Suggested Horns, Mouthpieces, and Mutes

My favorites within in the price range of students and amateurs

John Ericson
One attitude and approach to equipment that may be taken is that my horn is what it is and I just need to learn to play it. There is an element of truth to this attitude but is your horn basically hard to articulate on? Does your sound just not project well compared to others around you? Is it hard to play low or high upon?

A Better Horn?
Every horn player is (or at least should be) interested in finding better equipment. But what equipment is better? Any answer to this question is colored because every horn teacher is biased by both their individual sense of "what works" both professionally for them right now and for their current students. There are many different models of horns and mouthpieces on the market and any number of them will do well. As a teacher I am very comfortable teaching students who have different tonal ideals and would not insist that a student use any particular brand or model of horn; I just want to feel that it is, in fact, a good instrument, no matter what their tonal ideal is. Good and bad horns can be made from brass or nickel silver, can be large or small bore, can have a screw bell or fixed bell, etc. Different types of horns will be preferred in different places and it is to your advantage to aspire to fit into the musical situation that you have the closest affinity for. Before I get to only a few specific recommendations as to horns, I would suggest if at all possible speaking to several horn players and teachers in your area. What you want to obtain is a horn that is of the quality level that a professional would play it or at least consider playing and you also want a horn that should retain some resale value in your area.
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Beginner Horns
To open, for a very young beginner I would consider the use of a single B-flat horn rather than a single F horn. More on this topic may be found here. Another alternate to consider is the 3/4 size double horn, which I describe here.

Intermediate to More Advanced Horns

As to a more professional level of horn, one way I often answer the question of what horn do I recommend is this--if I had to buy a new double horn right now, what would I purchase? I am not really sure, honestly, but the reason why is good--there really are quite a few good custom double horns out there on the market. When you get over into the price range of professional quality instruments (roughly over $7,000) I have tried a lot of instruments I have liked. For most players the choice ends up being some combination of what horns they have heard good things about and what horns they can actually get their hands on to try. I made both of my solo CDs on the Paxman 25A at the top of this page. The 25A is a larger bore horn generally similar to a big Kruspe type horn but with some of the qualities I associate with a Geyer style horn. It was purchased because it was a quality horn available at a time when I needed to replace my (very tired) old 8D. At this point in time I still own the Paxman, but having tried a lot of horns for years I became interested to replace it with something a bit smaller with a more focused sound--a custom Geyer type horn (see this article for more on the topic of Kruspe or Geyer). I won my job in Nashville playing a Yamaha 667 (a Geyer style horn) but during my time there switched to a pre-letter Conn 8D (Kruspe style), a horn I had played as an advanced student, with a Lawson flare (and several different upgrade leadpipes) to better match the (then) mostly Lawson section of the Nashville Symphony. I have not been playing there for a while though and in short, after years of searching and thinking it all over, I now play a custom Geyer type horn as my primary instrument. This type of horn is the horn of choice of a large percentage of professional horn players in the United States today and is a type that advanced students of the horn need to seriously consider for the sound and responsiveness they offer over other options. Also let me state that I am not an endorsing artist for any company (but would be happy to offer suggestions to any maker). With that out
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of the way I do have two very specific, less expensive suggestions for students and for amateurs looking for new horns.They are the Hoyer 6800 series Yamaha 667 The Hoyer 6800 series horn is a larger bell (Kruspe) horn in nickel silver or brass (my students seem to mostly like the brass version better) and the Yamaha 667 is a smaller bell (Geyer) brass horn. What I like about these specific models is even as built they are both capable of producing a good "professional" sound and can both be upgraded to a professional level horn with a new leadpipe and other tweaking--and there are several custom horn makers who regularly upgrade these specific models of horn for that very reason. Both of these suggested models are very much aimed at our performing market in the United States. If you are overseas you will need to consider carefully what horn models are popular where you are and adjust your setup accordingly. Above all you want to fit in with your local performing situation if you aspire to work professionally, no matter where you are. I also regularly play on several other horns including a triple horn and a descant . These horns both definately have a place for the professional or aspiring professional hornist, especially a high horn player who is established in a job, and frankly most of them on the market today are very nice horns. A triple or descant is not typically owned by students, however, as they are not as suited to general playing by the average hornist as would be a standard double horn.

