Horn in F

Contents:

Important info:

Although the horns are in the brass section they are not made like any other bras instrument in the orchestra. They don’t use the same sort of valve system that the trumpet or tuba uses, the horns valves are rotary valves, meaning they rotating inside the casing rather than move up and down.

The horn covers the mid range in the brass section and is particularly good at creating thick chordal textures and playing powerful themes, for example, most heroic themes in superhero films will use the horns to create power in the music.

Transposition

The horn in F is a transposing instrument, meaning that when you write for the instrument the note written on the stave is different to the note that you’re hearing. The actual sounding note is a perfect fifth lower than what’s written. The key signature must also change to compensate, it needs to be raised up a perfect fifth from the concert key, for example, if the concert pitch instruments are playing in the key of C, then the horn in F must play in the key of G. Back to top

Mutes

There are two things you can do to mute a horn:

The first is to use a mute that you put into the bell just like any other brass instrument; this changes the tone and colour of the instrument. (for notation see ‘Mutes’ on the brass page)

The second is to use something called ‘hand stopping’, which is when the performer places their hand right inside the bell to block most of the sound, this creates a soft but sharp sounding tone. This is best for single notes or quite sections. This has one complication though; it changes the pitch of the instrument down a semitone. This is not something that you need to worry about entirely, it is not required for you to write out the section up a semitone to compensate, the performer should do this automatically. When notating for ‘stopped’ horn simply write a "" above the notes that you wish to be ‘stopped’, or write 'stopped' or the Italian 'chiuso' above the section. To end the section of ‘stopped’ notes, simply write ‘open’ at the start of the next section, otherwise if you wish for the performer to change from stopped to open then simply write a "" above the notes you wish to be open.

The sound of a muted horn is different to that of a stopped horn, so keep this in mind when writing. The stopped sound has an advantage over the mute because there is no need to add a mute to create the sound, the performer just moves there hand from just outside the bell (where they are holding the instrument up), to right inside it. This means that in almost no time at all the performer can change the sound, rather than having to get a mute and placing it inside before playing and then having to remove it again. Back to top

Trills

Trills will work on the horn but sound a bit tired. These can either be played with the valves or the lips on there own. The trills that work the best are that of major and minor seconds either above or below the note be trilled from. Back to top

Effects

If you wish for the horn to be really loud and rowdy you can ask for them to play with the ‘bells up’. This is when they remove their right hand from the bell and turn it so that it faces the audience, therefore making them seeming sound louder.

A good effect for the horns is called ‘cuivré’; this is a French word meaning ‘brassy’. The performers blow harder into the instrument with greater lip pressure causing the horn to vibrate. Back to top