French Horn Fingerings and Play-Along

How it works

Press a note in the chart to see its valves and hear it; the diagram moves to show the change. Play the notes in order plays them one after another. Open the play-along to pick a tune: the notes scroll to the left and each one is played as it reaches the green line, while the box on the left shows the valves. Use Speed to slow down – 50% is a good start.

Wait mode

With wait mode on, the music stops at each note until you press the matching note button, the note’s letter on the computer keyboard (A–G), or Space once you have played it. It counts right and wrong presses. Without Listen the page cannot hear you, so it is honest practice for reading and fingering, and your teacher or your ears check the sound.

Kids’ mode

Kids’ mode makes the buttons bigger and switches color notes on (C red, D orange, E yellow, F green, G teal, A blue, B purple). The note names are always shown too, so color is never the only clue. The setting is shared with the other Classfern Music pages.

Horn in F

Horn music is written for the horn in F, in the treble clef, a perfect 5th higher than it sounds: written C sounds as concert F, the F below. So when the piano plays F, the horn reads C. The chart and the play-along show the written note with the concert (piano) note beside it, and play the sound you should hear. Very low notes are sometimes written in the bass clef, and some older music is written for horn in E♭ or other keys – your teacher can help you read those.

Valves, levers and the right hand

Your left hand works the three valve levers: first finger on lever 1, second on lever 2, third on lever 3. Your right hand sits inside the bell, fingers together and gently cupped; it helps the sound and the tuning. The horn plays high in its harmonic series, where the notes are close together, so the same fingering gives many notes – C, E, G and the C above are all open. Listen to the note before you play it and aim for it with your lips and air.

The chart is for the single horn in F. Most players later use a double horn: the F side has these same fingerings, and a thumb valve switches to the B♭ side, which is easier for higher notes – your teacher will show you when to use it.

Valve chart

Notes in gray are outside the beginner range.

Good to know

The charts are Classfern’s own, written from the standard published charts; there are often other fingerings for the same note, and your teacher may prefer one of them. Library pieces were converted by computer, and only the melody line is shown. The sounds are a guide to the pitch, not a recording of a real instrument. Where the music comes from.

Frequently asked questions