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Grab a bottle of Al Cass valve oil, a bottle of a bit thicker oil, like Hetman #12 or #13, then some Bach pink tuning slide grease. The Al Cass will be used on the inside of the valves and the Hetman will be used behind the valves and under the valve cap. These three should last you a very long time. I've had my bottle of Al Cass for 3 years now, and my Bach grease for over 5. You'll eventually also want a mouthpiece brush and a lead pipe snake.

In terms of books, it depends on how you learn. If you know nothing about reading music, you can pick up one of the beginning band method books like Essential Elements, but if you are easily bored by simple melodies then this book might not be the one for you. If you are a reader, you may want to consider picking up a horn pedagogy book like Farkas's The Art of Horn Playing, Frøydis Ree Wekre's Thoughts on Playing The Horn Well, or Eli Epstein's Horn Playing From the Inside Out. These books are geared more towards someone who already has some facility on the instrument, but if you lack a teacher, they contain information on things such as embouchure formation, breathing, articulation, dynamics, range, and other things.

The most common etude books are Kopprasch 60 Selected Studies and Maxime Alphonse Deux Cents Etudes Nouvelles, but even at the beginning they are pretty advanced with regard to range and technique. I'd start with Getchell's First Practical Book of Studies for French Horn. There is a second book to this series, but at the end of book one you may want to jump to Miersch's Melodious Studies for French Horn. At the end of that book, you can probably make the jump to Kopprasch.

I'd also grab a scale book like Pares Scales for French Horn, though at the beginning it may exceed your range, so it's fine to wait on this one.

If you have any other questions, let me know!

Edit: as /u/Conn10D said above, I'd highly recommend getting a teacher. Even a month of lessons is enough to nip problems in the bud before they become bad habits that hinder your progress and ultimately take the fun out of it.

I dislike Kopprasch, but that's another argument for another thread :).

Maxime-Alphonse
Muller 36 Etudes
DePre 20 etudes for low horn
Gallay 12 Grand Caprices
Farkas Art of Horn Playing
DeRosa Carved in Stone
Reynolds Horn Handbook
Reynolds Etudes if you want to question your ability to play horn
Belloli 24 Etudes: Personal preference, not many people know of these.
Franz The Complete Method to French Horn

Those in bold were recommended by Richard Todd, Italics by Calvin Smith, the Belloli and DePre by Karl Kramer. All incredible teachers/musicians. That's all I can think of off the top of my head :)

Grab this, do the high attack exercises, grab any flexibility exercises, I have a Hector McDonald routine, Stamp is also great, but anything that gets you sustained high work is the way to go. Try this pressure reducing exercise: Sustain a C in the stave, slowly move the leadpipe away from from lips until you're barely holding on to that sound, then pull back in until you get a good tone again. It'll help train you to use less pressure, and when you play high, on-mouth pressure is the enemy. That takes care of the technical side

Process cues: Think lower air to go high. imagine the air dropping lower and lower as you go higher, it'll help keep the back of the throat open, and you need a lot of core support to get there anyway. Tighter lips isn't really it, it's fast air, a whistling sensation that pops you into the upper partials, meaty support in the lips and most essentially: singing brain. Tongue lift is also important, if you can whistle, as the sound goes higher the back of your tongue comes up. Same thing happens in the horn, so, something to think about.

If all else fails, work with a high specialist in person to get exact diagnostics on your present play style. tbqh, everyone has their natural limits. I'm never going to get down to double pedal C if I live to be 100, but I can get that E above the stave no drama llama ;-)

Seconding the advice to get repair kit tools, and would add to get a little case to keep them in that'll fit in your horn case. I use a sleepytime tea tin to hold cork, a couple flat razors, and some string. And definitely, definitely get a pencil holder both for your horn and for your stand at home.

the horn clip I have fits on the inside of my main slide, not right next to the mouthpiece like the picture shows, thankfully.

Collected Thoughts on Teaching and Learning, Creativity and Horn Performance by Douglas Hill

This book is even MORE valuable now that he's retired from teaching. Great resource for teachers and students alike.

Seriously. This! You're the one who should have the 13 points. I just don't get all the people who insist it is easy to get as much or more for something you have used. I doubt many of them actually have had success doing that. There are legit retailers selling barely used (store demo) Holton and Conn double horns for ~$3K. Less actually. Why on earth would I buy a well used one from some stranger for ... any amount of money.

Oh, while I am working on my downvote personal best, I might add this: Horns require consistency and commitment. 40 days on and 40 days off doesn't sound like a winning formula. Don't even think about doing this without a practice mute. This is the one I use.

I love Joe Singer's Embouchure Builder. Great book.

Marie-Luise Neunecker, doing the Strauss Concertos and the Britten Serenade. Great works (the Serenade in particular isn’t nearly as well-known as it should be), and marvellous performances.

The London Horn Sound. Sixteen (or maybe more? I forget) horns, drawn from the top London orchestras, playing arrangements of just about everything under the sun. A showcase for the full spectrum of what ensemble horn playing can be.

I have a Dennis Wick Straight Mute that my horn teacher recommended, and I think it's a great mute (especially for the price). I was in the same situation as you when I bought it, actually!

"Lip Flexibilities for All Brass Instruments" by Bai Lin

"Mastering the Horn's Low Register" by Randy Gardner

"40 (Forty) Characteristic Etudes French Horn" Kling

The last 2 are must haves for any performance studio. The first I've seen great results with.

Some of my favs.

10-minute mental toughness

The new mental toughness

Don't close up your throat, and don't force your horn into your face when you play, It will exhaust the muscles that form the embouchure and weaken them by restricting blood flow. Raise the tongue when you blow. It will take practice and endurance. Warm up with fundamentals. Id recommend The Art of French Horn Playing for any horn player