Timothy wrote: > OK - I've read this a few times, the idea of "singing through the horn." > Would someone care to elaborate on this a bit more? Is this a specific > technique, or more a matter of state of mind?
It seems that other people understand "singing through the horn" differently to me. Having just converted from the trumpet, where the notes are this amount apart (fixed width font) for one valve fingering in the usual playing octaves: | | | | | | | | ...and then finding on the horn that they are this amount apart: | | | | | | || it leaves much less a margin for error. I don't have perfect pitch. But I can look at a trumpet (in Bflat) note entry and guess that it's going to be roughly at *that* pitch, and apart from the very highest notes, my guess is almost always within the margin of error to produce that note. So although it's still useful to know what the note is in advance, on the trumpet I don't find it crucial most of time. However, on the horn, it's a different story, particularly since the music is written a fourth higher than where I guess trumpet notes to be. So, the horn really doesn't help me in the way that the trumpet does, because my margin of error is big enough that just by guessing, I'd get a lot of wrong notes. So I really really have to know where the note is going to be, and that is exactly the same as what I have to do with my voice when I sing. I have no valves to help me, I have to *know* what the pitch is going to be. And when I sing, I pitch my second note from my first, by judging the right interval, and my third from my second, and so on. For entries, I have to pitch it by knowing what the rest of the orchestra is up to and where my note fits into that. It's still slightly easier than getting the pitch by singing, because the horn will prefer to play the correct note if you've got the correct fingering, rather than a long one, but still! Playing an unfamiliar piece on the horn is very similar to singing an unfamiliar piece with my voice. The lyrical aspect does come in too, and I find myself attaching the same sort of phrasing and style when playing the horn, that I might use when singing. But for me, it's the "getting the right pitch" aspect that makes playing the horn so incredibly like singing. Sharon -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~scu/ -- The University of Stirling is a university established in Scotland by charter at Stirling, FK9 4LA. Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this message. If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you may not disclose, copy or deliver this message to anyone and any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. In such case, you should destroy this message and kindly notify the sender by reply email. Please advise immediately if you or your employer do not consent to Internet email for messages of this kind. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this message that do not relate to the official business of the University of Stirling shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by it. _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
