Hi Hans, I agree with you 100%. It's the player who makes the sound, hits the notes, plays in tune, and, most important, plays with intelligence, subtlety, beauty, and taste.
However, given the above, every player ought to try to play on the best (most suitable, most reliable, most able to realize the player's intentions) instrument he can obtain. And, that instrument needs to be in the best condition possible. How many performances have you heard that have been marred by clacking valves or chipped notes caused by a performer trying to attack a note that is far out of tune on his instrument? Correcting these deficiencies in no way relieves the player from responsibility for his performance. Cryogenic treatment is one more technique used to improve instruments. We have done this process to several hundred instruments over the years and have had during that time one customer who thought nothing had been done and one who thought it made his horn worse. A pretty good track record, I think. If the difference it makes is subtle, well, this is a business of subtlety. As for the reports of physicists (who also tell us that the material of which a horn is made has no influence on the sound), and Selmer's test to see if high school players and amateurs could tell the difference, I have to give equal weight to the many world-class players who have found a positive improvement. I find that most of the critiques of cryogenic processing come from people with no experience with it. Regards, Bob Osmun www.osmun.com -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of hans Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2006 9:58 AM To: 'The Horn List' Subject: RE: [Hornlist] Re: cryogenics If all the playing depends on the improvement of the instrument, you should inspect the horns used by the Vienna Phil horn players & wonder how they get their beautiful sound & playing ?????? If you inspect their horns, you would not expect this result. No cryogenics, no ultrasonic experiments, some petroleum as lubrificant mixed with eau de Cologne (4711) to compensate the odour, not much cleaning, etc.etc. - I repeat, it is the player who makes the music !!!! ============================================================ ================================================== -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Simon Varnam Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2006 2:31 PM To: horn@music.memphis.edu Subject: [Hornlist] Re: cryogenics I read the article at the link given before. I wonder if the improvement he speaks of is caused not by the freezing but by the ultrasonic cleaning that he gives the instruments beforehand. Simon _______________________________________________ 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/rosmun%40osmun.com _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
