For three years I was stuck with my highest note being a staff top G. No matter how faithfully I practiced, I could only rarely play above that & when I did, I used so much pressure, I nearly cut my lips & got dizzy & faint just trying. I was doing my best to follow the Farkas method, playing with the "smiling pucker", practicing range exercises & lip slurs daily. My private instructor had me try all sorts of stuff, but nothing helped. In desparation I searched the internet for answers. I found a trumpet teacher in Garland, Texas who has a development program he claims works for EVERY trumpet student. I wrote & asked him if it would work for French horn. He assured me it would. So I decided to give it a try. Voila! Within a few weeks, and for the first time in my life, I could play up to high C anytime & every time I wanted to without feeling faint & w/o excess pressure! It was like a miracle. I shared his program with my private horn instructor. She read the book, was very impressed with it & decided to use it herself & teach it to her students. She's also shared it with a local band director/trumpet player. He read the book & said it's "spot on." It's called the "Balanced Embouchure" by Jeff Smiley. It's written for trumpet, but it works for the horn, too. You can find the website for Balanced Enbouchure using any search engine. "The Balanced Embouchure" is not available in music stores, only on line. It's been a life saver for me.
I have no commercial interest in promoting this program. I just hate to see brass players stuck w/o the range they need to really enjoy playing. That's why I'm sharing this information. ~Valerie in Tacoma, WA

Hey good job with reaching that C. I'm kinda stuck with no higher than a G right now too and even though, once i'm warmed up I can hit it perfectly, I can't even hit a Gsharp. I'm interested in where I can reach this man. I can hit a high C with the 'tight lips' thing or whatever but I'd like to be able to play a scale up to it without changing ambouchure.