Yesterday, while playing a concert with our regional symphony orchestra my 2nd valve rotor string broke at about the fourth staff of Mendelssohn's Symphony #4 (Italian). I had to play the rest of the symphony on natural horn. That turned out quite well, since I was able to cock the rotor spindle over to the 'on' position for the whole piece and then drop the B-flat trigger to play the first two movements, which are in A horn, and then play the last two movements, which are in E, on the F side. My colleagues all said they didn't notice anything unusual. (But, how could they have missed it when the thing snapped right during one of the exposed high note spots in the exposition, which a resulting glitch of course?).
At intermission I was dismayed to find out that my stash of fishing line was not in my case. I did however have a spool of extra-shred resistant dental floss that the dentist gave me at my last cleaning. It worked like a charm, lasting well throughout the remaining 6 pieces of the concert program. And, my valves are now remarkably free from plaque! Bob Dickow _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
