Of the mouthpieces specifically mentioned in The Art of French Horn Playing, the view of all of these from the rim end is revealing all are by east coast standards medium wide or wider. So for those players that considered a large bore mouthpiece to be normal a Farkas-Model mouthpiece was rather small while for players oriented around the type of normal mouthpiece of Farkas the large mouthpieces were rather large. However, for players that came out of the east coast tradition of the time typical mouthpieces were fairly deep, had a narrow rim, and a much larger bore in the neighborhood of #4 using numbered drills for measurement. For Farkas “normal” was a somewhat shallow mouthpiece with a somewhat wide rim and a bore around #16. While the inner diameter of most commercial mouthpieces of the period was around 17 mm, there were two major schools of thought. If the truth be told, no one mouthpiece or change of mouthpiece is going to revolutionize anyone’s playing ability.įirst we should step back and look at the state of mouthpiece design in the United States in 1956. Be sure the one you choose has no obviously bad qualities make certain it is comfortable on the lips then stick with it until it is mastered. It takes experience to know what “normal” is, but study two dozen different models and you will soon recognize moderation.

The best advice about mouthpieces, stated in capsule form, would be this: get a mouthpiece which is generally accepted as “normal” …. As this was his starting point we will also begin here an extended series of quotations and comments on a variety of topics from master horn teachers.Īfter a review of the elements of mouthpieces (bore, cup, rim, etc.) Farkas, with a photo similar to this of five cut away mouthpieces, relates, Philip Farkas chose to begin The Art of French Horn Playing with a discussion of mouthpieces and horns.

Farkas art of french horn playing