To revive the ancient question for a moment - how to practice in a hotel
without the next-door ignoranti calling for help - here's what I did a
few days ago when I visited Baltimore. I brought along a standard
flexible vinyl tube, 3/8 inch inside diameter, about 16 feet long,
curled into a circle. I have a mouthpiece adapter for horn mp to Eb
alto horn - that fits inside the tube perfectly; but it is unnecessary,
as you could use the next size smaller vinyl tube or pad the mouthpiece
outside to seal the connection. The extra turbulence you would get
without the adapter is the least of your problems.
The tube should have been a little shorter so as to make less resistance
and to raise the fundamental key - which was something like concert E -
but it worked ok. You can tune the horn easily with a pair of
scissors. The sound that his horn makes is odious, but in its favor, it
doesn't travel well, so I'm sure that the neighbors weren't disturbed.
This device works just fine in the bathtub; in fact the deep acoustics
of the typical hard-wall bathroom improve the gassy quality of the
instrument. And if you are in the bathtub, you don't have to go
anywhere to empty it.
Of course there are limitations as to what use you can make of this,
like forget about practicing fingering. But scales, intervals, trills,
movement across octaves, long tones, endurance - all there, and maybe
even better practice than on a more expensive horn (this was 28 cents
per foot), because the notes, especially higher notes are not easy to
hit. So add perfecting accuracy of attack to one of its virtues.
--
{ David Goldberg: [EMAIL PROTECTED] }
{ Math Dept, Washtenaw Community College }
{ Ann Arbor Michigan }
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