Horn/Technique/Breathing

Horn
Introduction General Information Playing Technique Posture and Use of Body Right Hand Usage Breathing and Moving Air Embouchure and Facial Musculature Articulation and Tonguing Playing Dynamics Mutes Reading Music Transposing Music Miscellaneous Techniques Playing with Other Musicians Repertoire Glossary Partial List of Authors

When you breathe for air when playing the horn, make sure that you do so, grabbing as much air as possible in the shortest time possible, without changing your embouchure. A good way to do this is though the nose, or on the sides of the mouth, if your mouth is big enough. But it is important that you never 'fall' from a note to take a breath.

What you can do to conserve more air, is to sit at the very tip-corner right side of the chair. Cushions (sofas, loveseats, ect.) are unacceptable because it is to easy to slouch, even when you do not realize it. So, it is best to play on a actual 'chair', ideally with no backing.

It is often the best to include several breathing exercises in your daily warm-up routine. All are done in common time. When inhaling, make your mouth wider, but when exhaling, make it smaller, so that you have to push air though your mouth. Here are some exercises:

Assume 'b' is beat Assume 'c' is crescendo Assume 'dcr' is decrescendo

Breathe in for 4b, release for 4b

Breathe in for 4b, release for 8b

Breathe in for 4b, release for 12bc

Breathe in for 2b, release for 4b

Breathe in for 4b, release for 10bcd

and so forth.