Student Instrumental Course: Tunes for French Horn Technic, Level III: French Horn Book

Ployhar understands the intermediate horn player's actual challenges, and this book addresses them directly without filler. The progression builds technical control where horn students need it most, and the tunes are musically engaging enough that students want to practice them.

Purposeful and grounded. These are not flashy tunes designed to impress; they are thoughtfully constructed exercises that teach your hand, ear, and breath to work together more reliably. The musical content stays interesting enough to sustain focus during technical drills.

French horn students working at the advanced intermediate level who are ready for systematic technical development beyond Level II. This book works equally well in private lessons or class settings where students progress at similar rates.

• Work the articulation exercises carefully. Clean tonguing at varying tempos builds precision for the tuning and intonation challenges that emerge in the third level.
• Take the technical passages slowly enough to hear your own sound. Rushing through technic routines defeats the purpose of the work.
• Mark fingering combinations that are new or awkward, then isolate those measures for focused repetition before running full exercises.
• Record yourself weekly. Horn players often cannot hear their own pitch center clearly in the moment, and playback reveals intonation patterns that need adjustment.

Use this alongside Level III materials from other instruments if you teach mixed brass classes, since the Belwin course is designed with consistent pedagogical correlation across all band instruments. For private studio work, advance to this book once a student has secured the fundamentals in Level II.

• Legato and staccato articulation at various tempos
• High and low register transitions with accuracy
• Intervallic accuracy in ascending and descending passages
• Consistent embouchure control during technical sequences
• Reading in treble clef with advancing rhythmic complexity