The French horn is one of the most unique brass instruments because of its unique shape, coiling pipes, a large bell, and rich and easily recognizable sound. As difficult as it may be, the French horn might just be the instrument for you!
Horn players can play different music in the orchestra and are sometimes even tasked with solo passages, adding color to passages, and don’t always get stuck with playing only the bassline.
However, the French horn is also one of the most difficult instruments to master and play correctly without sounding out of tune.
We’ll look at why the French horn is one of the most difficult instruments to play below. Please come along on the journey, and don’t get discouraged—with practice, anything is possible.
Why is the French Horn So Hard To Play?
Below, we’ll look at some factors that contribute to the French horn’s difficulty, such as its size, weight, and producing notes.
Physical Size and Construction
The size and weight of a French horn can be difficult for especially young beginners. A single horn measures around 13 feet (± 4 meters), and a double horn around 22.5 feet (± 7 meters) when uncoiled.
The French horn’s size makes the French horn quite heavy—between 6 and 8 pounds (2.7–3.6 kilograms). Most teachers recommend a single horn for beginners because it is lighter.
The French horn’s size also requires a player to hold it from behind, almost as if hugging it, while the right hand supports the bulk of the weight and the left hand’s fingers play the valves.
As you play the French horn, the air will condense on the instrument’s inside, meaning liquid will collect inside the tubing. You’ll have a gurgling sound if you don’t remove the condensation.
Horn players will sometimes need to twist, flip, or shake their instruments to move the moisture to a point where it can be drained through a certain slide of water key (also known as a “spit valve” by trumpeters and trombonists).
It can sometimes become difficult, given how much tubing goes into a French horn.
Next, we’ll look at the difficulties of producing sound.
Playing Notes
Several factors are involved in playing the French horn, and each poses a unique challenge to the player.
First, there’s the mouthpiece forming the mouth to contend with; next, you’ll need to operate the valves, and finally, you’ll need to produce a pure sound without being out of tune.
Mouthpiece
The mouthpiece is perhaps the most important part of playing the French horn—without it, you cannot produce sound. The mouthpiece directs air into the instrument’s tubing and lets it vibrate to produce a sound.
It is also rather small and shaped like a cone and a deep funnel shape. This brings another round of difficulty to the instrument—-it is the smallest of all the brass mouthpieces with the thinnest rim.
If you do not “seal” the mouthpiece properly against your lips, it can create very “interesting” and harsh sounds (or no sound at all).
The mouthpiece is usually placed directly on the front of the lips. Still, some professional players prefer placing it off-center slightly due to the shape of their lips and teeth.
Even the slightest change in placing the lips on the mouthpiece can change the sound—-another difficulty.
Beginners usually find it difficult to form the correct embouchure (shaping the lips and mouth to the mouthpiece, also called lip tensioning). If a student cannot master this early on, playing the French horn would be almost impossible.
Mouth Techniques
Practicing and playing the French horn can place extreme pressure on the mouth and cheeks, which means they can become tired. When these muscles become tired, young players will puff up their cheeks.
Continuous puffing will weaken the lip and buccinator muscles in the cheeks. They can lead to a condition known as “Glassblowers Cheeks”. Luckily this is a bad habit that can be remedied before it becomes a bigger problem later in their playing career.
Operating the Valves
Instead of piston valves like the trumpet or tuba, the French horn has rotary valves attached to levers operated by the player’s left hand. The valves rotate on the inside to divert the airstream inside the horn.
Beginners need to learn the combinations required to produce notes, which, with time, becomes second nature. Along with valve combinations, they’ll also have to learn to use the correct amount of airflow and embouchure to produce a good and pure sound.
Producing a Pure Sound
French horn music is written a fifth higher than it sounds and is known as a transposing instrument. Like most brass instrumentalists, French horn players have to learn how to buzz their lips to produce a tone.
It is quite a difficult technique for teachers to illustrate to students visually. Without the precise mouth formation technique, it is impossible to produce a pure sound.
The French horn has one of the widest ranges of notes in the brass family, meaning players have to learn different techniques to produce those sounds without going out of tune.
Higher notes will require faster breathing and increases strain on the lips too. The French horn’s principal range falls in the third octave of the overtone series.
The notes are close to one another, which makes it very easy to get the wrong note or play out of tune with the rest of the ensemble or orchestra.
Conclusion
The French horn is extremely difficult to manage if you want to be a professional player in an orchestra but worth it if you want to stand out in a crowd. The physical size and weight might be problematic for young beginners.
Combined with the difficulty of producing a pure sound, it becomes one of the hardest instruments to master. There are various options to choose if you want to learn the French horn, such as online lessons and tutorials.
Still, a teacher interested in your personal development and technique can never be underestimated. Through hard work and dedicating time to practice, nothing is impossible!