Horn Matters | A French Horn and Brass Site and Resource | John Ericson and Bruce Hembd

In this series of posts I have quoted from classic horn texts following along the topics as presented in The Art of French Horn Playing. Of all the chapters of this classic book the chapter on the embouchure is one of the most controversial. In fact I have heard experienced horn teachers say that everything in this chapter is wrong!

The Farkas system is not the only system

After letting that sink in for a second, the first point to realize clearly is that while Farkas explains a system of playing the horn and making a horn embouchure, it is actually not the only system that may be used successfully, in spite of his claims at the outset of “the comforting tacit agreement and approval of many of our finest horn artists.” In reality it is over to one end of a spectrum of ways that you could form an embouchure.

As Farkas himself elaborated on his his discussion of the topic in later publications, for our examination we will focus on books published after The Art of French Horn Playing, breaking the chapter down topically into smaller units. The overall hope is to open up a “bigger picture” view of each topic covered.

Framing the topic differently

I have always found it very interesting that Gunther Schuller in Horn Technique puts forward quite a different description of the embouchure than had Farkas. He frames the whole topic differently, noting that

…there are four ways in which pitches can be altered by the embouchure: one is by pressure upon the lips from without (the mouthpiece and the horn); the second is by changing the size and shape of the lip opening; the third is by altering the degree of tension in the lip muscles; and the fourth is the angle at which the air is directed into the mouthpiece. The first approach is controlled primarily through slight pressures applied by the left hand, while the latter three are governed by the movement of the jaw, the lower teeth, and the lip muscles themselves.

In terms of this specific item in Farkas, Schuller recommends that players “tense both lips into a slightly pursed position.” But the corners were the key.

It is a salient feature of the embouchure I have thus far described (or for that matter any embouchure) that the corners of the mouth must stay—no matter how relaxed or how tense—in the same position, i.e. the corners of the lips should not under any circumstances pull up or down….The original corner position, which is halfway between that of a smile and a pucker, must be maintained throughout the entire range of the horn.

Corners controversy

For some players, I should note at this point, the corners change quite a bit in the low range and that really is OK. Schuller elaborates on his basic point of keeping corners firm though and concludes that

The best way I have found of teaching this correct corner muscle tension is to think of these muscles as coiled upon an imaginary axis and anchored tightly against the teeth.

Stepping back, when this is combined with his suggested changes of jaw position and air stream angle an element of what Schuller is getting at is the concept of rolling the lips in. The teeth are in the way so you can’t truly roll them in, but this has long been an element of the pedagogy of some teachers. We will return to this thought in a moment.

Not fans of lip rolling

As already noted, Farkas followed up his chapter on the embouchure in The Art of French Horn Playing with an entire book that focused on the topic, The Art of Brass Playing. In it he expands considerably on his approach to the embouchure, I believe at least in part due to knowing that there were different approaches he did not describe or agree with. Farkas really must have been aware of the school of thought for brass playing advocated by artists such as Schuller and reacted strongly in The Art of Brass Playing. Rather exaggerated illustrations make clear that he viewed lip rolling in any form to be incorrect. He especially sees this as a problem in relation to the lower lip.

The lower lip would seem more often the offender. Perhaps it is because the surfaces of the lower teeth, being smaller, offer it less support than the upper teeth offer the upper lip. Or perhaps the lower jaw, tending to recede as it does, allows the lower lip to slide back of the upper lip….

If the lower lip and jaw are receded it will cause the air-stream angle to be lower, as was suggested by Schuller. This is pretty common among fine horn players but is rejected as incorrect by Farkas. As a solution to this problem Farkas suggests deliberately placing the lower lip in a position that is more rolled out.

Fred Fox mirrors the same general position as Farkas on the topic of lip position and the corners in the addendum to Essentials of Brass Playing. Fox notes

There is a natural tendency to roll the lips outward for the lower notes, and to roll the lips inward for the higher notes. It would contribute to more effective playing if this rolling movement were eliminated.

As you go to the top and bottom of your range the suggestion is to not roll the lips.

…the sounds will remain more consistent and the tone better concentrated. True, the mouthpiece pressure is relieved in the lower register but the contact point between the two lips remains identical; they do not roll outward.

Fox also stresses something that is in reality more of a visualization than what really is happening.

The corners of the lips should always remain as firm as possible (even in the lower register). There should be a minimum of tension change from the highest to the lowest note. Most of the work done by the embouchure should be done within the confines of the mouthpiece rim, not by remote control by the corners of the lips outside the rim.

It sounds right to say you should focus on the lips that are inside the rim, but really there is more to it than that.

A simpler and more direct approach

Perhaps more aimed at the younger player or teacher, Harry Berv in A Creative Approach to the French Horn offers a simpler and more direct approach to setting up the embouchure.

The way in which the embouchure is formed is very simple: the mouth is held in a semi-puckered position with the lips touching the teeth, the upper and lower teeth slightly apart, and the lips very gently closed…. This is the formation of the embouchure before the mouthpiece is set to the lips.

Another different approach

In our last quotes for this article we have a passage by David Bushouse from Practical Hints on Playing the French Horn. He describes a very different set-up of the embouchure in than that seen in Farkas. His approach is to blow the air intentionally downward in a natural manner.

