It might be interesting to find out how many of us have a realistic concept of our own sound. When I was younger, I thought I had a good idea what I sounded like. Until my senior year in high school I played a small Bach mouthpiece using an inverted emboucher, inset into the upper lip. I had terrific high range but had to make a shift for the low range. I had the good fortune to move to Boston and got Ralph Pottle, of the BSO, as a teacher. There was an unexpected vacancy in the principal 4th position of the Greater Boston Youth Symphony. My new best friend at high school, Tony Levin, Principal bass, took me to rehearsal. That day, I went over to Rayburn music and bought a Bach 3 so I could play the low notes. After three weeks, someone realized I wasn't really the replacement horn player, but ruthless (fair to me) as they are, they arranged a formal audition/recital for the principal of the junior orchestra and me. We were each given an obscure Russian piece and told to prepare it for next week. Fortunately, I called Pottle, and he told me to find an accompanist and meet him at Brookline High the next day. Another new friend at Brookline, who had soloed with the Pops, came to my aid. I was doing well enough on the new mouthpiece that Pottle wouldn't risk an embouchure change. It turns out that my rival was a student of Harry Shapiro, another legendary teacher from the BSO. It was close, but I prevailed, probably based on the sound that I was developing on the big bowl shaped mouthpiece. As I look back, I can honestly say that playing in GBYSO was the most intense orchestra experience I have ever had. My son has compared recordings of the 1964 orchestra with newer ones and made an interesting observation. In the 1964 recording, the last year Marvin Rabin conducted, he hears absolutely no missed notes and the intensity comes through even though the recording quality isn't what we have today. I have a more recent recording of the orchestra playing Mahler 2. In that recording, the playing has a few missed notes and the electric intensity is not there, but the playing is much more sophisticated. The high school students in the modern era sound more technically advanced and at ease with their instruments. It always gives me a lift when I experience the incredible abilities of young, hot shot musicians. I hope they realize the value of the elite groups they're in, and savor the accomplishments they achieve. Not everyone chooses to pursue a musical career, and if they do, hopefully they find it's a good way to get by. But go for the elite young groups. The experience is priceless. It's a class of concert I seek out.
Wow. That was quite a ramble , even for me, I should probably erase it. Don't read it if you're not interested. Back to my point, I played that Bach 3 through all my serious playing days with the upside down emboucher, and I was particularly noted for my horn tone. When I committed to an engineering career, I put the horn away for five years, and played bass in a serious rock band. When I went back to the horn, I changed my emboucher to a conventional form, but changed to an old Giardinelli with a much deeper cup, reputedly a former mouthpiece of Harry Shapiro. Eventually I lost that mouthpiece, but by then had a son with a good ear to listen to me try out possible replacements. When I played a Bach 3 he told me it sounded awful, but now I was playing with a conventional emboucher. My ear was favoring a deep cup, it sounded full and rich. The one that finally stuck was a Schilke 31, not the 31B, because it gave me a comfortable throughput and both of us were satisfied with the sound. Shortly thereafter, I got into a conversation with Scott Lasky concerning a proper cup shape to match a single Bb horn I was fooling with. His opinion was that the Bb horn is shorter and the cup depth should scale with length. He recommended a Schilke 31B. When I first played it, it seemed so shrill. My son said my tone was spectacular, but I wasn't hearing it. So he recorded me playing in a hall, and I could hear what he was describing. It still took me a few weeks to recalibrate my hearing. I was hearing the deep vee cup as rich and warm, but in reality, it was damping the upper partials. My son described it as the difference between a euphonium and a French horn. So, how many out there have heard recordings of their playing and really know what their sound is. We rarely recognize recordings of our voices, so why should the horn be different. In a message dated 1/31/2005 6:39:02 PM Eastern Standard Time, Tom Warner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >On 31 Jan 2005, at 10:29 pm, Stuart A. de Haro wrote: > >> I've ended my mouthpiece survey and have posted the results on my >> website. Here is the link: >> >> http://www.deharohorns.com/mouthpiece_survey_results.html > >Considering that there is just the one model Pizka; it would seem to be >one of the more popular configurations. > >It might be interesting to see the breakdown of models, on the most >popular brands. > >All the best, >Tom > >_______________________________________________ >post: horn@music.memphis.edu >unsubscribe or set options at >http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/billbamberg%40aol.com >
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