The main objective of The French Horn Study on the Naturally Occurring Maxillofacial Anatomy of Different Genders and Ethnicities was to find a connection between the embouchure setups of the participants, and their anatomical differences, to conclude if certain embouchure setups were a better fit for specific groups of people. There have been no studies so far that have researched this particular topic, however there were some that talked briefly about how the embouchure may differ based on anatomy, just not how they differ and what other potential options there could be. This current study aims to focus on how anatomy differs in those of other genders and ethnicities besides the Caucasian Man. The Caucasian Male physiology is what the standard embouchure is based on, therefore identifying the physical differences is an important step when attempting to draw conclusions on whether the standard approach is best for everyone, or not. To research this particular information, human subjects were recruited from around the world; primarily the United States of America and Europe. Subjects were asked to submit photographs, measurements of facial features, as well as fill out French horn specific questionnaires. This study was motivated by my own approach to the French horn that differs from the standard method which has been preached about for over 200 years.

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Methods

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This study was performed via online responses. A small sample of 56 participants were recruited by the use of Facebook, Instagram and word of mouth, who then submitted a google form with their inquiry of interest in the study. There were originally 156 participants , but over 100 were removed due to no response and further communication on their end, or they removed themselves from the study due to lack of time. Participants who continued with the study were eventually grouped into four categories; Caucasian Male, Caucasian-Non Male, Non-Caucasian Male, Non-Caucasian Non-Male. Any non-male categories also included those who are transgender or nonbinary. Any Non-Caucasian groups included those who were mixed race, or any race besides Caucasian.

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Design and Procedure

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Participants were required to complete 4 stages. The first stage was collected via a google form which the included the following information: Name, age, gender, ethnicity, level of expertise (professional, student, amateur, etc.), what jobs they currently hold, if any, lip size, and dental structure (type of malocclusion, if they had any oral surgeries, etc.). The second step was also a google form that consisted of questions surrounding the French horn and their educational background. These questions included which type of horn and mouthpiece they play on, what method books they have used in their studies, what current setup they use and to describe in as much detail as possible, if they’ve even been asked or suggested to switch instruments based on their anatomy, as well as any weaknesses they have when playing the instrument. The third step was to send in pictures of the lower half of their face along with a photograph waiver either granting or denying the use of their photos in any publications of this project, as well as sending in measurements of their facial features. Participants were asked to measure certain facial features by following the demonstration video and written instructions. Lastly, a final questionnaire was sent out asking more generalized information regarding what they’d like to learn from this study, if anything, as well as more specific information of how they decided to play with the current embouchure setup they have, and if they were able to study privately prior to their time at university. 

 

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Analysis and Results

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Results were concluded by comparing the independent variables (participant categories, which include their lip size, gender, ethnicity, technical weaknesses) to the dependent variable (embouchure setup). Additionally, it was also important to compare independent variables to each other to find the correlations between them and compare that to the dependent variable as well. When the data was collected, independent variables were compared first to then group the participants into categories. For example, the Caucasian Male category encompassed their gender and ethnicity (as seen by the group name), as well as specific data points such as their vermillion (lip) measurements, and reported weaknesses. Lip sizes were reported for the participant categories by adding all the Caucasian Male reports and dividing by the number of participants. This then gave the mean of the lip sizes for the Caucasian Male category. The same was done for the remaining categories.

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When looking at technical weaknesses on the instrument, the participant categories compared how many participants had the weakness and played with a specific embouchure setup, to those participants who did not have the weakness and played with that same embouchure setup. For example, 24.98% of Caucasian Males who play standard have a range weakness, whereas 75.02% of them do not have a range weakness. This then becomes a valid contender for an embouchure option for the Caucasian Male group because those with the deficits are less than 40%, and those without the deficit are greater than 60%. This was repeated for all three embouchure options (standard, 50/50, ⅓ upper lip) and all four participant categories.

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At the end, preliminary results were concluded by taking the valid contenders in each embouchure category and ranking them out of 3 (weakness), to compare the specific embouchure contenders to all three weaknesses. Therefore, the standard approach was a valid contender for 2 out of 3 weakness categories seen in the Caucasian male participants. With over a 66.66% success rate, this is officially a good embouchure option for the Caucasian Male participants. At this moment in time, these results are being considered preliminary. More research and study needs to be done to conclude the accuracy, and/or more conclusive results to truly conclude a more definitive result.