What's the hardest horn to play?

[RaiderLex]

French Horn

[RaiderCrusader]

Tuba

BTW.... in referrence to the Euph player... this doesn't apply now, but back in the days when contras weren't balanced, contra players would have to support about %70 of the horns weight with their arms alone, not with their shoulder. that's still a lot more weight then a euph. Today i'd say the two responsibilities are pretty even.

[word2urmother]

Has anyone here picked up the new 4 piston Dynasty Bb Tubas (contras) They are huge. I played on a king for 3 years and now I have to play this huge piece of metal. It is very difficult to play and very hard to march. It definetly is the most difficult to march and play. It is very hard to find tuba players that can handle the big horn. So all you who march contra(tuba) you guys are awesome. Keep blowing and play loud.

[ErinBluEys]

What's up everyone. After reading the first page of responses to this post, I'd like to comment.

French horn is the most difficult brass instrument to play. I'm not talking about how much it weighs or what size the mouthpiece is, but why playing the instrument is acutally hard.

The (French) horn is set so that it's intire playing range is already set higher than any other brass instrument in the harmonic series. This means that on if I were to play an "open" C beginning on middle C (one leger line below the treble staff) I would get the following notes (ascending):

C, first line E, second line G, third line Bb, third space C, fourth line D, fourth space E, fifth line F, first space above staff G, first leger line above staff A, on to Bb, B natural, and then to high C. I continues to climb higher and higher and you get more and more notes closer and closer together.

On horn (French horn) you in the "playing" range you have 44 consecutive notes that can be played with the same fingering. FYI: On mellophone there are only 2--making mellophone a much "safer" instrument to play.

So, if there are so many notes that can be played with the same fingering, imagine what it would be like to be running, and bouncing all over a field---lots and lots of cracked and missed notes.

Oh and about a triple horn, there is such a thing. A "single" horn is set in the key of F and has three rotary valves. A "double" horn has three valves like a "single" horn and is put in the key of F--there's a thumb valve that when pushed down, it sets the instrument in the key of Bb---this helps eliminate lots of missed notes b/c of the harmonic series---it gives the player many more alternate fingerings for better accuracy. A "triple" horn has a fourth valve that puts the horn in the key of Eb---this helps a player a considerable amount while playing in the higher range of the instrument.

I hope I've helped answer questions.

[pitn0926]

A "triple" horn has a fourth valve that puts the horn in the key of Eb.

Don't forget that some triples are in high F instead of Eb. But Erin makes a great point that the horn's typical range is set an octave higher than that of all other brass instruments. This just makes hitting the right note that much more difficult. Maybe it's just an excuse for missing notes, but I have my horn performance degree and I still miss more notes than I care to admit. I don't understand why we (horn players) continue punish ourselves. It can't be because I like being singled out by the conductor, so I don't know.