How should the sound of a low horn be in principal ? Listen to the double bass or to the violoncello and you get the right picture about sound quality. Try to copy that sound. Well, there are some extremes as the forte or fortissimo in the bass region. Get some sound orientation from the basso tubas sonority, from the smaller basso tuba not from the sousaphone or the big "imperial bass" or the "giant drums" as in Tahiti music, well focussed sound without lip brrrrrrrt sound at the beginning or elsewhere during a held note.
Remember, it is not a weakness if you cannot play super loud in the bass, but just fine loud. Beauty of tone & tone quality in general comes before mere loudness. But if the sound of the low notes is really weak & cannot be developed during the playing, something has to be improved: hardware (mouthpiece), software (idea about the low notes sound), physical improvement(lip adjustment, mouth cavity adjustment, intonation, release of air, attack). Think, low horns do not have many soli or great soli (even Beethoven no.9 is better played by the player who is used to be exposed - the first horn, the whole professional world makes it this way more or less !), so their role is to support the other voices and the whole section supports the principal voices in the performance. 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/archive%40jab.org
