My Fav' Cousin - Why I Like French Horns

Thinking of the brass family, if the trumpets are my half-size little brothers, and the tubas are my twice-the-size big bros, I think of the french horns as my favorite cousins. I say cousins because the french horn has a few traits that separate them from the rest of the brass but connect them to the trombone.

The significant difference is the basic shape of our instruments, not just the general curvyness, if you Google a picture of a french horn you can see they are wrapped pretty tight. Trombones, trumpets, and tubas are all cylindrical bore instruments, meaning that the size of the tubing stays the same for most of the length of the instrument, almost right up to the bell flare. The french horn, however, has a conical bore, meaning its tubing starts narrow and gets wider for the instrument's length, which contributes to its mellower sound.

Now, why are we cousins and not brothers?

Although we sound different, in many ways the trombone and french horn share many similarities. Our horns are about the same size, nine feet of tubing for a trombone versus about twelve feet for the horn. French horn and trombone have roughly the same range, our lowest note, and highest notes are a match, more or less. The trombone can play a few notes lower, while the french horn shades a note or two higher. We are both what arrangers like to think of as bridge blenders and supporters. Trombones bridge the middle of the brass, and ensemble, holding the core together. French horns are often used to support and sustain the woodwinds and strings. When used as a chorus our similar ranges make for a unique blend. Composers/orchestrators often write our parts inside each other —

For a cinematic/broadway sound;

French Horn 1
Trombone 1
Trombone 2
French Horn 2
Trombone 3

For a jazzy, more pop-oriented sound;

Trombone 1
French Horn 1
Trombone 2
French Horn 2
Bass Trombone.

Although we play roughly the same range, the trombone is written mainly in the lower bass clef and the french horn is written in the treble clef. For that reason and other mysteries, our written pitches don't sound the same —

If a trombone plays a low F - below the bass clef scale, then the french horn has to play an octave and a fifth higher (8 + 5 notes) to sound the same. These decisions were made a long time ago, so don't blame me!

So, when I answered Sum1 s question, I answered with a qualified YES

How can that be you ask (okay, you probably didn't), after all his transposition is only calling for 8 + 1 notes, every orchestrator worth his ink knows you have to write 8+5 Notes ...

Well here's where it gets tricky! You see our friend Jim was a gifted player, as such he was playing a more advanced french horn.

Wait you might ask, There are more than one type of french horn, the devil you say!

Most brass instruments, like trumpets, have three valves, Here is what a standard french horn looks like, with three valves;

The valves are the little round things with attached paddles to work them.

But as we discussed earlier Jim was an advanced player, with an advanced instrument —

Jim played something we call a double french horn, kind of two horns mashed into one, it has FOUR valves!

Here's a picture of a double french horn. Do you see the difference? Look at the little round things!

Yuppers! There are four now, and now besides three of his fingers Sum1 has to get a thumb up to speed. That fourth valve adds even more tubing to poor Jim's horn, and that changes his fundamental pitch (his lowest open/no valve note) from the note F to the note B flat. An interesting aside here trombonists often use a more advanced horn, a trigger that adds tubing — it changes our fundamental note from B flat to F, or the exact opposite of the French Horn.

This means his transposition is 8+1 note to match the trombones. So Jim was playing with all that extra tubing and working really hard to cover for that errant trombonist.

Thanks Jim!!