The Placebo Effect and Horn Playing

The mind of the horn player can be a complicated place, and one psychological principal in particular that has always held a fascination for me personally has been the placebo effect - both in teaching and in my personal learning.

According to the American Cancer Society:

A placebo (pluh-see-bow) is a substance or other kind of treatment that looks just like a regular treatment or medicine, but it is not. It is actually an inactive “look-alike” treatment or substance.

This means that it is not a medicine. The person who is getting a placebo does not know for sure that the treatment is not real. Sometimes the placebo is in the form of a “sugar pill,” but a placebo can also be an injection, a liquid, a procedure, or any other type of therapy that doesn’t directly affect the illness being treated.

In the broader sense, this effect is an illustration of mind over matter. When the mind is tricked into thinking that something will work, chances are that it will.

What is even more interesting is that the placebo effect’s strength and efficacy can vary for some very odd reasons. This video illustrates some of these oddities. (I would caution sensitive viewers that this video contains some salty language.)

As noted in this video, placebos do not necessarily need to be in a pill form in order to work.

In a recent workshop presentation, I learned that the “close door” button on most elevators actually does nothing at all! It is a fake button that manufacturers put in to make passengers think that their actions are doing something. The truth is that this button may have no effect on the elevator doors whatsoever.

Horn placebos

Translating this to the French horn, I have often wondered about the many products and widgets out there that profess to improve horn playing and how much of that improvement stems from a placebo effect.

In my own horn playing for example, I am rather convinced that one mouthpiece in particular is better in my horn that others, simply because of how it fits into the lead pipe receiver, and moreover, for how it looks.

Without any scientific explanation whatsoever I believe that the angled taper, beginning at the mouthpiece and continuing onto the lead pipe ferrule, make this particular mouthpiece/horn combination a perfect match.

Mind over matters

Another key concept from this video is that under certain circumstances, the same placebo can have radically different effects.

For example, a fake pill that is more expensive will have a greater effect over one that is less expensive.

In my personal practice as a web developer this is a principle that I recognize. While I feel that I have never intentionally price-gouged a client, there have certainly been cases where an expensive price tag made the project appear better in the client’s eyes. Using one product as a solution over another based purely on how it looked - over how it functioned - had a great effect.

Shapes, sizes and prices

With horns as musical instruments I would argue that to a certain degree this can also be true. A more expensive horn must play better, right? Otherwise, why does it cost so much?

The same questions could be asked when it comes to specific makes and models of horns, or custom versus factory made instruments. For example, a horn that is aesthetically impressive or is a particular brand name that looks good on paper may appear to work better than something that does not.

In choosing a good fit between an instrument and a player, preconceived notions like these can either work with us, or against us.

Pedagogy and teaching

Solid pedagogy is only one side of the coin when it comes to teaching the horn; a major aspect of music teaching to always remember is psychology. While the content of a teacher’s pedagogy is very important of course, the belief system behind that pedagogy is equally important.

A student that believes their teacher’s advice is more likely to improve over one that does not.