An Ultrasonographic Investigation of Horn Articulation

This study is an ultrasonographic inquiry into articulation on the French horn. Previous attempts into imaging the tongue have been made, but ultrasonography has recently proven a useful tool for pedagogical inquiry on the topic though it has never before been used in studying a brass instrument. In this pilot study a test subject performed a variety of tasks on the French horn while undergoing ultrasound imaging. Ultrasound images of the subject's tongue were synchronized with audio recording of the performance and the resulting data was qualitatively analyzed and compared with the standing pedagogical beliefs on the topic. The study showed that some of the current beliefs on the mechanism of articulation are false. The study also showed that ultrasonography is a useful method for investigating brass pedagogy and could be used for inquiry in the future.