortion bans) available. Any advice, knowledge, or experience is greatly appreciated.

Anyone know of any early horn music written by women composers?

Thanks!

https://files.fm/u/nfwnpx6ks9

I’ve never seen a double horn wrapped like this, are there any downsides to this wrap? Any upsides?

I'm currently a senior in high school and I'm looking to buy my own personal horn for a minor in music performance in college. I'm looking for a used horn in the $1000-$2000 range, and I'm seeing a lot of Holtons for sale, however I'm seeing a lot of mixed reviews of Holton horns on this sub reddit which is making a bit hesitant in buying one, and I want a second opinion before making a purchase. If it helps, I'm currently playing on a Conn 8D owned by my school.

I (a senior in high school) have been tasked by our local university’s horn professor to put together a horn trio to play in their horn studio concert as an up-and-coming group.

The trio is composed of 3 all-state horn players, myself, another senior, and a junior.

We’ve been playing together and have some great chemistry as a section.

Unfortunately I’m struggling to find music. If any of you have suggestions I would appreciate it. Thank you!

Ive done clarinet for the past three years and for marching season but I am interested in doing french horn for concert season. I know its a much harder instrument ambruchure (idk how to spell) wise but is there anything I should know?

Hi all! Can anyone help me identify whether this is a single or a double horn? I have a hunch, but would love to know if it is visually confirmable. Thank you!

Hello, good day, or goodnight! So recently I’ve been really into what I call horn karaoke. It’s where you play along with a piece on YouTube with the score on my tv screen. I’ve been having some trouble finding good ones to play (kinda) prima vista, because I really like symphonies and similar stuff from the classical to romantic period. My transposition isn’t that developed yet bc we always get transposed parts into horn in F from my school orchestra…. So my question is; do you know some fun horn parts in e.g. symphonies/ overtures/ concerto’s? Preferably 1st horn because that’s the most fun while playing along 🥰

I can handle pretty difficult stuff in range, like an A above the clef and an A 2 octaves below middle C are no problem for me, but please not toooo rhythmically challenging 🫣

Some examples I really enjoy to play along with are: Mahler 5- finale, Beethoven 3- finale, Haydn 104- finale -you could begin to see a trend here haha-, Brahms 1- 3/4th mvm, Berlioz symf fantastique- finale, and Beethoven concerto 5 mvm 1

Oh and my comfortable transpositions are F(duh), Eb, D and C!

please help, i cant play fast on french horn, one time i will play it well second time i am messing up everything and making mistakes even if i repeated this and practiced fast and slow, when i try to play sometimes i am just lost and my fingers are playing something different how to practice this to never make mistake and play sixteenths fast? i play some concert there are like few times sixteenths at 120 bpm its not thatt fast so i dont know what is wrong with me, anyone have any tips or similar problem?

I've had a pair of these earplugs for a few years but suffer with the occlusion effect when using them.

If I were to get some custom ones like these, would that prevent/reduce the occlusion effect or is that just something you have to live with?

Is the switch from a holton farkas MC to holton MDC any different? Like Rim wise?

Hi horn players

My school is responsible for giving out instruments and equipment to kids. We have a bunch of conn horns. 6d and 8d, some other models. What mouthpieces should I buy for beginners, intermediates, and advanced students, as a stock thing to have for them. My stock has a ton of Bach 7s and 11s, Farkas MC and MDC. Personally I play on a laskey g on an 8D recommended by my horn teacher, but he wouldn't speak on general equipment for younger players. Id get more laskeys but I can't afford them on budget or through approved sellers. The protege line is great.

I haven’t played or picked up a horn since my junior year of high school. I began playing at the age of 11 after switching over from trumpet and immediately fell in love with it. In 7th grade, I placed fifth chair in the top band and in 8th grade, me and another girl were always rotating between first and second chair. In 9th grade, I was initially placed as third chair in the 2nd highest band, and then was always either 2nd or 3rd chair of the top band in both 10th and 11th grade.

I decided to quit before my senior year due to depression and other life matters at the time taking precedence. It’s one of my biggest regrets since it was one of the very few things I genuinely enjoyed and was good at. Within just the last 2 years or so, I’ve had such an urge to pick it up again but I just wonder if it’s worth dropping so much money on a nicer brand model. I’m also just worried that I won’t be nearly as good as I used to be after 12 years of 0 practice. I can still read sheet music and I still have the note fingerings memorized.

This would mainly be a hobby for me at first, however I’m very open to possibly pursuing a future career if all goes well relearning how to play and picking up where I left off.

Does anyone else have a similar background of playing horn after a long hiatus? Or anyone who maybe started to learn horn later in life? What are some tips on what to learn / practice first?

Also, what brand and model horn would you recommend for a casual player?

TLDR; I haven’t played horn in over 12 years and I would love to start playing again as a hobby for now and possibly pursue a music career in the future if all goes well. Would to hear some possible tips from both professional and casual horn players on the best way to relearn and also recommendations on best brand/model of horn for a casual player. 🙂

I bought this horn around a month ago new, and have had an amazing experience on it. Unforunately I just hit it against the corner of my chair's armrest while practicing. Obviously this dink will have no real effect on the sound, and is almost unnoticeable in it of itself. I was wondering if this is an easy fix when I get my first cleaning on it?

https://preview.redd.it/734yb50uoeyd1.png?width=8160&format=png&auto=webp&s=8833dacf63d7e7d36a680e5dadfdf411a8ec17ac

I’ve been rehearsing 7 hours straight every day, which has been particularly challenging because I’m new to the principal horn role after years as second horn. This level of intensity is exhausting, and my lips (especially my upper lip) are really swollen. I have two big concerts this weekend, but my lips just aren’t recovering. Does anyone have advice on how to reduce the swelling or help with recovery?

