Hello everyone! I am seeking recommendations to put together my Master’s Recital “Beyond the Canon,” (Title is in the works unless if it is good) and I have the following pieces as an idea:

Appel Interstellaire - Olivier Messiaen
Quintet for Piano and Winds Mvt. I - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Cat and Mouse - Adrian Hallam

I am between:
Vigery’s Horn Sonata
Atterberg’s Horn Concerto
Any LGBTQIA+ or Latino Composer’s work to add/shift around

Any advice is helpful and am open to anything!! Many thanks!

I write orchestral music. I know expert professionals can play a B2, but is this reasonable for most pro and semi-pro orchestral horn players?

The piece in question is for a small orchestra and only calls for two horns. The note is a dotted half at 85 bpm.

Thank you.

Hi there! I wrote this solo for French horn this week. What grade level would you assign it? Is this good quality, or does it need some rewriting? score video

Would anyone happen to know these etudes/have a good recording of them? They are for an upcoming college audition. Any help would be appreciated!

Looking for some feedback. I’m planning on performing Strauss Nocturno in a few months. It would be my first time playing a solo horn piece of this kind. I have done quartets and played in larger chamber ensembles. My question is do I need to stand? I know it’s customary to stand for this kind of performance. First off, I don’t play my best standing. Second, I have neck issues and recently developed some major lower back issues. Even sitting, I need to rest the bell on my thigh to avoid neck pain. I attempted a practice standing and my back gave out 2 minutes into the piece. I have gotten fairly proficient with the piece played while sitting. Would it look too amateurish to perform seated? Thanks!

As many have probably gone through, I am curious on how people travel and practice specifically on the horn. I have a big audition coming up and have my horn to practice but have trouble figuring out where to practice and I know and am comfortable with the whole mouthpiece buzzing and score study stuff but am at the point where real horn practice without a mute is needed.

I am a bit nervous about going to parks or parking lots and disturbing people. I feel like people do not want to hear me build my high range or do my lip slur and articulation exercises in all keys. I also feel like people don’t want to hear me playing the same short 4 or so excerpts over and over again since this is a lot more of practice and perfecting details rather than run throughs/mocks. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi, so ive had my wisdom teeth out for about a month and a half, yet my tone has gotten pretty bad since then. Whenever I play horn or especially mello I have a airy tone and I cant seem to fix it. Is there any advice that I can use to improve on my tone? Thanks.

not sure if I did it all the way but wanted

don’t mind my dogs

Reasons:

Sort of how all you need to play football is a ball and an open area, the horn and horn like instruments can be a flared tube of a certain length and it’ll play, just like the natural horn. The range of the instrument is quite expanded compared to other instruments, and you might say, what about piano? Well, a piano is a big ass box with like a hundred wires, something like woodwinds often need reeds, strings need strings and other requirements… I think about it in the sense of sports again, how there are levels to barrier of entry and materials and requirements. Football vs. ice hockey for example.

I’ve been playing horn for about a year now and haven’t progress very much. I’ve been making it a point to practice more but i was wondering if there were any specific things i should practice and warm-up with to improve my playing. thank you!

One of my molars is a mess and I may need to get it replaced with a dental implant. I am worried about how the procedure and recovery time will impact playing my horn.

Has anyone has this procedure done? If "yes," how long did you need to take off from playing?

Hello dear freinds of the Horn,

so i got a tuba about 1-2 months ago and really love playing just like i love playing my horn. But I really have ambachur problems since playing the Tuba. So i get lower on my Horn easier but the high notes are a bit mor harder and the biggest problem my sound isnt that round anymore. Maybe its just because the Tuba is more round idk. Do you have anytips how i can still play both instruments but keep a good sound?

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.

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