I’m using an old school horn and the keys, particularly the thumb key and the first finger key, stick horribly. I can feel resistance, like there’s rust or something. But I can’t see any areas that are rusted. I oil them every time I play, but it doesn’t seem to be making any difference at all.

Usually after playing for about 20-30 minutes the keys will stop sticking, and I can play them as normal.

If there is a way I could fix it myself that would be great! Otherwise I will have to wait for the school year to start again before I can get it fixed.

Hey horn players, I'm a middle school band director in a number of small schools who has unfortunately not had many horn students. I arrange for my groups often and am working on re-orchestrating some pieces as flexible quartets. I was wondering where you'd expect a horn player's range to be at a few experience levels:

- What's the typical comfortable range of a middle school student (7-8th grade) on a single horn in F?

- Same question, but the average high schooler (a sophomore or junior)?

- The range of a high school student on the cusp of college auditions (ie a semi-professional range) with a double horn.

Any sort of advice with horn writing is welcome, but I am a bit concerned with the range limits I set. Thank you!

so theres songs i need to play for school, and theres parts in some that go below pedal C. i can hit pedal C 9 times out of 10. how do i play those notes? and not only play them, but play them quickly? because right now i take a second or two to play even near pedal, and it isnt consistently the correct note