Anatomic contrast between professional and students horn performers

Research and comparison of how professionals and students make use of respiratory anatomical structures during performance will serve as a means of determining which facets and in which direction the methods of teaching and learning the horn should be improved. For this, two different samples – students and professionals – were selected and a study was performed based on the anatomical parameters considered appropriate (mouth aperture, pharynx, larynx, lung volumes, and respiratory musculature) with the technical employment of videolaringoscopy, videofluoroscopy, spirometry and polygraph. The results shed light on the vast differences, especially in the upper air tract, between professionals and students, and this, in part, explains the gap in their musical quality and horn technique. We must guide and encourage studetn horn players (and, by extension, all brass players) towards an adequate/optimal modification of the upper air tract in order to improve their musical quality and technique, thus improving their understanding of concepts such as flexibility, sound potential, cound control, and the mastery of articulation