I am sure this is something that has faced many teachers, especially those of us that do clinics, or work with beginners. Why is there no simple fingering chart? Now I am sure there is one out there, in theory, but I really haven’t encountered one.
When I was developing my student horn book a major point of focus for me was an approach that was straight forward, since that is how fundamentals should be, simple and effective. Something I encounter more times than I want to admit is showing up to work with students and being faced with frustration over being able to pitch notes from written middle C to the first G in the treble clef. When they start playing I am sadly never surprised to find Fs being played on the open F horn, Gs on F horn 1st valve, and so on. You know, using B horn fingerings without using the thumb.
When I notice this, the first thing I ask is about a fingering chart, either they don’t have one, or they have one of several method books, I am always amazed with all of these method books that the fingering charts are never great. They never make an effort to differentiate between what fingering is for what horn, or it’s inconsistent. It must be rocket science. So I submit to the horn world the fingering chart from my Student horn book. A simple, no options approach to fingering. It is based around standard conventions, and doesn't give several options for each note. Though in time it is important that the horn player learns all the fingerings, but let’s keep the horse in front of the carriage.
This book is geared towards advanced Jr. High students, and High School students in the following range gr.8-12.
In my years of teaching and working with students I always noticed something. Band method doesn't always, if rarely, relates to horn playing for the reason that it is set in B flat, and is an approach that is not inline with how our instrument works.
The approach in the "Horn Book" (15 pages) is the byproduct of years of teaching students and clinics, and working closely with several High Schools in Calgary. The goal of this book is an approach that is simple, yet based on the fundamental aspects of horn playing. It is a short routine style approach to gaining control over our instrument. It is not a book with a large amount of exercises, it is short, concise, and built on the idea of mastering our foundation.
It contains exercises to develop these fundamental aspects of playing, and should be used along side other method and teachings. The approach contained here will get our foundation in place for great music making to come.