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Introduction	Orchestration	Orchestration	Resources	Historical	Andrew Hugill
	by section woodwinds brass percussion others strings combinations tuttis	by instrument flutes oboes clarinets bassoons saxophones horns trumpets trombones tubas percussion keyboards harps fretted strings voices electronics violins violas cellos basses conductors	select... score layouts seating plans ranges/transpositions harmonic series language/phonetics notation charts	select... 20th/21st Century 19th Century Classical Baroque pre-Baroque	Philharmonia

HORN

Section: Brass
Transposing? Yes

Construction
Range
Articulations
Effects
Hand Positions and Mutes
Extended
Player's Tips and Tricks

Links

 

Cormac Ó hAodáin (Horn, Philharmonia Orchestra)

Some general points about the horn, with video clips:

The horn is a difficult instrument to play
Due to the very large range of the instrument, players normally specialise in either the upper or lower register
The convention in the horn section is that Horns 1 and 3 are high and 2 and 4 are low
It is not unusual to see a fifth horn used in orchestras when only four are required by the score
Although it is a brass instrument, it blends very well with the woodwind section and therefore often has a 'crossover' role. This is reflected in its position on an orchestral score layout: above the trumpets and immediately below the bassoons.

Use the links on the left to navigate through the Horn pages.

The icon will launch a movie of Cormac Ó hAodáin explaining a relevant point of horn technique.
The icon will give an audio clip, which will either play automatically or open a new window.
The icon will play an illustrative music example from the Philharmonia's recorded archive.
Be sure to visit the 'player's tips and tricks' section for some very useful advice about aspects of horn writing.