Hi, me again,
I don't usually do this on public forums, but I just wanted to thank
Professor Pizka for his in-depth answer. I'm aware that a player of his caliber
probably doesn't have a lot of time to deal with the trivial questions of
students who pay him no money and live on another continent. I know that I for
one revere him as the sort of "Horn Buddah", who will always have a correct
answer to what ever horn-related question I ask him, and I personally feel that
deserves some appreciation.
Thank you,
Nick
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Nick, you got the news quite late indeed, as even Dennis
Brain started the "natural horn rebirth" in the very early
1950ies, more than 50 years ago. And he got a large number
of "followers", who adopted the natural horn ads their
"second leg" for special concerts since.
Nick, have you ever heard of concerts with period
instruments ? It seems, you belong to the vast number of
young players living on a far away planet without
registering what´s around them. That does not only happen on
your continent, it is a world wide epidemic not only
restricted to music. Achieving a technical mastery of the
instrument, which players of my generation could not even
imagine, but completely outside the context of music,
without phantasy, without feeling, without everything
essential for the art of music. So far, the situation.
Yes, this changed world - not to blame you, Nick, and your
commilitones - , this world with ist acoustical environment
pollution has reduced our sensitivity to near zero level, so
most of us need a sample for everything (e.g. recording), as
we cannot imagine how a piece would sound, by mere reading
the written or printed music. We have reduced ourselves to
poor imitators more or less. But few exception remaining
phantasyful & creative. Those climb up the ladder of
success. Those get the best jobs in the orchestra. The
rarity of these talents is the reason, why more & more good
orchestra vacancies cannot be filled with appropriate young
musicians. Before we hire a only-technician-musician, we
leave a top position vacant for years.
Back to your question:
You seem to mix up the facts. Conch shell & ox horn were
signal instruments, nothing else. Olifants (= the horns made
of elephant tuscs) were extremely precious, were used as
ceremonial & signal instruments as were the antic lures.
This was different from what we think of music in the
classical way. It was not music "per se".
Hunting horns can play together in one tonality only, except
we use the imperfect system of modulating single pitches by
the use of the right hand in the bell (quite complicate
regarding the dimensions of these horns). If the group is
large enough & includes horns of different pitch, the group
can play modestly altered tonalities in the performances.
But this is again a deviation from the pure path of hunting
horn playing. So hunting horn playing remains restricted,
even received enthusiastic by the audiences because of the
special sound & the optical sensation, restricted due to the
compository limitations. And it cannot be named a musical
instrument in our modern sense therefore.
The hand horn or natural horn is different, as a real
natural horn virtuoso (Halstead, Bonet, Greer,
Garcin-Marrou, etc.) can play nearly every kind of music
from early baroque period until late romantic on this kind
of horn, and in a way, most technical advanced (valve horn)
players cannot dare to dream of.
Why these rebirth ? (during my study, there was no rebirth
of the natural horn necessary, as it was part of our study,
but at the beginning, the very beginning. It was the
beginning !) Yes, this rebirth brings back the basic
technique of horn playing, the better feeling for tone
colours, the better lip control (bending, sharpening,
lowering, lip trills, stopping, hand muting) with all the
benefits for the modern double horn. Forgot the mute ? No
problem. Do it by hand. Forgot stopping mute ? No problem,
go to hand-stopping. Etc.etc.
And, playing period music with period instruments creates a
better understanding for blending with other instruments
(horn = tin viola !), gives better understanding about
possible tempi, dynamics etc. And more, more, more .....
The driving point for a rebirth of a somewhat antiquated
instrument is not the number of existing concert pieces.
This view would be much too narrow.
But believe me: learning this old techniques will help you
to make you a better "modern" horn player & musician.
============================================================
=============================================
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Nicholas Hartman Hartman
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 3:09 AM
To: horn list
Subject: [Hornlist] the natural horn
Dear List,
I've heard that recently, the natural horn has
been making a comeback. My question is, why the natural
horn? Why not the hunting horn, alp horn, or even the conch
shell? it seem like an oddly specific instrument to make a
comeback. There are dozens of horns that have had an impact
on the development of the modern horn, yet no one would put
the words "Seraphinoff" and "Conch Shell" in the same
sentence (except for just then).
Thanks,
Nick
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