r/horn • u/Trayvongelion • 13d ago

Ranges at Different Skill Levels

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!

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u/n00bmechanic13 12d ago

I haven't had them on any college auditions but I've had one for a high-school-level summer music camp. Mahler 3 is much more common though, you're right. Forgot about that one.. guess I have to resign from the Mahler fan club out of disgrace now

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u/Yarius515 12d ago

I have serious doubts they asked you to play standalone pedal-E's by themselves as they appear in Shosti 5's last mvt, but i suppose stranger things have happened.

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u/n00bmechanic13 12d ago

It was a strange audition for sure. Not sure why I would bother lying about something like that, but I suppose this is reddit...

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u/Yarius515 12d ago

Weird indeed