It’s just one note. How hard can it be? Ah, easier said than done on the horn – the instrument formerly known as the “French horn,” but I digress. We’ll get to that another day.
Today, let’s imagine we’re at a concert. The orchestra is playing the second movement of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. Strings play the opening seven measures. It’s quiet. At measure eight, a single horn enters with one of Tchaikovsky’s most glorious melodies. That hornist is naked, figuratively speaking, of course.
It sounds effortless. Warm. Noble. As if the melody floated into the room. But the horn players among us know better. They know that the horn is one of the orchestra’s most challenging instruments. Its notes sit close together, and the hornist must find each pitch using a combination of fingering, embouchure, breath control, and hand position in precise coordination. One slight alteration and a different note (a wrong note) comes out.
And this entrance is exposed. There’s nowhere to hide.
The hornist takes a breath.
The noble melody begins.
If that first note lands perfectly, the effect is magical. It’s so beautiful you could cry. But if it’s wrong, the hornists among us could cry – but for a different reason – empathy. They know what just happened and their hearts break for the poor hornist on stage. The rest of us? We just think the hornist messed up.
Oh, if we only knew.
Indeed, it’s just one note, but finding any note on the horn – the French horn – is easier said than done.
