TheFrench Horn

What does a french horn look like?The french horn looks a bit like a snake coiled around and around itself. If you unwound the entire horn tube it would be nearly four metres long! The french horn has a detachable mouthpiece which fits in one end of the tube. The hornist blows through the mouthpiece to get air into the instrument. The other end of the tube flares out into what is known as a bell, and this is where the sound comes out. When you watch a hornist play you will notice that they put their right hand into the bell. This helps them control the sound that comes out of the horn. Modern french horns have at least three valves, which you push a bit like the keys on a piano, and which help the hornist to play different notes. They also have shorter lengths of tube that can be pulled out or pushed in a bit to change the pitch of the instrument.

The modern french horn

What is pitch?

Pitch means whether a note is a high note or a low

note. In groups, ask one person to choose a note on the piano keyboard

close to middle C. Take it in turns to sing a different note than the original one. Are you singing high or low

pitch? Occasionally play the original note to remind

yourselves where you started from.

Repertoire that features the french hornBecause of its rich, romantic sound, the french horn has been popular with composers as a solo instrument. There are many well known concertos for horn, including four by Mozart. Schumann composed a concerto for four solo horns and orchestra, and Richard Strauss who wrote so well for orchestral horns, also composed a beautiful concerto for the french horn. The french horn works very well in chamber music, for example Brahms’ Horn Trio for violin, horn and piano.

You may not know it, but many of you will be extremely familiar with the sound of the french horn due to its popularity with film music composers. The hornist Vincent DeRosa must be about the most recorded hornist in history, as he has been the principal horn for a number of Hollywood studios and composers, including John Williams. John Williams has written some of the most famous horn tunes of all time, for films such as Harry Potter, Star Wars, and ET: The Extra-Terrestrial.

Auxilliary InstrumentsThe Wagner tuba, despite its name, is actually a member of the horn family. It was invented for the composer Richard Wagner to use in his grand operatic Ring Cycle. The Wagner tuba is a modified horn, with the main noticeable difference being that the bell points upwards in a vertical position. The NZSO owns a number of beautiful Wagner tubas which take pride of place in the orchestra for special performances of music by Wagner.

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NZSO Music for Schools - Rachel Hyde ©2011 nzso.co.nz/education

Research Task...What is chamber music? Use the internet or a dictionary to look up a definition of chamber music. Can you describe how chamber music different from orchestral music?

Classroom

Task...

A bit of horn geographyThe french horn isn’t actually from France. 40 years ago the International Horn Society recommended that the name be changed to simply ‘Horn’ to prevent confusion, as the instrument that you see most hornists playing in the orchestra is actually a German horn!

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The french horn in the orchestraModern orchestras usually have five french horns which play in a very specific pattern. The 1st and 3rd hornists play high music and the 2nd and 4th hornists play low music. The 5th hornist (often called a bumper) supports the 1st hornist by joining in at particularly loud moments, or giving them a break whist they prepare for a big solo. You can see that the french horn section is really

a team, with the players working in pairs and as a whole. Since valves were added to horns, composers have really expanded how they use the section. Perhaps the most extreme example is Richard Strauss, who asked for 20 horns in his Alpine Symphony!

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Classroom

Task...

• Crossword Puzzle

Remember what you have learnt about the French Horn and see how well you can complete the crossword puzzle below. More text filler here and here and here. And more text filler here and here and here.

Across3. The French Horn is from which instrument family? (5)

5. What is the fifth horn player in the section often called? (6)

6. Hornists blow through a mouth..... to get air into their instrument (5)

7. The French Horns auxiliary instrument in called a Wagner ....? (4)

9. What animal does a French Horn look a bit like? (5)

11. How many hornists does a modern orchestra usually have? (4)

Down1. What did a Natural Horn not have that a French Horn does? (6)

2. How many meters (nearly) is the tube of a French Horn? (4)

4. The French Horn has ‘rich, ...... sound’ making it popular with composers (8)

5. What is at the end of the French Horn, which hornists put the right hand in?

6. The Horn section work as a team and often work in ....? (5)

8. What is the name of the smphony by Richard Strauss which requires 20 horns? (6)

10. What does a hornist push to move the valves on a French Horn? (4)

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9. 10.

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