(Part 2) Top products from r/horn

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 :)

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.

I believe Rachmaninoff's Vocalise stays fairly low, although there's a bit of challenge from the key signature.

This book also has several great mid-level solos in a reasonable range. (Looks like the Amazon link I'm giving you doesn't include the horn part, though, so I'd look for it at a music shop instead.)

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 am an organist and I have a young hornist (relative to me) that I accompany. There are many collections of hymns arranged for Horn and accompaniment. I've been bringing my horn playing up to her level and we have done John Jay Hilfiger two horn arrangements without accompaniment. Hilfiger has solo horn with accompaniment hymn arrangements as well. In a Lutheran service you might lean towards the older hymntunes, but maybe not. As others note nearly anything called 'classical music' works. It doesn't have to be sacred. PM for more ideas if you wish.

Edit: This is our main resource. The Accompaniment book is also needed.

Edit: We are working on this one for a performance later this month. Recommended.

"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