French Horn

Recommended Brands

For rental:

• Yamaha
• Holton
• Conn Double Horn

For purchase:

• Conn 6D Double Horn
• Conn 8D Double Horn
• Holton and Yamaha also make excellent pro horns

Recommended Mouthpieces

• Schilke 30
• Holton MC
• Conn 2
• Bach 7

Daily Required Supplies

• rotary valve oil (not key oil)
• tuning slide grease
• mouthpiece brush
• cleaning snake

For Mustang and Advanced Band only:

• students should also have their own straight mutes

French Horn Embouchure Instructions and Pictures

These two links are for use by Miller Milddle School students and teachers only. Those from other schools who wish to use them should purchase the Embouchure Project from Teachers Pay Teachers.

French Horn Embouchure Instructions

French Horn Embouchure Pictures

Forming the Embouchure

TODO: Nancy

Producing Correct Pitch with Correct Embouchure

• TODO: Nancy

Tuning Instructions for the French Horn

French horn tuning note is middle C (if trigger, 3rd space C).

Play your tuning note into the tuner. If the needle stays towards the right, your note is sharp. If it stays towards the left, your note is flat. The goal is to get the tuner to stay in the middle. Play "freeze the needle" - hold the note steady and in tune.

Move the tuning slide(s) in or out to make the tubing of the instrument longer or shorter.

Keep in mind that even though you will first use these notes to tune, other notes on your instrument may not be in tune. It is the nature of instruments. The longer you play your instrument, and the better tone you have, the more you will be able to play all notes in tune on your instrument.

In a nutshell...

The longer the pipe, the lower the pitch. If your pitch is sharp (high), you need to make it flatter (lower).

The shorter the pipe, the higher the pitch. If your pitch is flat (low), you need to make it sharper (higher).

More Resources

French Horn Fundamentals from the U. S. Army Master Classes (PDF)