so ive been playing for about 4 years and developed a good tone but recently i played trumpet for a few months and didn't practice horn at all. When i went back to horn, I could not get a good tone. I seem to have air escaping frequently and just an overall bad tone which i did not have before. I still want to play trumpet too so any suggestions on how to improve my f horn tone and still play trumpet at the same time?
I have a 30c4 horn mouthpiece but I'll change it to any mouthpiece except the megatone ones. Thanks yo

That's a really good question.

A few years back (when I was high school), I filled in for someone in my school's jazz band for a couple weeks. I was playing 3rd and 4th trumpet parts, and was able to handle them pretty well, given that I hadn't played trumpet for a couple years (since my departure to horn). Anyways, later on in the day when Wind Ensemble class came up, and it was time to play horn, I noticed that the horn embouchure felt foreign, and could not attain it with out great difficulty. A lot of the same things that are happening to you happened to me. When I was finally done filling in for the missing guy in jazz band, it was only a matter of days before my horn embouchure and comfort came back to me.

So what did I learn from this?

(this is just my opinion)
I learned that since the diameter of the horn and trumpet mouthpieces are relatively similar, yet different, it was throwing off the muscles in my lips/embouchure. Just think about it: even though they are close in diameter, one rim is thick as opposed to the other, which is narrow. I concluded that if I could not do both, I would have to focus on one over the other. I stayed with the horn Occasionally I will still pull out my trumpet and play a few things, but I try to stay away from it as much as possible.

On the other hand, I've got friends that double on both horn and trumpet and sound fantastic on both! So I guess you can draw that it varies from person to person.

Happy Independence Day!

As mentioned directly above the rims of trumpet and horn are different and probably the main cause of your issues. Using a trumpet mouthpiece when you have been playing horn often times results in you using more upper lip pressure and using more of a smile embouchre.

A solution is to use more lower lip pressure when going back to the horn mouthpiece and allow more of your upper lip to feel as though it is going inside the mouthpice. When playing trumpet you can also use more pressure on the lower lip and try to use a little pressure as possible on the upper lip. Don't use the mouthpiece to acheive notes (high notes). Only use the mouthpiece to get a seal.

You might try this, if you have the means: Work on both instruments at the same time. Play a few minutes on the trumpet producing the nicest tone you possibly can. Experiment with different set ups. Then switch to the horn, again producing the nicest tone you can. Go back & forth trying to carefully observe what changes you make to get that best sound. Try to relax & not worry or stress over less-than-perfect notes. Eventually you'll be able to adapt. James Morrison is a multiple instrumentalist. He can play a trombone one second & a trumpet the next & sound fantastic on each one. If you are careful and don't overdo, you won't trash your chops.

I did this for a while earlier this year. I'm a horn teacher, but was expecting to teach "The Balanced Embouchure" to a trumpet student. Anyway, I would switch back & forth between the two instruments carefully observing what I did to get a good tone on each. I was able to develop a pretty decent tone on the trumpet even though I hadn't played trumpet in decades. In my case, I noticed that my best trumpet embouchure was exactly reversed from my best horn embouchure. On horn, I use 2/3 upper lip and 1/3 lower lip in the mouthpiece. On trumpet I used about 1/3 upper & 2/3 lower. It may be different for you. You probably sounded bad on one instrument because you were trying to play both with the same "set up."

Valerie Wells
"The Balanced Embouchure" for French Horn
Wells123456@juno.com

Let us know how it goes, ok?

Valerie