List of horn techniques

Some of these horn techniques are not unique to the horn, but are applicable to most or all wind instruments.

Normal tonguing consists of interrupting the air stream by tapping the back of the front teeth with the tongue as said in the syllables 'da', 'ta', 'doo', or 'too'. Double tonguing consists of alternating between the 'ta' and the 'ka' sounds or between the 'da' and 'ga' sounds. The tongue makes the same movement as if the player is repeatedly saying 'kitty' or 'ticket.' Triple tonguing is most used for patterns of three notes and is made with the syllables 'ta-ta-ka', 'ta-ka-ta', or 'da-ga-da.'

This is the act of fully closing off the bell of the instrument with either the right hand or a special stopping mute. This results in producing a somewhat nasal sound. When required, in the sheet music the usual notation is a '+' above the note followed by a 'o' above notes that are to be played open. For longer stopped passages, the word indicating a stopped horn is written out.

The pitch lowers gradually when the hand is placed in the bell and slowly moved inward. When the bell is completely covered (stopped), the pitch falls to a half-step above the next lower partial (harmonic). For example, playing a middle C (F-horn, open) and gradually covering the bell into stopped horn, the pitch will lower a major 3rd to A♭ (or 1/2 step above G, the next lower partial). However, playing a 3rd space C (F-horn, open) and repeating the stopped horn, the pitch will lower a half-step to a B-natural (or 1/2 step above B♭, the next lower partial). The hand horn technique developed in the classical period, with music pieces requiring the use of covering the bell to various degrees to lower the pitch accordingly. Mozart's four Horn Concertos, Concert Rondo and Morceau de Concert were written with this technique in mind, as was the music both Beethoven and Brahms wrote for the horn.

Some modern composers have incorrectly notated that the horn is to bend an open pitch upward to a stopped pitch. This is impossible. The horn pitch can only be bent downward into a stopped pitch. It is believed that players play the next harmonic higher without realising and this has given rise to this erroneous belief.

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Wikipedia