Horn Basics: A Practical Guide for Teachers and Students

Horn Basics is a practical guide covering the fundamental aspects of French-horn playing and is intended for music teachers and horn students. For the past fifteen years an earlier version of this book was used as the primary textbook in applied lessons and methods classes at Western Michigan University as well as other universities. This current version (2017) is the first time this popular book has been made available to a larger audience through wider national and international distribution. The book includes basic and comprehensive fingering charts, tips for improving posture, hand position, breathing, embouchure, tongue placement, ear training, range, endurance, dynamics, warm-up, intonation, lip trills, multiple tonguing, stopped horn, and transposition. Horn Basics also gives practical advice regarding placing horn players within ensembles, the first lesson, mutes, bass clef and old notation, bell in the air, mouthpieces, horns, care and maintenance, horn method/etude books, horn solos with piano, horn chamber ensembles, publishers who specialize in horn ensemble music, professional horn ensembles and recordings, recent prominent hornists, horn/brass reference books, and horn websites. If you are a horn student or music educator, you will want this resource on your bookshelf.