Good day! So a friend of mine asked me about sheet music for 5th division orchestra. I don’t know if this is the right term for it in English, but what I’m talking about are those bands of brass, woodwinds and percussion. He is in the 5th division level, but I’m not sure what this entails and I can’t find anything on internet relating to horn music.

Can anyone help and explain it a bit and give some examples of pieces (and where to find sheets)?

Thanks in advance!

Ps. This system probably isn’t used outside of my country. The description of the orchestra I translated down here:

The orchestras are divided into the following sections:

A. Harmony

This means an orchestra, consisting of both wooden and copper Wind instruments, percussion instruments, sometimes supplemented by celli, Double bass, harp(s) and piano. The main group of the orchestra is formed by Wooden wind instruments, with the multiple instruments of the Clarinet register is characteristic.

And for the division system:

Each section is divided into the following divisions:

A. Introduction division

B. 5th division

C. 4th division

D. 3rd division

E. 2nd division

F. 1st division

The Concert Division is placed above the 1st Division. This is subject to a separate

Regulations.

High schooler applying to colleges as an undergraduate, my list so far is is NEC, Juilliard, Depaul, Michigan, Mannes School of Music, Indiana, Manhattan School of Music, UCLA, USC, and SF Conservatory. Is this a good list?

Also is Northwestern still a good studio without Gail Williams?

Also was thinking Rice but with Vermeulen "retiring" and all of the interim professors it's just a big toss up.

Finally, any advice y'all could give me for prescreenings and live auditions?

Another effort to get some conversations going...

What's one of your favorite solo works that is off the beaten path? Not necessarily completely obscure, but something that might be a pleasant surprise to see on a program.

I'll start: Rosetti (Rössler) wrote a good number of horn concerti and duo horn concerti. Some are more interesting, others less so. I think the best one is the E-flat Concerto C49. It's a bit long-winded, and there are some difficult parts that seem like woodwind writing, but there is an abundance of melodic material. I think it's pretty neat that each movement has a cadenza or eingang. If you are venturing into natural horn, it's somewhat more manageable than Mozart. Among the solo concerti there is variety between high concerti and low concerti. Like Haydn writing for the orchestra at Esterhaza, Rosetti composed at the court of Wallerstein, and had a high and low horn player to write for.

What would you like to hear?

I recently inherited my grandmother's horn; both my mother and sister played it through the years, and while it will to go to my daughter someday, I'd really like to learn at least the basics while she's still too small to hold it. As far as I can tell from the serial number and appearance, it's a Reynolds Contempora model FE-01 double horn from sometime around 1971.

There are three mouthpieces which came in the case: a Reynolds 6D, a Vincent Bach Corp 10, and a Giardinelli New York S14. The first two, I've been able to find some information online regarding shape and performance; nothing really on the S14 - it looks like it might have a screw-on rim, but if so it's seized pretty badly, and I'm inclined to soak it in some penetrating oil to see if that loosens it up.

Tragically, six years of tuba in school (a long time ago) have me in a poor state to judge the performance of mouthpieces - they're all very different from what I'm used to, and looking online has been of no help. Is it just a 'try playing and see which ones work best' thing or are there general rules for selection? Things to look out for in fit or performance? I'd love any suggestions, this is a very different experience than the tuba and I'm finding it a bit alien.

I have an audition in like ~2 months, and I was planning on playing a piece that would stand out. I feel like in auditions, people play too many of the same pieces, such as the mozart horn concerti and Strauss 1 and 2. I just finished learning Mozart's horn concerto no 4 and thought it could be a good piece but it's really overplayed, and it's quite difficult finding pieces to play, what's an unknown piece that would be quite challenging but would still be good for an audition? The maximum would be up to 5 minutes

I dont think there is much more to explain here, the title speaks for itself 🤣

Anyone happen to know if 871 valve caps would fit a 671? The 871 valve caps have a nicely etched design and i'd like to get a set for my horn.

Also open to suggestions if anyone knows where to get some nice ones. I know Balu customizes.

I realized over the summer that the plating on my mouthpiece had completely worn through and was hurting my lips, and further realized that I had stolen that mouthpiece from my high school band teacher and it didn't have any sort of...brand? or manufacturer?? printed on it. I was like, okay, I'm 15 years in to playing, it's probably time to, idk, invest in a mouthpiece 💀

I ordered a Laskey 75G after much indecisive reading on here (I have a 8D and was really overthinking it and saw that recommended as a safe place to start) and oh my god, it is night and day. I've struggled for years to hit anything above an F and had basically accepted that I will always be a low horn player. Sure I could squeak out a G on my old mouthpiece, sometimes, but ouch. I did some scales to warm up and hit that G no problem, and playing itself is so much easier. I'm so excited to work my range even further up now. idk it just feels like a major breakthrough for me and I wanted to share :")

Hello! At the moment I’m working on a picturebook about a triangle-player in a (classical) orchestra. Of course there will be other instruments in the orchestra as well, and now I’m looking for things that certain musicians do before the concert starts. Things that are specific for your instrument. Would love to here from you!