58 seconds in...AMAZING. Hate when people make fun of us, French Horn is one of the prettiest instruments in a band, and once we get good, we almost always have part or all of the melody.
A lot of times horns don’t get the melody and have pretty boring parts … but when they get the melody, it sounds amazing. In concert bands, horns are often used on the light parts of the beat and in orchestras as a filler for the middle notes in a chord.
I have played the french horn for german and italian orchestras. And I dare say - having tried to play the trumpet and the tuba too, that the french horn is - atleast in my opinion one of the most difficult brass instruments. It needs a TON of control to play it as silk-smooth as these masters. I have to say, every time I hear horns play like that, I feel like I'm getting seduced by a succubus. It's absolutely magical and sublime!
+DiamondEnderCraft 226 well i've never heard them play french horn, only vienna horn. There's a reason it says "vienna horn" in the title. There's a difference.
The Vienna horn is a type of single F horn that uses a special type of valve and is similar in some other ways to the original valveless natural horns of the 17 and 1800s. It is not a separate instrument.
Actually, they're a Bb instrument, that can be lowered down to F by inserting a crook into the leadpipe, ao I've heard. The pumpenvalve and the natural horn mouhpiece give the instrument a different sound to a normal horn used nowadays. They can be more fluid in their movements, and the sound is slightly more mellow. They are also a very heavy instrument for their size. They can weigh as much as a double horn, even though they have much less tubing
I play French Horn in my school, I never really wanted to practice it, and never have. I get through songs decent enough...but this...makes me want to practice.
The typical double horn used in orchestral playing has an F side and a Bb side, while the Vienna horn is typically in F, though it has removable crooks (sort of an antiquated system) that can change the key. There's a good video on here comparing physical differences if you search 'vienna horn vs french horn'. Sound-wise, the Vienna horn is supposedly more difficult to master, but gets that characteristic heroic horn sound at much lower volume levels. Hope that helps!
Horns Rule. I play in the Detroit Civic Youth Orchestra. This has been a dream of mine since i picked up a horn 5 years ago and now I sit at first chair. People who say horns never have the melody have clearly only heard them in a band. (The only professional bands in the US are part of the US military)
Approximately 34 ft of the most treacherous but beautiful high quality brass tubing I ever played. Some day I'll have the $2,559.43 to buy and ship the one I've always dreamed of owning.
+pjzdreamz keep looking on ebay or on Woodwinds and Brasswinds. you can get a nice used horn for under 1200. i dream of having my own too. maybe tax return time :D
oh i know, but thought you might just be interested to have just an F horn, not as special as a Vienna, but still a lovely sound and challenging to play well :)
buying a horn is extremely expensive, the best advice i have is to buy second third or even fourth hand. A new really high quality one can be around £7000+
Once upon a time I played the F horn as well. Always enjoyed it's mellow and versatile sound. And it was a challenge to play, but I loved it all the same!
huge one: the Vienna Horn is a single Horn in F with a smaller diapason than the french horn, which is actually two Horns (F and B flat) in one instrument. Therefore it is much harder to play.
I agree...i played 2nd horn for this song too! And yeah we have our own (horn) uniqueness!! Especially the counter melody of 'One Last Shot"!! Beautiful!!
Even trumpet players have a lot of troubles with the french horn. Sure, they can play high, but the majority of them have real trouble playing below the clef, and with a broad, dark sound. Coming from the tuba gives you the opposite problems, dark sounds and low range are easy, but high range and bright fanfares are rough. The horn is really two instruments in one with of its extreme range and variety of sounds. From seats 1-4 everyone has a challenge, and all the seats matter for the horn.
What an amazing cover. I love the sound of French horns, and how they make an echo sound. My goal is to learn every instrument that's in a symphony orchestra. Strings and percussion instruments have been taken care of already. I think it's too early to start learning brass instruments due to my heart and lung conditions. So, I started learning flute first and it really tires me out. I hope I get the hang of it soon.
Ok for all you posters who say you have been looking for a good fairly cheap double horn.... Most good doubles start at about $3000 and go to about $10,000. I bought a Chinese knock offs for my grandson for $350 and it played pretty well but discovered that it had intonation problems with some pitches that we could not correct. I did find a horn made in China for PAXMAN (Academy model) that only cost $1600 new, I love and use it over all four of my other horns. Wichita Band Instruments.
I'm African American and it used to be that people didn't think African Americans should play Horn at all!!! Why???? the mouthpiece was small and we were "SUPPOSEDLY" not able to play classical music because we were not "refined"!!!! BULL!! I play Horn and COMPOSE!!!!!! I commend you and offer you more words of encouragement and I tell you to NEVER give up and become THE BEST!!!!
Actually @Andrea Picchi the difference between a band and an orchestra is the presence of an abundance of string instrumental(hints: string orchestra) and by the way I am in no way hating on saxophones because I play all the saxes for my school, but I like to be technical about some things and band is one of them, keep on playing everyone, music is amazing
Really man? That hurts... You would think people would have more respect for one of the oldest and most beautiful instruments... We're basically cousins man! From the same section!!
I AM PROUD TO BE A FRENCH HORN!!!!!! i love being a french horn, my BFF is a barritone and she always says french horns suck, (shes just kidding, cuz i say barritones uck) BUT WE ARE THE BOSS!!!! EVERY ONE WOULD SUCK WITHOUT THE HORNS!!!!!!
@gwreeves1987 No need to be a hater. when it comes to concert band clarinets are one of the main melody instruments. and dont worry, i study tuba, a cousin of the french horn.
GO HORNS :D we might play dis for our sprign concert i asked our band teacher if so.. go horns! :D! i almost made our sister cry on a slow song i played ;)
I called the local high school and they had 5 spare horns! It's really good luck. I don't know for sure, but one of them's bound to be a double. Thank you so much for your advice though!
I think the french horn is a wonderful sounding instrument when played by an accomplished person. You do not, however, want to be tortured by listening to a novice playing one. I can say only a beginning oboe player sounds worse. And yes, I'm a trumpet player from way back.
Along with mscarstensen, I too have a Conn 8D and love it. It cost me $3,500, though I paid with cash. If you were to pay on credit, it would have cost me $5,800. Sadly, if you go out and buy a cheap horn (regardless of if it is double or single), you run the chance of getting a crappy horn. You're better saving for a while until you can buy a good horn. Also, enlist the help of a teacher to help you pick one out that will really match you if you are a beginner (first few years of lessons).
@978parodies Keep in mind, this is the Vienna horn, and also, the F Horn is VERY hard to play, a lot different from Mellophone. I play both at my school, due to me being the only F Horn player. It's a big honor though, and if you are good at it, salute to you!
I play the French Horn but it’s no where near as good as these guys. I hope to be as good as them in the future so I can play in well known orchestral groups, but that’s in the future.
also in most orchestras there's way less wind instruments than in bands (for example 1-3 trumpets in orchestras compared to 6+ in bands) and also strings in orchestras
GET A TEACHER! Seriously, as a horn player, I can tell the mouthpiece alone is much harder than the mello mouthpiece. Learning the horn is a great thing - I hope you will enjoy learning the horn :)
sol la si do ré do si la si do ré do si do ré do si la si la sol la fa sol sol la si la si do si do ré do si sol Sol la si do ré mi sol do si do la sol si la sol...
I get that he meant 8Ds as the instrument, but my twisted mind saw him making a chod.. oh wait we are speaking about music, my bad XD yes this was a grand instrumentation. I am however a saxaphone player but enjoy the french horn every once in a while :)
I wish my band director would let us play this....if he makes us dance gangnam style in marching band he should let us play this :3 *French horns forever rule*