I have to agree with Hans and Paul about the human voice being perhaps our grail as horn players. Lately I have been relistening to a recording of some sonatas by Pavel Vejvanofsky, a bohemian baroque composer, who seemingly wrote quite a bit for clarino trumpet and trombone. Although the recording is from the 70's and the instruments are modern, they, IMHO, do capture the spirit and expression that the composer meant. The trombone [alto] playing is very beautiful and is very consistent from the lowest registers to the upper reaches. I firmly advocate that all horn players should be singers in some capacity, especially choral, and that they should listen to - gasp - opera some too. paxmaha
Paul Mansur <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hans has it right, folks. The double horn is a fine instrument but all too often i find students who lock in on a switch point and then miss great opportunities to utilize all the resources found in the double horn. The secret of it all is to develop that F horn sound; and then learn to duplicate it on the Bb horn so that you can switch back and forth with impunity knowing that you have a unified sound! The best compliment I ever received, from an accomplished musician I admired, was: "Your playing reminds me of Joan Sutherland." I asked what he meant and he said: "Your tone is smooth and flows unchanged from the high register to the low as does Ms. Sutherland's voice." CORdially, Paul Mansur On Friday, October 14, 2005, at 09:10 AM, Hans wrote: > There is no switch point at all. It depends what you are > playing. It depends on chosing the best in tune notes. It > depends with whom you are playing along, e.g. with other > B-flat instruments (trumpet, clarinet), so you have to match > their characteristic. It depends on how to ease the > fingerings avoiding awkward combinations. It depends if you > can play naturalhorn like arpeggios. It depends on how you > have to inforce the sound perhaps by using the "turbo > trigger" for a superforte, by pushing the thumb valve & > pushing the horn into Bb-tonality in a fraction of a second > to get a real (but controlled) blast. Many conditions rule > where & when to switch from F to Bb or backwards. Simply > switching at a certain point (always) is by far the most > comfortable but very anti-musical solution. We have a brain > & two ears to find out the best ways & keep everything under > control. > > Please do not address me with any Dr. or so, as I have not a > Dr. degree. My Prof. title is a honorary title. Here on this > list, I am used being addressed as Hans only & we should > continue this. If one of you writes me a personal letter, I > leave it up to the individual how to address me. Thanks. > > ============================================================ > ================================================= > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Bill Gross > Sent: Friday, October 14, 2005 12:19 PM > To: 'The Horn List' > Subject: RE: [Hornlist] Fingerings > > This has been a most interesting discussion. I've picked up > a lot of good information. One question does come to mind > about the "switch point" for double horns. If the F horn > has the more desired horn sound, why is the "commonly > accepted switch point" g1 sharp (second line treble clef)? > As Dr. > Pizka points out the F horn can " Notes above g1 (2nd line > from bottom) are still best on F-horn up to written c2 or d2 > or e2. Note that the d1 as open F-horn-note is a perfect > lucid note, full of light. If one does switch to the Bb-side > above c2, why not." > > Is this one of those things that just happened? Was the a > valid reason initially, but over time that rationale was > lost and the "switch point" got stuck in horn lore? > > > > _______________________________________________ > post: horn@music.memphis.edu > unsubscribe or set options at > http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/hans%40pizka. > de > > _______________________________________________ > post: horn@music.memphis.edu > unsubscribe or set options at > http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/p_mansur1%40comcast.net > _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/paxmaha%40yahoo.com --------------------------------- Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free. _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
