Reply To: Starting on horn in 4th grade–yea or nay?

[nafmeadmin]

I think the risk you run starting young kids on horn is that the frustration level can be very high and their ear is not likely developed enough to catch errors in terms of embouchure, which might mean that students that otherwise might be dedicated, engaged musicians in your program will quit when they aren’t able to be successful early like their peers on trumpet. I only start my beginners on trumpet, trombone, and baritone. I find that switching to something new, special, and exciting like horn in middle school is a great motivator for kids to work hard, and can be a good way to give a new challenge to your best and brightest brass players who may be moving faster than their peers anyways, and will be able to work hard to make the adjustment. I think that learning how to manipulate the embouchure on trumpet is a huge advantage when switching to horn where the partials are a lot closer together.