its-bailey:

I’ve been playing mellophone/French horn since August. Before that I played woodwind. So I’m trying to improve. I want to be able to play for longer periods of time without my lips dying, I’d like to reach higher notes (the highest I can hit cleanly is an A above the staff) and I reaaaaallllyyy want to learn to double tongue… Any advice?

Long tones! Long tones, long tones, long tones. They’re boring but they help a lot with endurance and playing longer, as well as developing tone. Start on open G or C and go down half steps in whole notes (or longer). Gradually increase your volume with this exercise without sacrificing tone. When your chops start getting fatigued, play some pedal tones or just low notes at p or pp (warming down) and take a little break. Blistex DCT is also great for lip recovery.

For your higher register, you actually will want to work on your lower register equally. If you can play low with good sound, you can play high. Take your time to work your way up w/ scales or chromatic. When you get to the higher notes, don’t focus on mouth pressure but AIR. Everybody hears it a lot, but fast air really is important when playing anything. 

And for double tonguing, there are different syllables that people like to use for brass: “taka-taka-taka,” “tuhkuh-tuhkuh-tuhkuh,” “tookoo-tookoo” etc. Honestly, when you’re learning, just pick one that feels comfortable to you. Everybody’s mouths are different, people have different ones they like to use. Now band directors may ask you to use a specific one, but that usually applies when they want a certain tone (too-koo can give a darker one) but since you’re learning, don’t worry about that just yet. A good exercise: play a measure of eighth notes with the regular “tah” syllable, then a measure with the “kah” (or whatever you choose), then a measure of double tonguing. And guess what’s important here? SPOILER ALERT: Air. In double tonguing, your tongue is like a sheet of leather tied to the back of a moving car if people actually do that kind of thing. It’s gonna flap up and down, but only if it has the wind pushing it. Keep in mind the “kah” is going to require more air since it’s a weird feeling initially. Hope this all helps!