Sally Fetterman Dr.

Marx Brass Methods April 6, 2022

Teaching Procedures Outline - Horn

 Out of the Case:

 Case on ground
 Logo facing up
 Place mouthpiece into mouthpiece receiver, quarter turn into place
 Lubricate the valves with valve oil
 Press the valves down
 Take out the valve slides while the valves are pressed
 Apply oil to the inside of the valve casings
 Put the valve slides back in
 Unscrew the rotor caps and apply one drop to the center of each
 Screw them back on

 Posture
 When seated: Sit on the edge of the seat, feet flat on floor
 When standing: Feet flat on floor, don’t collapse chest, one foot slightly more forward
than the other.
 Playing position: The instrument should be brought up to the face, rather than reaching
down the face to the instrument

 Hand Position
 Right Hand Carriage
 Cup the back of the skull and hold that shape
 Create a bit of a shelf with the thumb
 Stick the R.H. inside the bell as far in as the bell brace
 The bell should be supported by both the 2nd knuckle of the thumb and the 1st knuckle
of the pointer finger
 Note: if student’s left arm is not long enough to reach inside, they can just grab the
horn by the bell instead of reaching inside
 Left Hand Carriage
 Put the thumb in the thumb hook and the pinky in the pinky hook
 Place the pads of fingers 1, 2, and 3 on top of valves 1, 2, and 3
 The horn should be supported equally by both left and right hands

 Initial Sounds:
 Say “M” and bring the corners of the mouth in, with a flat chin, to form embouchure
 Make a buzzing sound with this shape
  Place mouthpiece should be placed on 2/3 of top lip and 1/3 of bottom lip
 Make a buzzing sound with the mouthpiece in this position

 Articulation:
 Tip of the tongue touches where the gums meet the back of the teeth
 Say “ta” for a normal sound
 Say “do” for connected and legato
 Sat “ti” for separated and staccato

 Problems and Solutions for beginners:

 Problem: Breathiness in tone
 Solution: Try blowing a paper to keep it against a wall
 Problem: Too much mouthpiece pressure, red ring on the mouth
 Solution: Lick chops before playing, only use enough pressure to create a seal
 Problem: Student is playing in the wrong partial or out of tune
 Solution: Play the concert pitch on the piano and then have the student sing the note.
This will help guide their ear towards the right note when they are playing the note on
the horn.

 Idiosyncrasies
 Stopped horn: creates a muffled sound
 Stop with hand
 Close the R.H. in the bell like a trap door, try to stop air from coming out of the
bell
 Player will have to finger a half step down
 Stop mute
 Insert mute into the bell
 Player will have to finger a half step down
 Stop valve
 When pressed, the horn will sound a half step up from what is being fingered
 Player must close the R.H. in the bell like a trap door
 Emptying condensation
 1st, use the water key
 If the horn has a water key, open it and blow air through the instrument to expel
condensation
 2nd, use the main tuning slide
 Take out the main tuning slide and empty the condensation from it
 3rd, use the valve slides
 Press the valves down during this process
 Take out each valve slide and empty condensation
  4th, rotate instrument
 Take out the mouthpiece
 Turn the instrument clockwise twice and condensation should fall out
 There is no use of vibrato on the horn

 References
 A Complete Guide to Brass by Scott Whitener
 Hornsociety.org
 Hornmatters.com