Jump to content

French horn question enclosed...


Recommended Posts

  • Members

Short question: What is the major difference between a single and a double?

 

Story behind the question:

My little sister is in the middle school band, she chose the french horn, and the teacher said it had to be a double, but I was looking through her lesson books, and they had the part for both single, and double printed, it just seems like we had to spend about $700 more for a horn because of his personal preference...

 

Also, I may have to post more brass questions, because I have dealt with this teacher many, many times before, and he does not even know basic theory...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Short question: What is the major difference between a single and a double?


Story behind the question:

My little sister is in the middle school band, she chose the french horn, and the teacher said it had to be a double, but I was looking through her lesson books, and they had the part for both single, and double printed, it just seems like we had to spend about $700 more for a horn because of his personal preference...


Also, I may have to post more brass questions, because I have dealt with this teacher many, many times before, and he does not even know basic theory...

 

 

double has a trigger and more tubing giving the instrument a greater range of notes to play. the teacher is actually saving you money in the long run. think of it as you not having to pay the money for the double horn in two years if you buy it now. your little sis may not need the double horn for her first year or so of playing, but she will if she plans to play beyond middle school. the teacher's demands are reasonable, and he may have some music in mind for that age group that requires the double horn. :thu:

 

here is a single french horn

 

K618_L.jpg

 

here is a double

 

large_801.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Won't her school provide a French horn? All schools in our area provide French horns for students, singles for elementary schools and doubles for middle and high school. My middle daughter has her own, a used Holton 179 (a popular model, along with the Conn 8D), but if she would be playing a school issue Yamaha if she didn't.

 

BTW, the double horn in Jonathan's picture is a "Geyer wrap". The 4th rotor (changes key from F to Bb) that's triggered by the thumb is at the end of the valve cluster. That style is found on some high end horns and not as common as the "Kruspe wrap" which has the F/Bb rotor closer to the thumb trigger like this:

 

263844.jpg

 

Some players favor one style, some the other.

 

Probably more than you wanted to know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • Members

I played French horn in high school. The double is way better in my opinion, that is what I had - you can reach a lot more notes that way, that little thumb trigger is quite handy :) If she plans on playing French Horn for the long haul and being good at it (doing honors bands, etc.) then its the kind to get.

 

I was lucky I didn't have to buy one - my band director walked up to me one day and handed me the case and said, hey, I want you to learn how to play this! I was one of 50 flute players, so thought it'd be fun to try something new and a way to actually get some recognition (turned out I was right - was in several honors bands and world's largest orchestra because of it!)

 

Also important is the mouthpiece - I found some are a lot easier to play than others, but it's also a matter of personal preference. Having a couple extra on hand is a good idea...don't know why but it seemed like I was always losing mine :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...