Hello, Horn Players.
The consensus of advice suggested that I make
my 5th Horn to be High-Ranged with the 1st and
3rd, while my 6th Horn should be Low-Ranged
with the 2nd and 4th. To do this in my newest
work in Finale Print, I now have 15 Staves for the
Horn Section which are labeled this way in Scroll
View:
Horn 1
Horn 2
Horn 3
Horn 4
Horn 5
Horn 6
Hns. 1 & 2
Hns. 3 & 4
Hns. 5 & 6
Hns. 1 & 3
Hns. 5 & 2 *******
Hns. 4 & 6
Hns. 1 - 4
Hns. 1, 3 & 5 *******
Hns. 2, 4 & 6 *******
I put asterisks by the New Staves that I added as
a result of the new advice. I got some thoughtful
advice from a number of you, and I am very
grateful to each of you!
(I now use 78 Staves in Scroll View for this work,
for an orchestra of: Woodwinds in 3's, 6 Horns, 3
Trumpets, Euphonium, Tuba, one Timpanist, 12
possible Percussion Instruments (for 3 players), 2
harps, piano, and 20 staves for the Strings. But I
will likely later cut down the percussion instruments,
and omit the piano and 2nd harp. And each of the 5
String Sections has 4 staves: one for a Soloist, the
Section Divisi a 2, and the Section in Unison. In
Finale in Page View we only see the instruments
that are playing on that page, with all the blank
staves omitted.)
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I've also spent time studying my score of the
Shostakovich 10th Symphony, which has been a
favorite of mine for 30 years. It is practically a
Concerto for Orchestra, in that it has Hard Solos
for nearly each one of the Woodwinds, and some
impressive writing for the Brasses and each of the
String Section!
For those of you who don't know, Shostakovich
tried to write his Signature in the 3rd and 4th move-
ments of his 10th Symphony and a few other works.
This is a tradition that may have started with J.S.
Bach using the B-A-C-H Motive in his music. In
the German Musical Alphabet, "B" means "B-Flat",
while "H" means "B-Natural", ergo Bb, A, C,
B-Natural spells the Name of BACH.
Since Shostakovich couldn't spell his whole last
name in the Musical Notes via the German Musical
Alphabet, he settled for using "D SCH". "D" is for
his first name Dimitri, and "SCH" begins the
spelling of SCHostakowitsch in German. The
Germans call the Note "E-Flat" as "Es", ergo
"D SCH" becomes the German Notes of D, E-Flat,
C, B-Natural.
Many composers have used the DSCH Motive,
including myself. I used it in the 4th Movement
"Double Fugue with a Triple Fugue Coda" of my
huge "Sonata No. 1 for Horn and Piano" (March
2001, 4 mvts., 28 min.). I also took it a step further.
Since "S" is "Es" or "E-Flat", then since R comes
before S in both the German and English Alpha-
bets, then "R" must be the Note "D". Thereby I
invented the BEAR Motive as the Notes B-Flat, E,
A, D, and used it in my Horn Concerto, at the end
of the First Movement and as the Opening Melody
of the Third Movement "Hunting Rondo". In the
6/8 Rondo it comes across as a mischievous and
humorous melody. Hopefully people will like my
Horn Works as they get to know them.
Shostakovich uses 4 Horns in his 10th Sym-
phony, and near the end of the 4th Movement (at
mm. 545-549 and 595-603) he has them spell his
DSCH Motive in Concert Pitches. That means that
he has ALL 4 HORNS play the WRITTEN A,
B-Flat, G, and F-Sharp, at the top of the Treble
Clef at ff volume. And, yep, you DO notice it! By
having the Normally Low 4th Horn play up to the
High Written Bb, I wanted confirmation about
what range I should use for my 5th and 6th
Horns.
However Shostakovich uses Horns 2, 3 and 4
at the Low D, E-Flat, F and G-Flat, WRITTEN
BELOW the BASS CLEF in the 3rd Movement
of his 10th Symphony (at 439-450), sounding up
a Perfect 4th. (It looks scarier that it is, because he
uses the Old Method of Below-the-Bass-Clef
Writing from the early 1950's in Russia.)
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I'm very pleased with the progress on this new
orchestral work. There is some very noble, lyrical
Horn Writing, for the Solo 1st Horn and all 6
Horns, and its already over 5 minutes long in a
week of work, in Full C Score.
My Gila Monster is scratching at the door, so I
have to let him out, so he can eat Paranoids hiding
in the bushes.
Bear Woodson
Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA
Home: 520 - 881 - 2558
"Bear Woodson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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