French Horn: Basics 1 (non-credit)
Lessons Overview:
Lesson One: Getting Started—Holding the Horn, Breathing, and Embouchure
- Parts of the horn
- Assembling and holding the horn
- Breathing
- Embouchure and creating sound
- Maintaining the horn
Lesson Two: Hot Cross Buns
- Embouchure work
- Breathing exercises
- Playing in E-flat major
- Articulation
- Performance Piece: Hot Cross Buns
Lesson Three: More on Hot Cross Buns
- History of horn
- Flexibility exercise
- Playing in F major
- Breathing exercise
- Gaining musical literacy
Lesson Four: Pierrot
- Breathing exercise
- Introduction to the metronome
- Flexibility exercise
- Performance piece: Pierrot
- Gaining musical literacy
Lesson Five: Major Duple
- Range exercise
- Introduction to solfège
- Solfège exercise
- Finger chart
- Performance Piece: Major Duple
Lesson Six: Go Tell Aunt Rhody
- Introduction to dynamics
- New keys: C major and A minor
- Performance piece: Go Tell Aunt Rhody
- Performance review piece
Lesson Seven: Lightly Row
- Horn history
- Introduction to mutes
- Performance piece: Lightly Row
- Lightly Row inner voice lines
Lesson Eight: Long, Long Ago
- C major scale
- Performance piece: Long, Long Ago
- Inner voice lines
- E-flat and F major scale
Lesson Nine: Long, Long Ago in A Minor
- Tuning
- Long, Long Ago in A Minor
- Chromatic scale
- Problem solving
Lesson Ten: Preparing for the Final Exam
- Improvising melodic phrases
- Improvisation on Long, Long Ago in A Minor
- Improvisation on inner voice lines
- Performance Review
Required Materials
- Single or double horn and mouthpiece in playable condition
- Valve oil (Hetman rotor valve 12, Hetman medium bearing and linkage 13.5, or Al Cass)
- Slide grease (Yamaha or Schilke)
- Horn cleaning snake
- Mouthpiece brush
- Alternatively, invest in a horn care packet from Amazon like this or this which contains valve oil, slide grease, mouthpiece brush, and horn cleaning snake.
- Computer and Internet access
- Recording device (video camera, smart phone, tablet, camera, etc.)