My Extended Scale Exercise sheets contain lots of different ways to tackle each key. Once the Clarke studies are more fluid, you can start to practice the entire scale in a variety of ways. The slow tempo and slur pattern help to develop good finger rhythms and coordination, which will be important if you want to speed these up!ĭownload Clarke Study #2 for Horn Extended Scale Exercises These should begin slowly (quarter = 72 or slower if necessary) and entirely slurred. You can either go chromatically by doing an octave (or more) of these each day, or you pick a “key of the day” and do all the major and minor studies of that key in all the octaves you are able to play. These exercises are quite short, and it doesn’t take very long to add a few of these (starting in a comfortable range, of course) to a warm-up session. To that end, I find that this variation on the famous Clarke Study #2, originally written for trumpet, is great.

The first step to scale fluency is becoming familiar with the first 5 notes in every major and minor key. Extended Scale Exercises Clarke Scale Exercises To that end, I’ve created a few different extended scale exercises. Once these scales are learned in their basic form, though, it’s time to develop more scale fluency.

I’ve made sheets with major scales (both 1 octave and 2 octaves), as well as all three different forms of minor scales (natural, harmonic, melodic) for students to learn these scales. To help you (and my students) learn scales, I’ve made a few different scale sheets. This is drastically oversimplified, of course (and some composers definitely don’t use scales!), but having proficiency in all the major and minor scale forms and their arpeggios will do wonders for sight-reading and technique. On the other hand, scales and arpeggios are how composers write music.

You should know at least the 1-12 partials (note names and intonation tendencies) on all 14 different fingering combinations for a standard double horn. Since the horn plays higher in the harmonic series than other brass, it’s even more important to be familiar with it. The harmonic series is how all brass instruments work. Importance of Scales and Arpeggiosįor brass instruments in general and the French horn in particular, there are two frameworks that make getting around on the instrument and learning new music much easier: the harmonic series, and scales/arpeggios. While lots of students (me included) rolled their eyes at the 100th time they are told this, it really is true. If you’ve been in a band or orchestra for more than a few months, you’ve probably been told the importance of learning your scales and arpeggios.

G flat major scales for french horn