French horn help?!
Question:
French horn help?
how do you get a good tone on your french horn? I
Answers: 1. AIR!!! Good tone comes from good breath support. Breathe in with an O (like the letter) sound and out with a HO (like the sleazy part of town) sound. This will force you to breath from your gut NOT YOUR CHEST. When you breath in you should be able to easily see your stomach expand, and your shoulders shouldn't move.
2. Drop your jaw as far as possible, then a little bit more, and make sure you keep your embouchure as open as possible without letting air escape from the sides of your mouth
3. Imagine that you have a baseball in your mouth, while you play, this helps you keep your mouth open and get the air to resonate off the roof of your mouth. (its crazy but its what my horn teacher said, and it it works)
4. LITTLE MOUTHPIECE PRESSURE!! but only after your breathing is good, because good breath support is required to use less lip. Take your horn and put it on a table that is about your standing or kneeling height. Try to play G C D E F G on your horn without touching it. This is EXTREMELY hard the first month. But it forces you to rely on your breath and lip tension and not pressure. Once you can play E and above with no pressure you tone will really improve. This gives your tone that nice effortless quality that a lot of people lack. This is because once you master this concept, the notes are effortless.
5. Last but not least listen to professional soloists (Farkas, Tuckwell, Brain, et al.) to develop an idea of where you want your tone to go. okay, so for good tone, you have to know what to think when you play, listen to famous french horn players and learn from what they sound like.
also be sure to blow lots of air, practice of your mouth pice and be breathing in as much air as possible, and using it all. look into the "Breathing Gym" we watched it in band, kinda korny, but very helpful
be sure you have little to no pressure on your lips, lightly set the mouth piece on your lips with your lips barely touchingwith plenty of room for air to go through
and lastly, make sure your mouth is open and your teeth are seperated so you have nothing blocking the air
talk to any brass playing mentors, like a teacher or somthing, they will provide you with the best info