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There are so many topics that fall under the letter F that this is the first of four articles relating to “F” topics, with multiple elephants in the room to consider. A first elephant in the room being the F horn as a practice tool.
The case for F horn practice
The basic argument is that the F horn enforces a “more correct” approach to tonguing and embouchure setup in every aspect, and this will enhance your accuracy with standard fingerings later.
What about beginners?
Certainly, the F horn is more demanding and less forgiving. This is one of the reasons I don’t actually recommend the single F horn for the beginners of today, as it can leave them more likely to quit playing horn at all. I feel like a voice in the wilderness on this topic at times, but in my opinion it is long past time to stop using the F horn for beginners.
What about more advanced players?
But let’s assume you are a more advanced player wishing to be more accurate. Certainly, you will have to tongue more carefully on the F horn and also adjust the lips more precisely.
For many players and teachers, this means using the F side of your double horn in your warmup and practice. This maintains much of the feel of your regular horn, with it just being more challenging than normal.
Interlude: How about using an actual single F horn for this practice?
You would not want to use the typical beginner horn for your F horn practice. Low dollar, heavy, unresponsive horns are not fun to play on.
However, for those with access to a higher quality single F horn, perhaps from sometime before WWII and in good shape, a really fine single F can be a revelation and even a joy to play on. They are lighter and more responsive than you would ever expect. During the pandemic, as a project, I started doing the majority of my warmup on a single F. That interest has continued, and in my hobby of horn building I’m most interested right now in further exploring vintage single F horn designs.
The case against F horn practice
A contrary opinion would be that playing on the F horn is different in feel in a negative way, and you are better off playing with the normal fingering to further and more closely fine tune and feel accurate with those fingerings. Keep things exactly the same all the time for the most consistent feel that you fine tune more and more with time.
This is a version of the (very valid) argument against buzzing on a mouthpiece for accuracy. While buzzing mirrors horn playing technique, the exact way you buzz on a mouthpiece alone is different than the way you blow on a horn when making a good sound. While not as different, there is a difference you will notice with intentional all F horn fingerings instead of your normal fingerings. Things will feel different, and it may only leave you feeling less secure.
Your mileage will vary
Both approaches have value. As a project, if intentionally using the F horn is not part of your practice routine, you should consider adding it. It does train your chops in an important way that can at least theoretically help accuracy significantly. You may not want to use the F horn much beyond the warmup, but, again, it can be highly beneficial and is worth trying at least when warming up or working on fundamentals, a topic for later in this series.
When this series returns, we have more to explore in the letter F.
Continue in the Accuracy Encyclopedia
This is an installment of a series on accuracy, drawn from notes developed for a book on the same topic. The series starts here.
