I started playing the French Horn when I was 13. I recall my parents coming back from a meeting with the music teacher, with his request / recommendation that I might like to start having lessons, and as luck would have it(!), the school had just come upon a cheap second-hand horn I could use while I decided if I liked it. And there was soon to be a vacancy in the school orchestra.
Apparently I did like it, as I’m still playing in amateur orchestras and groups today. I also ‘self-taught’ myself to play saxophone, and played for a few years in a Big Band at university. My wife has played piano since she was 8, and oboe since she was 12. She took a music degree and we both played together in the Exeter University Symphony Orchestra.
So it’s not that surprising that we’re keen for our daughters to enjoy music, and ideally play an instrument. But which one? We’ve got our own preferences and prejudices, but recently chanced upon what might be a valuable book to help us…
The right instrument for your child was first published by Atarah Ben-Tovim and Douglas Boyd in 1985, and has now reached its 4th edition. It recommends a fairly rigorous (although I’ll stop well short of suggesting it’s scientific) approach to assessing your child, their physical attributes, mental characteristics and other things, alongside the different instruments. So far, so-so. Why not? There’s probably something in it.
Naturally, we started off by having a look at what the authors have to say about our own chosen instruments. Forgive me for reprinting extensive segments of their work, but I want to make it clear that these are entirely their ideas.
Oboe
In the hands of an outstanding professional musician… the oboe can sound exquisite. Played by most children who are learning, the sound is unpleasant and rasping…
The most important physical requirement is the shape of the lips: they must be thin and tight… The aperture between the two pieces of reed is so tight that the player has to force the breath through. Children may experience headaches from the back-pressure which this causes, even in a healthy teenager.
Not an instrument for frail children… it must not be attempted unless the child is physically fit, even athletic… The oboe should never be played or even practised by any adolescent with a head-cold, respiratory or virus infection. The inter-cranial pressure can spread the infection into the eyes and the brain causing complications and even disability…
The oboe is not for generous extroverts; determined, tight-lipped stubborn children do best… Oboists tend not to mix well… [they] make a little clan and keep to themselves.
French Horn
The French Horn is not recommended as a first instrument. It is not for fun…
Thin to medium lips are called for by the mouthpiece. The small bore through which the air has to be directed produces back-pressure which can cause dizziness and headaches even in quite mature learners…
You can never relax playing the French horn; each note must be achieved; there is no letting up…
French horn children are not gregarious… The horn-players in an orchestra or concert band make a definite clique and do not mix much even with the other members of the brass section…
The playing position seems to suit, and even comfort, children who feel, rightly or wrongly, that they do not get enough attention at home or at school… With excellent justification, they feel special about playing the horn, for only a very unusual child can.
Well, I can’t keep a straight face while I’m reading that. Irrespective of whether the descriptions reflect Rachel or myself, I find it almost impossible to believe that anyone could write or read this and take it seriously. Playing the oboe seems life-threatening, and apparently both horn-players and oboists are borderline sociopaths.
Why would any parent suggest these instruments to their children after reading this book? It’s the musical equivalent of Gina Ford and her infamous parenting manuals. While I’m sure some people do benefit from such prescriptive methods, to me it smacks at least slightly of lunacy to tick boxes about your child and to categorise musicians based on the instrument they play.
If any other players are keen to know what this fount of knowledge has to say about them, do let me know…!
[...] with the suggestion from my music teacher that I might like to take up an instrument, for example, the French Horn. That conversation changed everything. I did take up the Horn, it did become a major part of my [...]
[...] I was in the same Hall of Residence at university as Thom Yorke from Radiohead. And all the time I played French Horn, building my love of classical music from Bach to Mahler, Mozart to [...]
I was hooked on the shape of the horn before I knew it was actually a difficult instrument to play. Today, at age 65, I am still trying to master this instrument!
Ed C.
could you please show me the section that talks about piano and violin?
thanks!
I think those sections are much less ‘interesting’, but I’ll have a look at pick out some key points…
I wonder how many horn players they talked to before writing that. Very few, I’d have to guess. And then they must not have listened. Not for fun? Can never relax? Why would any of us ever play the thing if that were true? We like people to think how hard it is to play the horn, and it does have its challenges for sure, but I promise you if I didn’t enjoy it I would not still be doing it (without getting paid for it) after all these years. I’ll personally accept the bit about not being gregarious, but there are introverts in *every* occupation.
I beg to differ. This book is missing the essential two requirements for determining who will succeed in playing the oboe : A persistent character is necesssary for the challenge of reedmaking and you don’t have to be crazy, but it helps !
I play french horn, and unfortunately the description fits me.
Even having read it a few times now this still makes me laugh! I’m off to be antisocial and sulky somewhere with my thin little oboe playing lips!
As a fellow horn player I too was fascinated to read that I am not gregarious, don’t mix with other musicians and of course don’t play the French Horn for fun!
Let me think back to my early orchestral experiences, oh yes I remember, I was more or less constantly to be found in the bar with lots of non horn playing fellow musicians (Bassoon, double bass and Trombone players make excellent, convivial drinking partners in my experience) and it’s almost always been fun (give or take the odd nasty conductor) I wouldn’t still be a keen amateur if it wasn’t. As you say Chris, not to be taken seriously – although I rather suspect the author may believe this nonsense.
I am now rather curious about the piano and flute portions of the book….