001.tifHorn Pedagogy

[See also Camps & Workshops, Clinics & Lessons, Music Education, Practicing)

Horn teachers list - Hornplayer.net maintains a list of horn teachers: "1110 teachers from 45 countries" - add yourself!

Pedagogy section of the Forum of the web site of the International Horn Society - ask and answer questions on horn pedagogy

Méthode de Premier et de Second Cor by Heinrich Domnich - 129 page pdf file of the entire book (in French)

English translation of the entire Dauprat Method for Cor Alto and Cor Basse (Paris, 1824) - 500 p. long! Beautifully done by Birdalone Music, which also offers an excellent selection & editions of both historical and contemporary works and books hard to find elsewhere.

Pedagogy Timeline - "significant events in horn technique and teaching" - timeline. From Kayla Nelson's hornhistory.com site.

First Horn Lessons - from the Jackson, Longfellow, and Sheridan Elementary School Bands Website [Wisconsin]

The Advanced Horn Player (pdf file) - a clinic given by David Brandon at the Texas Bandmasters Association

Brass Pedagogy - good set of links and lists of reference books by David Wilken

Getting Started on the Horn - article (with nice photos) by John Ericson

TeacherTube - a sort of YouTube for education with all kinds of instructional videos - feel free to contribute!

Teaching the French Horn - Why All the Mystery? by William C. Robinson. Article in the Conn-Selmer web site.

Building a Better Horn Section - Downloadable article (pdf) by David E. Hoover about improving school band horn sections.

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ABRSM - the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music is "the world's leading music examining board. Over 650,000 candidates take our music exams each year in more than 90 countries around the world. We also run professional development courses for teachers and ABRSM Publishing publishes a wide range of repertoire, music books and CDs." Complete Horn Syllabus (graded repertoire) - pdf file. See also the Trinity Guildhall Brass Syllabus (downloadable pdf file - 160 pages!).

BeginBand.com - Beginning band and orchestra information

How to Play the French Horn - Expert Village offers tutorial videos (131,362 at last count) on all kinds of subjects (like YouTube, except you learn something). This series of short videos (23!) is by Katherine Liesener. Topics include Adjusting Pitch with the Hand and with the Embouchure, Emptying the Spit [sic] Valve, Practice Tips, Training Methods, Stopping & Muting, Tuning, Greasing slides, Holding the Horn, Oiling Valves, Alternate Fingerings, Accents, Getting Started, Glissandos, Staccato, Playing Standing Up, Embouchure, Mouthpiece Pressure, Legato Tonguing, Slurring, Dynamics.

eHow offers similar videos (including Katherine Liesener's videos above). Richard Deane, 3rd horn of the Atlanta Symphony offers a series of 5 tutorial horn videos on eHOw, with topics including Fingerings, Major Scales, How to Play Horn, How do French Horns Work, Different Types of Horns, Parts of the Horn, Cleaning the Horn, Buying a Horn.

Understanding Your French Horn - online article by Catherine Schmidt-Jones "For eighth grade and up, a series of lessons that can be offered by an instructor or done as a self-study course, to teach French horn players more about their instrument." Includes sections on musical acoustics, orchestral instruments, transposition, history, repertoire, and information for composers.

The Viennese Study Plan for Horn

Dissertations

Pherigo, Johnny Lee. "A Critical Survey of Materials and Practices Related to Teaching the Horn, 1965-1985." D.M.A. diss., University of Illinois, 1986. UMI# 87-01590.

Sholtis, Jennifer Ratchford. “Proven Methods for Developing a Successful Beginning Horn Player.” D.M.A. essay, University of Iowa, 2005.