The Mouthpiece
On mouthpieces, I would first suggest in general that hornists don't use the mouthpiece that "came with the horn." A change of mouthpiece can make an incredible difference. For a beginner I have most recently been suggesting the Yamaha 30C4. It is a small and very easy to play mouthpiece. The Schilke 30 is also a good choice in this same regard. I am not a fan of the big mouthpiece with a young student (in other words, not a C-8 or something similar, it is too much work to play). New mouthpieces that I recommend for more mature players in order of price from low to high:
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Laskey 75 series cups (G, J, and F versions) Moosewood A-11 and B-12 The Laskey 75G is a really excellent mouthpiece and is very popular in the ASU studio (and surprisingly affordable). Also very popular among my current students is the Moosewood B-12. I also recommend the Laskey 75J and the Moosewood A-11; they are similar to the others except that they produce a bit brighter (75J) or darker (A-11) tone colors and are a better match for the embouchure and articulation style of some players. Some other suggestions may be found in the Horn Matters site, search or look in the category "Equipment." Consider a wider than standard inner diameter mouthpiece. The Laskey 75 series is 17.5 MM and the 80 series is 18 MM, and Moosewood makes a BW cup that is similar to the Laskey 80 series. A larger inner diameter can really open things up for some players; the old standard mouthpieces popular 25 years ago (for example Giardinelli) are really more intended for people with fairly thin lips. I should note that both of my CDs were recorded playing on, believe it or not, an old Conn 5BN mouthpiece (a model long out of production). Osmun makes a copy of my mouthpiece and I primarily use their copy of it at this time, one adapted to a European shank. I should also mention that I don't use the same mouthpiece on every horn. I have several different large, deep mouthpieces I like on natural horn, I often use a Moosewood BD cup on descant, and a Laskey F cup works well on Wagner tuba. If possible, try several mouthpieces of the same model; if they are all significantly different, there are probably quality control problems with that brand and you should think about performing on a different brand. As an additional suggestion on mouthpieces, in general don't use one with too wide or too rounded a rim. I feel that both of these design areas tend to make the horn harder to play and play accurately. For a student with braces I would suggest trying to locate this mouthpiece: Neill Sanders 17M This model has an unusually wide, reverse peak rim design which spreads the pressure well. I found this mouthpiece to be useful during a period when I had a lip injury, and some teachers also find this mouthpiece useful in working on embouchure changes. Unfortunately, this mouthpiece has been out of production for many years but Moosewood or Osmun can supply you with a copy of the rim to fit one of their models. The comfort is worth the
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Moosewood or Osmun can supply you with a copy of the rim to fit one of their models. The comfort is worth the expense compared to other options with braces. I discuss the topic of Neill Sanders mouthpieces further in this article. Finally, do be sure that any mouthpiece you use is properly sized for your horn leadpipe inlet. There is a distance that a mouthpiece should fit into the receiver; if it goes in too little or too far things will not work as well as they should. The reason I emphasize this point is because I found at one time a stock B-12 very good on my big Paxman horn but the smaller shanked B-12Y to be even better. It fits maybe 1/16 of an inch further into the leadpipe than the stock B-12. But my big Paxman is an exception; most European horns really need a mouthpiece with a larger, European shank to play at their best. Laskey for example offers European shank versions of their mouthpieces for this very reason. If in doubt, obtain a mouthpiece with a European shank and give it a try.

How to Try a Horn or Mouthpiece, in Brief

The main thing I would note is you can tell a lot very quickly by focusing on two specific types of passages in your initial testing. Lyric, soft passages, preferably ones with slurs some of which are over harmonics and others of which have valve changes and Louder, articulated passages that go from the lower range (around written middle C) up into the upper range. Feel how the notes speak and have others listen to give you feedback. Try to get in a good hall if possible, or at least the best room you can, and try things back to back. You can tell quite a bit with recording yourself but feedback from a fine horn player will help even more, they will hear the differences. Also, you will be able to tell which option is the easier to play on option, and usually that option will in fact be the best option.

And Finally Mutes

There are a lot of mutes on the market, each with a unique shade of tonal color and slightly different playing qualities. If you can, try the mute before you buy it--especially try the low range, which on some mutes is quite poor. In general many professional players in the USA prefer "Rittich" style mutes, the ones that look like a tall cone. I would by choice recommend a tunable version of this type of mute. While it may make sense to purchase a cheap mute for a school program, for personal use always look for something up the ladder in terms of quality. As to stop mutes, try several if possible and pick the one with the best projection, as this does vary considerably. As to a couple specific suggestions, in my opinion one of the best mute values out there is the tunable "Rittich"
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style mute made by Stonelined (Humes and Berg), which runs under $50. I also like the TrumCor #45, a Rittich style mute, and other good mutes are out there (Balu, etc.). Avoid mutes made of aluminum or plastic. For a stop mute I have been happy with Tom Crown but the TrumCor and Alexander stop mutes are excellent, and there are other new options on the market. Copyright John Ericson. All rights reserved. UPDATED October 2011.

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