To form an embouchure without the mouthpiece and horn, follow these steps: Blow air straight ahead as if whistling, or blowing out a candle. Next change the direction downward until it is blowing down the chin. Then narrow the opening slightly to make a little smaller, more round opening. Let the lips touch slightly to obtain a buzz. The pitch buzzed should be a G or F in the staff. On this “natural” embouchure, note the slightly puckered set of the lips, the opening between the teeth, and the lack of excess tension in the lips.

The mouthpiece can be placed over this “natural” embouchure. First, hold the mouthpiece at the end with the thumb and one finger. Place the rim first on the lower lip, just barely outside the line of the red part of the lip, then raise the end of the mouthpiece until equal pressure is brought to bear on the upper lip. Hold a steady tone, then experiment with higher and lower pitches.

Compare this embouchure, which was created by buzzing first without the mouthpiece, then buzzing into the mouthpiece, with the regular embouchure. Players who find this embouchure to be rather easy and effortless compared to their regular embouchure should check to see if they are using a mouthpiece angle, placement, or pressure dictated by the method of holding the horn. Very often a slight change in angle, pucker, or posture will free the embouchure from adverse pressures, allowing better response, tone and accuracy.

Overall his approach, while focused on the true beginner, is compatible with that of Schuller.

Of course, there is yet more out there related to this topic. Offering yet another approach to the setup of the embouchure is Farquharson Cousins in On Playing the Horn, and I heartily recommend reading his description of the embouchure, it really puts a different light on the whole topic of the setup of the lips and corners. Also check out this article for more on the approach of Donald Reinhardt, which relates closely to some of the quotes above.

Continue in Hornmasters series

In this series I have generally been starting with a quote from The Art of French Horn Playing. The discussion there on tuning is pretty familiar and I would recommend it for the purposes of setting up the slides on your horn. Your horn needs to be in tune with itself! Rather than quote the whole thing I would rather move forward and begin with his later publication, The Art of Musicianship.

Intonation in ensembles

Farkas looks in it at the topic of intonation more from the angle of playing in ensembles.

There are two types of intonation consideration which must concern the performer: vertical and linear. Vertical intonation refers to the relationship of the various notes in a chord. Since each member of an ensemble generally plays only one note of a chord…, it is critical that each performer be sensitive to his position in that chord….

The second … is that of linear intonation. Hear the concern is that of having each note of a melodic line exactly in tune, interval wise, with the note which preceded it….

We should clearly understand that a note which we consider in tune in one circumstance might not be in tune in another circumstance—even in the performance of a single composition. A note being held as the root of a chord might not have the same intonation as it will a moment later, when it acts as a major third of another chord.

Better sharp than out of tune?

Farkas also points to the desire of many musicians to play slightly sharp. Some players seem to prefer the extra “brilliance” of the tone when it is slightly sharp.

Barry Tuckwell, the great horn virtuoso, has a humorous saying which he uses to ridicule this odd belief: “Always remember—it is better to be sharp than to play out-of-tune!” I will paraphrase this saying by stating: “Always remember—nothing, but nothing, takes the place of good intonation!”

Finding careful compromises

Harry Berv in A Creative Approach to the French Horn presents a practical discussion of tuning the horn, noting that

Tuning by slides is, in fact, a careful compromise….

Since it is not possible to readjust the entire instrument for every contingency we may encounter, we must, as intelligent horn players, be flexible enough to adjust….

He suggests a method to tune the horn to get it closely in tune with itself. In conclusion he explains “Remember: It is not possible to tune every note perfectly, but the intonation of each note must be as nearly in tune as possible, so that with the aid of our other tuning devices, including the embouchure, the hand-in-the-bell, and alternate fingerings, it is possible to play the horn in tune.”

The temperature clause

In Practical Hints on Playing the French Horn David Bushouse brings up another very practical aspect of playing the horn in tune, that of temperature.

The tuning of wind instruments is affected greatly by temperature extremes. A cold instrument contains a cold air column which has greater density than warm air. Sound waves pass from air molecule to air molecule, and there are more molecules in the cold air than in the same volume of warm air. Therefore it takes longer for sound to travel in a cold air column, resulting in a slower velocity. This means the cold air column has a lower pitch than the same air column when warm.

Thus, in a cold performance or rehearsal situation the horn will tend to play flat and will need pushed in, and in a hot performance or rehearsal situation the horn will tend to play sharp and will need to be pulled out. And in the bigger picture, this is part of why professional orchestra contracts have a temperature clause, they only play in venues within the range specified for intonation and to protect valuable instruments.

Don’t leave the slides all the way in

Bushouse also addresses the topic of slide settings, noting that “it is possible to play in tune with the valve slides set in a haphazard fashion or all the way in” but the “closer the slide setting, the less correction needed and the better intonation will be.”

In the end, finding that best compromise setting to the valve slides is a key, a good mouthpiece is a key, and your getting used to how your horn plays is a key. Warming up with drones can help a great deal, there is a point where every player really needs to beat themselves up and get their horn playing to a point where you can hit equal temperament extremely well.

A topic not addressed

But … there is one more key element that classic horn methods never mention in relation to intonation. As you read on you will see references to the MRI horn studies. One major notable thing is that in the high range the vowel formed by the tongue among elite horn players is “hee,” and in the low range it is “haw.” If your vowel sound is off significantly, no matter how great your horn is and how expertly you have set up the slides, you will tend to be out of tune in certain ranges. Sharp in the high range for example could mean too much “hee” or it could mean you slides are not right. The topic of vowels will be fleshed out further as this series continues.

Continue in Hornmasters Series

Return to Week 3 of the Horn Pedagogy Course