Playing the English horn (EH) requires good artistry, imagination, common sense and excellent oboe skills. However, there are some concepts that will help you blend better in your section and will distinguish you from herds of English horn “converts” that usually assemble at English horn auditions. This guide could not have been written without the exceptional help of Louis Rosenblatt, Felix Kraus and Harold Smoliar and I am indebted to them for their valuable contribution.

Know your “concert” pitches:

Do you know what note you are playing? The fact that there is no transposition required by the player when changing from oboe to EH does not exonerate you from the responsibility of knowing what actual notes you are playing.
Are you aware of your concert pitch when you play EH low G# in unison with the oboe?  This is concert C#, which could be a flat note on some oboes. Therefore a small adjustment will be needed to successfully tune with your oboe colleague. On the other hand, the same note up an octave on the EH can be flat and/or out of focus with some bocals. In this register,  the oboe playing half hole concert C# could actually be higher in pitch, requiring the correct adjustment.  Playing low F# unison with oboe, means low B for the oboe,  a note that not only might be a little low in pitch but will also benefit if you play a little louder so your colleague does not feel “stranded”. These are only a few of many idiosyncracies involved in English horn playing. The more awareness you have about the actual pitches you are playing, the better you will fit in a woodwind section and orchestra.

The Pitch Level:

In my opinion, the pitch level on most English horns is  mostly optimized for A=441-2 pitch level. Playing 440 consistently especially in the low register can be a real challenge because lowering the pitch is no easy task. Each solution requires a compromise. Loree EH’s as well as most EH’s sound their best when played near the 441-2 mark. There is a particular richness in the sound and the color is just right when played in the higher pitch range.  If your orchestra plays at 442, you are lucky. If you play in an ensemble which consistently plays 440 you know what I mean. Some people use #3 bocals to try to solve the pitch dilemma. I truly believe that a longer bocal does not necessarily help lower the overall pitch.  In fact it will mostly create more problems. A longer bocal will make the upper register sag, forcing you to make a higher pitched reed which might drive the low notes even higher.
 

The Wind:

The English horn requires much more air than the oboe, of course, but there is more to it than that. The sound needs to be relaxed, vocal, pastoral and most of the times, plaintive and melancholic. The vibrato needs to slow a little and sound effortless and you have to blow harder, but not as intensely as on the oboe. The use of wind should not be as narrow and focused as in the oboe, with the exception of the high notes. To get that rich deep tone that is possible on the English horn everything needs to be slower, wider and less “cramped” than the oboe. Think “oboe in slow motion”. Imagine what would happen if a violinist switched to the violoncello….. The bow speed would change as well as the vibrato. There would be less intensity and narrowness of focus in the sound. Most oboists will sound sharp when playing the English horn for the first time. This is because of the different nature of the air required along with the effort needed  to make some  oboes play up to pitch. The "trick" is that you have to do the opposite on the English horn. Before going too crazy attempting the aforementioned recomendations on your own, remember that these are all very subjective points best attended to under the watchful eye of a good teacher.

The Reed:

Being the bigger instrument the English horn is, the reeds need to be bigger, longer and a little bit thicker as well as more resistant. EH reeds need to be stable and balanced but must have enough built in resistance so the high B and C will tune correctly. The tip needs to be thinned, but not as thin as an oboe reed. Nevertheless, EH reeds require the same degree of refinement and care as their oboe counterparts. Many oboists fail to scrape an EH reed sufficiently when attempting it at first. The thicker gouge requires more scraping.
A reed that is flat or too resistant will make the interval between high B and C too wide.
A reed that plays these notes  too easily and without resistance can pose a real problem when playing low notes, as these will invariably be high in pitch. This is one of the big differences between oboes and EHs. Low notes on the EH can be high, not flat. It’s very hard to play sharp on most Royal Lorée oboe’s low register with a decent reed. The opposite is true for English horn.
Playing English horn on a short and high reed will allow you to play high notes easily, but will also force you to direct your air downwards and this might be ineffective on the low register. On the other hand, a long and flat reed will force you to bite so much that you may end up playing sharp anyway and you won’t be able to play high C or high G#. Furthermore, a very narrow EH shaper will exaggerate the high pitch in the low notes, while a very wide EH shaper will add “buzz” and resistance to the sound resulting in a loss of  focus as well as stability. Somewhere in the middle is the right shaper for you!  
Regarding  wire on an EH reed: I don’t use wire, for too many reasons. Would you use wire on your oboe reeds? I don't oppose the use of wire, however and once in a while I will use it.
Bottom line: The English horn needs an English horn reed, not an oversized oboe reed. The latter will insure that you sound like 80% of the other candidates at that big EH audition.

The Bocal:

What is the purpose of the bocal? Is it part of the instrument? Perhaps its purpose is to serve as the modular “staple” of the EH reed?  In other words, is the bocal just as much part of the reed as it is of the instrument? To me, the answer to the last question is "yes", but the bocal comes before the reed in the hierarchy. The bocal will provide good coupling not only for the instrument, but also your reeds and style of playing. One good test note is middle C on the EH. A great bocal will allow you to play diminuendo to infinity without breaking or lowering the pitch of the note. It will also help stabilize the high G# and give it some clarity and focus. The primary goal, in my experience, is to define the upper scale of the instrument. This is where a good bocal really makes a difference. Sound quality and timbre also come into consideration, but these are very subjective matters and secondary to me at this juncture, since what we are looking for in a bocal is functionality. The sound can ultimately be tailored in your reed making. My preference is to play on the shortest bocal I can get away with (#1 big bore or a small bore #2) and make a lower pitched reed to compensate. I find making a lower-pitched reed also adds depth to the sound.

The English horn is neither a big oboe nor a little bassoon. It is a one-of-a-kind unique animal. That’s how it earned its place in the orchestra. Any attempt at standardization will lead to no- man’s land (perhaps more accurately, one-man's land). No two English hornists I know think exactly alike on what they strive for. Yet, most of us face the same challenges. If you play with conviction, imagination (and in tune) your sound or “school” is secondary.  When I think about sound concepts, I imagine the violoncello, tenor or alto voice, bassoon, viola and horn (I wish I could sound like a cello on the EH). It is no coincidence really. These are the instruments I play with most of the time in the orchestra. If there is one instrument I don’t think about is the oboe. I only think about the oboe in terms of function: reeds, attacks, hand position, etc. It is essential to know the oboe well, but once you are on the EH chair, you need to “divorce”  yourself from your oboe habits (if you are bilingual, you know that you can only master a second language once you start thinking and dreaming in that language).  But in the end, being a great oboe player can lead to your becoming an even better English hornist, provided you know “the tricks” and apply them to the EH.