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First, a quote from a former student of mine who is now helping people looking for upgrade horns: “…most people will talk far more about how equipment feels than how it sounds.”
The full article is [update 2019 — was] on the Houghton Horns website, and the former student is Derek Wright, currently a freelance player/teacher in Texas and working as well for Horn Matters advertiser Houghton Horns. But that is not why this article is linked; instead, I think what Derek notes in the article gets at a very important point that I would like to restate in a bit different way.
I have worked with a lot of people at this point, been to a lot of horn shows, etc. A mistake people make is choosing a horn for how it feels and getting stuck on that feel. So for example an advanced student or serious amateur player is playing “a popular model” student horn and looking for an upgrade horn. They end up shopping for a horn that feels like their student model horn and don’t get what they really need because they focused on feel instead of sound.
Tone is what makes a great French horn. That great horn may feel a bit different than your present instrument (more “open” for example, whatever exactly “open” is), but reality is you can adjust to the horn pretty quickly if it really is producing the tone.
Derek suggests recording, and I would add that there are several other methods to employ. One is to have others listen to you (horn players, please!), but a better one is to when you are testing in a big room try to focus your attention on the sound coming back at you in the room. It is not like you can actually project your ears into the corners of the room, but you can focus on the sound coming back rather than the sound as it comes out of the bell. It gives you a bit more information on the real sound.
Some of the best horns ever made are out there on the market, and for tone there are some GREAT doubles out there in particular.
So, what factors give a horn a great tone? The biggest one has to be the bell. There are many variables to balance that include the thickness and temper of the metal, the taper and depth of the throat, etc. Following close behind are the other tapered sections of the horn and the valve section and the quality of the assembly of every component! When it comes together you begin to get that “X-factor.”
In short, tone is the big headline and starting point. For even more tips and general thoughts as to suggested equipment see my longer article in Horn Articles Online.
