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When I was a Doctoral student I traveled one time from IU to the Historic Brass Society event in Amherst with Rick Seraphinoff and Viola Roth by car. To keep in shape on the road Rick had developed a “crook” that was mostly made out of half inch vinyl tube that plugged into a natural horn. It put the horn into as I recall C basso or D. The horn would be in a partially open gig bag in the back seat, behind the driver. You could have a nice workout on it driving down a smooth, rural section of interstate.
The thought of this instrument came back to mind for me looking at all the car travel I have the weeks before the horn symposium in Denver, driving all the way to New York state and back, where I certainly plan to have the chops in top shape. I won’t be able to take along the natural horn, I have three other instruments to manage and a lot of books, but another thought occurred to me, to make a Hosaphone™ horn in C or D.
I have had a link to the Hosaphone™ headquarters in my links page for years (UPDATE, the website on this low-cost valveless trumpet for the post-modern age is no longer online). Knowing that C basso should be roughly 16 feet of tubing, I purchased 20 feet of half inch tubing and had at it. I cut about three feet off and with the short lead pipe of 3/8 inch tubing added the instrument plays in C-sharp, a good compromise as I had been undecided about building it in C or in D.
The finished product came out nicely. The intonation is more than a bit rough but there are plenty of high harmonics to surf while rolling down a lonely highway, definitely better than just mouthpiece buzzing and isometrics.
