Buying a French Horn

dlbarber
Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:01:01 +0000

Momof3stars - we went through this last year because there was no way D could audition on one of the school horns or on her aging Lorenzo Sansone. We went to Music and Arts near Rochester where she played a Conn (6 or 8, I don’t remember) and the Yamaha 668N (nickel) which we ultimately bought. We took her horn teacher along, were there forever, and relied on her teacher for picking the one that sounded right, with input from D as to whether it felt easy enough to play. It was the only place in the Rochester, Buffalo area that had horns we could try out. They also seemed able to get them if they didn’t already have them, so you could try them.

No place that we auditioned said anything about the horn - good or bad, except for one commenting on the mouthpiece she had (said it was an uncommon one for a high school player). Good luck!