Hans,
Thank you for your reply. Mea Culpa; I misunderstood what you were saying. In
the minds of the audience, the principal is the face of the orchestra.
Occasionally, here in the US, the assistant is considered the face of the
section by the audience because they sit at the front of the section! I also
agree that there is nothing special about the range of any of the horn parts,
my point being that first horn to last horn have to master the entire range of
the horn and be able to play it on demand. I think my misunderstanding arose
from two fronts: 1. a mistaken belief (from the strong band tradition in the
US) that some parts are intrinsically harder than others, which I feel is not
applicable to the orchestral world, and 2. I freelance because the orchestra I
play in does not pay enough to support my family (I am not complaining, just
observing. I choose to live where I live and I do what I need to make ends
meet), so I take most any job that I am offered. I admit when
I do a few 6-9 hour-a-day jobs playing "Hollywood" style pop music for a few
days in a row, I will not try to fit in that one extra church job on Sunday,
even around Christmas! Of course, this is even if I play Horn 3. It takes a
different mindset to play Horn 1 than section (tutti) horn, but I feel we are
in agreement that the actual work of playing tutti can still be equally
challenging.
Hans, here is a story I think you might like A few years ago, I played a
Valentine concert with an overture, a few "romantic" type pieces, a concerto,
the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra and Don Juan (9 hours of rehearsal in 24
hours, then a 4-hour break and a live concert broadcast over public radio, no
assistant for budgetary reasons. Tame stuff for you!). The next day I went to
a horn conference and a colleague from anther orchestra told me that "at least
Don Juan is an easy blow." Apparently they ALWAYS have an assistant.
Respectfully Submitted,
Scott Young
> From: [email protected]
> Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 06:46:47 +0200
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [Hornlist] fitting in as part of getting a job
>
> Hello Scott,
>
> I did not question the quality of a 2nd, 3rd or 4rth player nor did I talk
> about the conductor.
> I talked about the general acceptance & view of the audience: "Did you notice
> the mistake of the horn ?" .... "the horn".
> They never say 2nd or 3rd or 4rth. It is that way.
>
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