There is some difference regarding the approach to a new horn between amateur players & real professionals.
The amateur is trying a new horn with his or her imperfect & many times out of shape or not properly trained embouchure. So he or she needs to bend up notes or lip them down, to correct her or his own embouchure defects. And there are many, special by amateurs who exceed their limits. I watched them at many exhibitions, where they just tried the loud & very high squeezed notes instead exploring the middle range first, but softly, without pushing vertical against the lips and without "pumping" air through the instrument. Conclusion: by this method they cannot explore the specific behaviour of any instrument but just getting an extremely false & subjective impression & come to absolutely false judgement. Real professionals explore a horn with soft middle range notes, a few arpeggios over the full range, played in piano dynamics, some slow scales, some short forte strokes to check about the immediate response, some high notes in piano dynamics to check about the ease of attacking extreme soli, some forte held notes around c1 (first ledger line below staff), a forte attack on low c (space below 4 ledger lines below staff, also the same in piano dynamics, some easy piano intervals starting from c2 (2nd space from top), checking the top g2 (on top of the staff), checking high g#. If that does not work properly, adjust valve slides 2 & 3 until it fits, but just adjusting by millimetres not centimetres. This combination is delicate indeed as the horn gets very long (Bb-flat side converts to f# horn; F-horn converts to c# horn). Try an arpeggio on the open F-horn as c2-g2-e2-c2-g1-e1- c1-g-c-c3. If that goes easily & in tune, the horn is perfect. Try the octaves c1-c2-c3 on open Bb-horn. No need to do the same on the valves. Check about the c2-f2 interval on open Bb-horn. Should the f2 be a hair flat as on most horns, try Bb1 fingering instead. Should work. If the c2-g1 (with Bb1 fingering) is a bit flat (not on my horns), try the g on the F-side. Should work perfectly. Remember, playing straight into the horn without any lipping or bending will bring best results on any horn. If you bend the lead pipe way down instead of lifting up the horn to ideal position (hurts the first few times), no wonder about insufficient results. If you push against the lips & if you push too much air through the instrument, no wonder about bad results. Yeah, one important fact: Valve slides are pushed in completely for transportation by the maker. But this does not work that way when playing. The horns are built higher in pitch so to enable adjustment. First thing to do: Adjust main slide to get the general tonality right. Adjust F-extension slide so the c2 & c1 match perfectly. Adjust valve slides after a thumb rule: 2nd valve shortest extension from three valves, 1st valve middle extension, 3rd valve longest extension. F-slides extension just 1 or 2 mms longer than Bb-slides. 1st slide F-side: 8-10 mms, 2nd slide 6 - 8 mms, 3rd slide: 9-12 mms. Just the thumb rule. I experienced once the following during a masterclass: A student played all valve slides pushed in completely, but all completely out of tune. I asked him, why he did so. His answer was: "the famous soloist XY did so & he is my idol !" My answer was very simple: "If you copy that without using your brain, you will never win any audition for an orchestra job ! If you come for another lesson with me, without tuning the horn properly by adjusting the slides, you will not receive any lesson, as it would be wasted time - wasted time of my life !". Nothing more to say. Prof.Hans Pizka, Pf.1136 D-85541 Kirchheim - Germany Fax: 49 89 903-9414 Phone: 903-9548 home: www.pizka.de email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
