Orchestral playing

Playing the french horn combines several activities:

light physical effort (3kgs)
intense concentration (1)
transposing on sight (2)
stress (3)

Note 1: each player must combine with others. This means: timing; tuning; and noise level.

Note 2. for historical reasons, all of the early repertoir is written as though the work is in C, with the part noted 'in G' - or whichever key the rest of the orchestra is to play in. Thus the horn player sees a note that must be transposed to match the pitch of the other players. In real time!

Note 3  Through convention, players may not make marks on the copy to help.them. With one player to each part, a missed or wrong note is instantly noticed by the conductor, other players,and occasionlly by the audience. The potential for error raises the stress levels, since committing errors can lead to no future work for the player.

A rehearsal lasts 90 minutes; a concert from 60 mins to over 300 (a Wagner opera for example)