The Yellow Board

re: French Horn Questions

Posted by Jazzman57 on 12/14/2020, 1:33 pm

French Horns Brands/Models for 7th Grade Beginners?

Single or Double Horns?

Not a lot of money (no budget), used off of eBay or is Mendini getting better?

Pros and Cons of the above. I'm a trombone guy with extremely limited knowledge of French horns.

Re: re: French Horn Questions

Posted by Klaactu on 12/15/2020, 5:55 pm, in reply to "re: French Horn Questions"

I used to be all in for double horns; that is, until I saw this video. The horn players are all playing single F horns, and that is the only type of horn allowed in the Vienna Symphony. I used to go through an insane hour and 30 minute warn up. I started with the warm up in "Art of Horn Playing" method book by Philip Farkas which is all on the F horn. I found myself doing impossible things like the 5ths and octave arpeggios with 8th notes, quarter = 132. And yet, when I got to my own warm-up, I could not play with the freedom I had on just the F horn. I doubt if any high schools use singles in their bands, but they sure do in Vienna.

Re: re: French Horn Questions

Posted by Houghton... on 12/15/2020, 2:46 pm, in reply to "re: French Horn Questions"

Horns...he advertises on YB. He has new and used horns.

Call him. He is in Keller, TX

Re: re: French Horn Questions

Posted by Double Down on 12/15/2020, 2:01 pm, in reply to "re: French Horn Questions"

Put them on double horns. I personally don't think single horns do anything for anyone. Size isn't really much of a difference. Conns are good. I do like the yamahas, but I have always been very fond of the Holtons. I felt like they were a little easier for my kids to tune. Of course Conns are great as well.
Years ago I was at a school where we purchased some Atkinson horns that were only for beginners. They were not great, but they were priced well and seemed to play for the short amount of time I was there after the purchase. I can't speak to the long term usage and I would not recommend them if they are going to be used into 8th grade.

Re: re: French Horn Questions

Posted by High Brass on 12/15/2020, 7:17 am, in reply to "re: French Horn Questions"

What ever you do....stray away from mendini for any instrument. My husband does instrument repair and he says if they brought one into the shop, they could not repair it because of the fact that they don't make extra parts for mendini.

Conn 6D are a great option^^^^^

Sadly decent french horns are expensive. You could look on different platforms like Ebay or Facebook Market place, Craigslist? I got a beginner yamaha flute on FB for like 100 bucks and all it needed was to go to the shop and get a tune up.

I agree with Just a Horn Guy^^^ 100%

Re: re: French Horn Questions

Posted by Jake on 12/15/2020, 11:00 am, in reply to "Re: re: French Horn Questions"

I too agree with Horn Guy and would add avoid mechanical linkage on any brand of horns you go with.

Re: re: French Horn Questions

Posted by Just a Horn Guy on 12/14/2020, 7:12 pm, in reply to "re: French Horn Questions"

I, personally, try to get beginners on the double horns ASAP. Once you are at G# second line and higher, and F 3 lines below and lower, you're playing on the Bb side of the horn. While the F side fingerings are nice to know for those notes...99.9% of the time you're using the Bb side. Why teach them and get them used to the F side fingerings on a single horn when they are going to have to learn the fingerings all over again (Bb side) once they get a double in their hands?

As for the horns themselves, my personal preferences are:

Conn 6D
Yamaha 567

Like I said, these are my personal preferences...other people will definitely mention other horns that will be good options as well. If money is an issue, try for the 6Ds as there are going to be more good used horns out there than the 567 in my experience. The 6D is also less prone to "kid damage" than the 567.

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