I enjoyed that letter Hans. I can't begin to tell you how many people think that by getting their ultimate horn (and sadly I used to think this way) that all of a sudden your mistakes would all and dissappear and then magically you could play like Baumann.
Wrong. I find that now that I own a superb horn I actually have to work harder because every hint of a bad habit is clearly audible or visible and of course unless you have a really awful instrument the horn is never at fault. I recently had to send my Schmid to Osmun to get a few repairs done and won't have it back until next Wednesday or so and I'm having to use a school owned Yamaha 668. I don't like the horn at all - it's non-responsive, clunky, heavy, and this particular one is extremely stuffy. Plus there's a silly finger hook which drives me crazy (I have small hands and as such never play with duck's feet or finger hooks because they cause more problems than solutions). In fact I'm not sure why people play with those things other than grip... seems to me they just add unnecessary pressure. There are times when I wish to blame the horn incessantly. However even though sometimes with a bad instrument you can't be a miracle worker; a decent player can make anything sound good. And, despite the "challenges" with it, I still practice as I normally would, working on things I'm supposed to. The sound is in you, not your Horn. -William PS: Speaking of Yamahas, every one I've ever played on is stuffy. Has anyone else had this experience or is it just me and my personal preferences? In a message dated 10/10/2003 5:05:42 AM Pacific Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > Subj: [Hornlist] horn tone colour metal mpcs kranz bore etc > Date: 10/10/2003 5:05:42 AM Pacific Daylight Time > From: <A HREF="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> > Reply-to: <A HREF="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> > To: <A HREF="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> > Sent from the Internet > > > > Best choice for a warm tone is single F brass, but what to do with the > high notes ? > > Get a Bb-side added. > > If the Bb-side does not satify for the extreme high, get a high F added, > etc. > > If the sound is quite small then, get a bigger bell added. > > If the sound is not warm enough then, get a red brass bell or perhaps a > red brass lead pipe. > > You complain, that the sound gets dull then. Well, change the red brass > bell against a yellow brass or nickel silver bell. > > The sound gets to brassy then. Well, put a "kranz" on the bell. > > The overall sound has become too dull now. Change the tubings against > narrower tubings, perhaps entirely of nickel silver. > > How about changing the mouth piece: a silver mpc for the heavy stuff, > brass for the oooompah &titanium light weight for the chamber music. > > And the lacquer effect ? Take advantage of clean hands by lacquering the > bell inside. To avoid the permanent polishing of the horn, get it > plated. If the light reflex does disturb the camera men, get the horn > shaved a bit with sand paper. > > Valves are too slow. Get a very thin oil. But now you cannot feel the > valve action. Put some fat inside &they will stick. The same for the > slides if too lose or too tight. > > Some people swear upon lightly leak valves as they - so they say - > provide better slurs ??? Others like them tight absolutely. You have the > choice of plating the valves or "over fitting". > > Some notes are not in tune perfectly. Add a special valve here &there > at the tubing. It might help. > > The screw bell is very practical, if you complain about the odd horn > case. But doesn´t a gig-bag look funny also ? > > If you cut your bell &find the sound has changed too much, there is a > way to re-solder the bell. > > If some notes do not speak so well, try the special trick of inserting a > thread into one of the slides. But then another note may not speak so > well. Insert another thread into a different slide. You have six valve > slides at least plus the several tuning slides. A combination of them > would bring multiple chances to improve your horn. > > And all this effort did not make you the "master of horns". > > Well, how about changing or exchanging YOURSELF - or at least the way of > PLAYING the horn ? The best solution at all, but with the side effect > that it is at no cost. > > The last choice: if you have spent all your money for horn modifications > &it does not work properly still, lift it up in the air &smash it to > the bottom &jump on it - to end the terror (for you &the listeners). > > > Prof.Hans Pizka, Pf.1136 > D-85541 Kirchheim - Germany > Fax: 49 89 903-9414 Phone: 903-9548 > home: www.pizka.de > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > _______________________________________________ > post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > set your options at > http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/valkhorn%40aol.com > _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
