French Horn Notes Chart

The French horn notes chart is a handy reference for exploring the fingering of this instrument as well as its range. There are two primary interaction available to you here. The first is simply clicking on any of the notes in the grid to play the note out loud and display the required fingerings and valve position. The second interaction is to play using your computer keyboard. Use Tab to move around from one control to another before activating by pressing Space or Enter.

The main interface feature a series of buttons arranged in a sort of grid. Each button correspond to one of the notes. Clicking on a note selects it as your active note. The large panel to the right will instantly update with actual concert pitch and written name of the note. This can be very helpful when considering how to transpose, since the horn is written in the key of F but sounds a perfect fifth lower then written.

How to Use the French Horn Chart

There are also three circle showing the valves. If there is a full circle then you need to depress that valve; if it’s empty then that valve remains open. The buttons marked Horn in Bb & Horn in F are the switch buttons at the top where you can switch from one side of a double horn to the other. The F side typically has a warmer sound and tend to be used for the lower notes. The Bb side is higher and gives more secure fingerings when playing up high in the range of the instrument. When you switch it changes the fingering chart to show what would work best for that particular side of the instrument. You can then see how the same note could be played in different ways based off your choice of which side you want to play.

Here you can listen to every note played on the French horn one after another. To activate just hit the play all button. It will then automaticly step through the scale going up. If you want to hear how the whole range of notes sounds on a French horn then this is useful as you don’t need to click each note separately. Simply click on the button again when you reach the point that you would like to stop the progression. While the sound is playing the button labels change to say stop.

The Play note button in the hero panel will play the note that is currently selected for further practice. This repeats the currently selected note. So if you want to concentrate on one pitch and how you are going to play it, then just select the note and click Play note. There is also a slider next to the Play all button which allow you to control the overall volume. That way no matter what your headphones are, you can hear the music comfortabley. The volume setting apply to all playback within the widget.

For a larger view of all of this, there’s a Fullscreen button that you can click. When pressed, it will expand the widget to take up the full width of your browser window making everything bigger and easier to see, particularly with regard to the note grid and valve diagrams. This is helpful particularly if you’re viewing on a small screen or wish to study the fingerings without any distractions at all. Clicking the same button again returns the widget to its normal layout.

If you need a reminder of what’s going on when you use the tool, there is a Help panel from where you can get some help quickly. By clicking on the How to play button, you’ll open a summary of the key concepts and controls. You are reminded of how concert and written pitches relate, and you are reminded how the valves function. When you know the interface well enough, you can close the panel and have a clearer space in which to work.

A further approach is to try selecting one known melody note after another and see how it works on the chart. As you play through scales you observe the changes in valve combination. Patterns emerge like which notes require no valves at all, just naturals. If you compare the fingering of the F and Bb versions of the same written note then you begin to see how a double horn player switches from side to side in real time. The playback facilities allows you to check whether your mental picture of the pitch corresponds with what you hear. Enjoy experimenting with various valves and register combinations.

This chart is designed to be a quiet study tool rather than a performance instrument. You can build muscle memory for the fingerings as you go through the chart, or you might just want to double-check a note before playing it on your own horn. You could of checked it earlier. To begin, click on a middle C and then explore the grid moving up and down feeling your way around the instrument.