2008/12/2 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > So my simple -- or perhaps simple-minded -- question is, is such a leadpipe > likely to improve the accuracy of my playing, assuming all other factors > remain > roughly the same? I don't want to spend $600 or more, then find out that I > went in a wrong direction.
The simple-minded answer is that without en expert actually taking a look, it's not possible to say. It might be that you would get better value from trading the horn in and using the $600 plus the sale price to get a better one. The advantage of doing such a trade is that you can try the new horn out and see whether you like what you are buying, *before* you part with all that cash. Furthermore, if you have accuracy problems, a lesson or two with a good local teacher may indicate whether you have embouchure problems that are contributing to it, and that might prove to be better value still. Others on the list can burn me at the stake for heresy if they wish, but I've always taken the view that unless the horn is seriously defective in some fashion, how you blow into the horn is of far more importance than the type of horn you play, and far greater room for improvement is usually available from concentrating on the player rather than the instrument. I think the great majority of adult amateur horn players could quite radically improve as a result of taking a short course of lessons from a good teacher who is also a pro player, having the teacher point out their weaknesses and offer suggestions for what needs to be done to fix them, and then getting on with practicing the exercises necessary to improve the weak points. Most of us, when we learned as children, didn't practice properly. We played the pieces and studies we were told to by the teacher, but we didn't really understand why a particular exercise was being put in front of us - what aspect of playing it was intended to address. As an adult, you can do better when learning. If the teacher explains why he's making a suggestion, i.e. what he's trying to achieve, you have both the understanding and the motivation to apply that knowledge in a much more concentrated way. Regards Joinathan West _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
