In this video lesson, Expert Katherine Liesener teaches how to empty the spit valve after playing the French horn.



Transcript: KATHERINE LIESENER: "Hi! My name is Katie and I'm here on behalf of expertvillage.com and I'm going to show you what to do if you start to hear a gurgly sound coming from your horn. So when you here this gurgly or statically sound, what you are actually hearing is water inside the horn which horn players typically refer to it as spit but we don't spit into our horns. What it really is, is all that warm air condensing and it collects and so if you don't get rid of if, you start to hear it as it gurgles through the instrument. So you want to remember to dump your spit regularly. Now some horns come with a spit valve right here. All you do is open the valve and blow, another good place to check is also on this side of the horn. You want to check your main slides. You just take them out, shake them. For this one what you want to do is remember to take your mouth piece out because you are going to dump the whole horn, you want to take that slug out, you want to take this tighten slide, so now open, open, open, open, these are all open. If is a stirring wheel you want to imaging taking a right hand turn like so. Shake the horn out, then bring around the other way, wiggle upon the key a bit. Now it is also possible that spit is collecting in this area as well where these slides are and particularly for example if every time you are press your second, your middle finger, down here and you here that gurgling noise, it is probably some where right here. So you just take one of these sides out, shake it, you spit that little spit in there and put it back in the way you had it. So this is one thing to remember, to constantly dump your spit if you hear that gurgling sound."

1. How to Play French Horn: Getting Started
2. How to Hold the French Horn
3. How to Use Mouthpiece Pressure on a French Horn
4. How to Use Embouchure & Lips on a French Horn
5. Sounding Notes on a French Horn
6. How to Play a French Horn with Complex Fingerings
7. Understanding Volume Dynamics on a French Horn
8. Changing Pitch With Embouchure on a French Horn
9. How to Adjust French Horn Intonation With Slides
10. Hand Stopping the Bell on a French Horn
11. Adjusting French Horn Intonation with the Hand-in-Bell Technique
12. Stopping & Muting on a French Horn
13. Slurring Notes on a French Horn
14. Legato Tonguing on a French Horn
15. How to Play Staccato Notes on a French Horn
16. How to Play Accenting Notes on a French Horn
17. How to Play Glissando Notes on a French Horn
18. Emptying the Spit Valve on a French Horn
19. How to Oil the Valves on a French Horn
20. How to Grease the Slides on a French Horn
21. French Horn Practice Tips
22. French Horn Training Methods
23. How to Play the French Horn Standing Up

In this course, eHow Expert Katherine Liesener gives 23 video lessons on How To Play the French Horn. Learn basic tips and techniques for playing this brass instrument, including how to hold the horn, form proper embouchure, and changing pitch using your lips, the rotary valves, or by putting your hand in the bell. Also learn some intermediate French horn skills involving orchestral music, like how to play slurs, legato, glissando, staccato, and accent notes. Finally, get some practical care and maintenance tips for your horn, as well as some basic guidelines for creating a practice routine.