French Horn...

[singlereed]

I think we have one or two horn players here, so hopefully someone can give me some advice. My daughter has been playing Eb tenor horn for a couple of years (that's the little baby tuba-like thing, known also as an alto saxhorn) in a junior brass band. We are looking for an orchestral instrument for her to play and she is interested in French horn. I do realise its a difficult instrument, but the repertoire is varied and players are much in demand. She is quite a gifted little musician and has shown a lot of application with piano and tenor horn.

We will give her the chance to try it out with a specialist teacher. My question is, what sort of horn should she start on? - she's already done the first few grades on tenor horn so I hope she would hit the ground running, in other words she should get to an intermediate standard fairly quickly. Assuming she likes it, should we get her a double horn right away or not, and what makes/models are a sound buy to learn on?

[mostly alto guy]

Caveat--I'm not a horn player, but I know a little bit about them from having nearly married a pretty fine horn player once upon a time and from heavy research a few months ago when I was considering purchasing one.

If your daughter is serious, a double horn now can help her on her way. Others may say a double horn is in a way like a crutch in that it facilitates wider range and solves some intonation problems so the player doesn't have to work so hard. If I were starting out on horn, I'd want exactly those advantages. I believe the Conn 6D is their smaller throat (the 8D being the US orchestral "standard") model. Conn horns are said to be solid players, though most pro players have them (8Ds mostly) modified to an even higher standard.

Again, if I were starting out, I'd go for a Conn double horn.

[beth]

if money isn't an issue, i too reccommend a double horn. your daughter is not a beginner to music and she will hopefully take to the horn quickly. i started on a double horn. it's almost silly to purchase a single and upgrade a few years later. even if she doesn't decide to stay with the horn, a good double horn will have good resale value. like mostly alto guy suggests, the double horn creates a wider range, solves some intonation problems, and also provides alternate fingerings for difficult technical passages and for hard to get notes (i for some reason always had trouble with D 2nd line treble, and used the Bb side for it more often than not, it helped a lot).
obviously start her out playing on just the F side (single horn) the first few months. as she begins to get comfortable with the instrument, she can begin to incorporate the Bb side. this will be easier than playing years on a single and then having to learn the Bb when she is given a double.
again, i agree with mostly alto guy with the Conns. ive also played on some Holtons and Yamahas that i've liked as well.

[soreliprick]

Since this is the only 'Horn' thread, and there were only replys to this thread, and since I followed the advise and got a nice Olds double, I figured one of you might help me with the range of a double horn.
"as written" in F gives a range from C2 to C6. So then we have to drop down a P5, which gives F1 to F5. But the Orchestra Chart that I have shows the range from B1 to F5 for a pro, F2 to C4 for a beginner. Now, I'm almost certain I can get F1...or F2...but I can't figure out where the 'pro' range gets down to. B1 is either not as far down as I can get, or not as far as the 'as written' chart shows. Do you have any idea what I'm trying to ask?!

[soreliprick]

To answer my own question, more than 2.5 years later, since noone else has, eventhough the question is confusing, since we all know that B1 is higher than F1, being the last note before C2, my chart still shows the "Pro Low" as being the F below the bass clef - concert Bb1 - which is also the lowest 'normal' fingering, 123, that a trumpet player utilizes. And eventhough I'm still trying to get below the "High School Low", which is concert F2, my "NEW QUESTION" is - Why do they even have a chart for notes that even a Professional Horn player doesn't expect to hit? And, no, I still haven't gotten a real teacher for any of the many instruments I can barely play.

[gary]

Rick, see my post on your other thread.
Key words: The Art of French Horn Playing by Philip Farkas. :)

[soreliprick]

Thanks, Gary, I guess The Art of Saxophone Playing by Larry Teal was worth the money. Guess I'd better get that Bassoon Playing edition at the same time,
although my thumb hasn't cramped up for quite a while.....