(Well F horn, not French Horn)

Is it possible to play the French horn with big lips/ Tuba player lips? I'm going to a new school in a few months and, If I get a choice, I would like to play the F horn (I've been in love with the sound for a while but I didn't know what it was >_> and by the time I found out I was playing Tuba and just starting bassoon.) I can buzz a low pitch on a plastic french horn mouthpiece but thats it.

I play tuba (as in I play in band, practice in studio band but I don't practice at home because the instrument i have at home sucks and its really really hard to transport that instrument) Trombone (Just for jazz Band) and Viola (At home for fun) I plan to take this instrument seriously (like I do all instruments) so if you have any tips they would be helpful.

Big lips shouldn't be a problem for playing horn, you just may need a bigger mouthpiece. But it is my understanding that the horn doesn't mix very well with other brass instruments. I don't know whether that goes for the larger brass instrument too though

Horn has a very small mouthpiece (well I think so in comparison to other barss instruments!) If you take up horn aswell you might muck up your tuba embouchure. Oh and the fingerings are different! I dont think lip size should be a problem I'm not entirely sure. Ask your teacher about it.


Sorry I'm not very helpful am I?

You are, don't worry. If I play F horn it is likely that I will stop playing Tuba and might stop playing trombone. I'm good at remembering a lot of Fingerings so it doesn't bother me that much. I am buzzing on a french horn mouthpiece though.

I can buzz on a french horn easily...



My lip shape is suited for it more than the trumpet or cornet, but if I realy wanted to, I would learn even if it wasn't as easy.

Yeah, I agree. I plan on play French Horn but if I can't, I might buy and play clarinet. All I know is that I am not transporting a tuba through school again. Its just way to hard and its not even that fun.

At first you will find it VERY difficult to pitch the horn well at first compared to the Tuba...even a trumpet player who plays on a similar sized mouthpiece would still find it difficult. Let alone the Tuba mouthpiece. It will take abit of work to get used to, and i'd advise not playing your tuba at all whilst learning the horn, especialyl in the initial stages. Also i wouldn't play trmbone either..i'd stick to just the horn...

The horn isn't really a brass instrument and they know it, they are their own little inbreed hah! you will often see a brass teacher who will play from Trumpet to Euphonium to Trombone but they wont play horn, and vice versa. My trombone teacher was a horn player and you would NEVER catch her playing anything other than horn, and that is the same for all the other horn players i know. So it seems that if you play horn , you play horn , not horn and 30 other brass instruments

Lip size is not a problem. Uneven front teeth can be. The main characteristic you need to play the horn is a good ear. The usual playing range is rather high for the length of the instrument,* so the overtones are closer together than on other brass, and it is helpful to know what the note will sound like before you play it.

* Orchestral horns in F are nearly twice the length of tenor horns. They mostly play in the same register, though occasionally they are asked to be higher or much lower. You need a three and a half octave range to play horn in Shostakovich 5.

I've heard the horn is a good instrument to complement the flute ( I am learning the flute but would love to try a brass instrument one day) - is this true and can anyone tell me why???!


Edit - my 100th post - woohoo!

Love you too! But I seem to be a bit of a rareity as I can play Tenor Horn too

But yes he's right, so if you want to play jazz, brass band stuff then F horn is probably not the way to go. Oh and the transposition!

Sianie9 I honestly don't know but I had a friend who played euph but wanted to play sax but both the euph and sax teacher wouldn't let her play both because they were afraid that playing both would affect her embouchure and so would not progress far in either instrument. I know saxes use a reed and flutes don't but this is probably as helpful as I get!

EDIT: Congradulations on your 100th post by the way

I guess I am the exception to the rule? I play Cornet, Baritone, F-Horn and soon tuba.