Archived under: Accuracy, Auditions, Deep thoughts, Lists & FAQs | Low range
Two Truths Horn Players Must Face
A couple thoughts from placement auditions for ensembles at ASU last week.
1. You really need to not miss the notes. Musicality, tone, and nuance are all great things, I love them, but in the end some listeners will think you are not that good if you can’t play for example the complete exposition of a Mozart concerto without any chipped notes. In the words of one of my former teachers, “110% accuracy” is the goal. If you are going to miss something, miss something that is hard while going for it, not simple entrances in the mid range.
2. Another thing we horn players don’t hear well is the tone color shifting around the break range. We get used to how we sound so we don’t hear it well. Lots of horn players don’t have the break range worked out nearly well enough. Again, non-hornists [conductors!] can hear this issue easily; the tone needs to stay basically the same above and below the break. Be very aggressive about working out the transition from the low range to middle range. It all needs to sound seamless.
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