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French Horn
What is a French Horn?
The French Horn is the second highest sounding instrument in the brass family consisting of about 12 feet of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. It also uses a cupped mouthpiece shaped in a way that allows the player’s lips to vibrate to generate the instrument’s sound. Three valves control the flow of air in the single horn, which is usually tuned to F. The more common double horn has a fourth valve, usually operated by the thumb, which routes the air to one set of tubing tuned to F or the second set of tubing tuned to Bb. Compared to the other brass instruments in the orchestra, it has a much smaller mouthpiece, but it also has the widest usable range - approximately four octaves, depending on the ability of the player.
A classical orchestra usually contained two horns. Typically, the 1st horn played a high part and the 2nd horn played a low part. Composers from Beethoven onwards commonly wrote for four horns. Chamber music also uses the French Horn including woodwind quintets and horn trios due to its warm tone and extensive range.
Source: “French Horn, Horn.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Teaching Philosophy
Travis Anderson teaches French Horn at the Fabulous School of Music. He will take students starting at age 8. His goal is to guide the growing musician to a level of excellence on their instrument, not only playing the instrument well, but to become well rounded musicians. All of Travis’s students will receive instruction on the fundamentals of music theory, reading staff notation (Treble clef for the French Horn), and history of the instrument.
His French Horn teaching method involves a rich education in classical solo literature and band or orchestral excerpts. Some of the books and media sources Travis uses for his brass students are “The Standard Book of Excellence” , “Practical Theory Complete: A Self-Instruction Music Theory Course”, “Canadian Brass Master Class” video and websites including http://www.musictheory.net . The beginning/intermediate French Horn method books used are, “The Art of French Horn Playing” by Philip Farkas and 60 Selected Studies for French Horn by G. Kopprasch.
French Horn Teachers
Below is a list of teachers that teach the French Horn at the Fabulous School of Music. Click on a profile to learn more.