Archived under: Hornmasters, Teaching | Barry Tuckwell, Beginners, David Bushhouse, Hand position & holding, Quotations
Hornmasters: Tuckwell and Bushhouse on Right Hand Position
Our last post in this portion of the Hornmasters series on right hand position features quotes from two very different, classic horn texts that make a similar point not seen in the previous quotations, having to do with the depth of the hand in the bell.
Barry Tuckwell in Playing the Horn suggested thinking of the right hand as “one unit with the bell.” The thumb rests flush along the side of the hand with no space with the hand in a cupped position.
Care must be taken not to put the hand too far into the bell; it is best to think of the hand as being in a position to cover over the bell rather than being in the bell. The first and second joints of the fingers should be pressed lightly against the bell….
It is sometimes thought that it is more difficult to have a satisfactory right hand position when the hand also supports the horn. This need not be a problem, however. Bearing in mind that every hand is different and that some compromise may be necessary, I have found that it is possible to use the hand for both support and hand stopping with no extra difficulty.
David Bushouse in Practical Hints on Playing the French Horn notes that there is a difference between the hand positions a young student would use compared to an adult.
For a normal adult-sized hand, the width of the hand will allow it to go in just far enough. A young player’s hand will tend to slide in too far.
These two sources may see pretty unrelated but they were published only five years apart (1978/83) and they tie together for me personally pretty closely for another reason. Back in probably 1979 I heard Tuckwell play live for the first time at a horn day event at the University of Kansas where Bushhouse was the horn professor. I was very familiar with his recordings but was surprised that the sound Tuckwell produced was actually a bit more covered than I thought it to be. That thought speaks to several points but the big one being how important it is to work with a live teacher as you work on hand position. Descriptions in a book are useful but there are elements that you can’t gauge from a description or from a recording.
Related to this article
- Hornmasters: Tuckwell on Holding the Horn and Left Hand Position
In our series of quotes from classic horn texts we will close out this part of the series with Barry Tuckwell. As a soloist Tuckwell in Playing the Horn (1978) was very open to playing standing. When one is standing, it is not too difficult to... - Hornmasters: Yancich and Robinson on Right Hand Position
Milan Yancich in A Practical Guide to French Horn Playing offers a practical approach to finding a good hand position. There are many hand positions that result in a range of sound from a closed or covered one to an open sound…. There is no one... - Hornmasters: Berv on Right Hand Position
As was seen in his discussion of left hand position, for Harry Berv in A Creative Approach to the French Horn one central point is that of “compensation.” Also he seems more aware than other authors of the natural variations of hand sizes seen among horn... - Hornmasters: Schuller on Right Hand Position
The second chapter of Horn Technique by Gunther Schuller is on the topic of tone production and the first aspect of tone production discussed is that of right hand position. He considered it a very essential aspect of what it is to produce a characteristic sound... - Hornmasters: Farkas on Right Hand Position
Most active horn teachers have read the Farkas book at some point but mostly not recently. One thing that you may have missed was that Farkas described a “new method” for the right hand in the bell, one that actually I suspect few use literally exactly... - Hornmasters: Merewether on Right Hand Position
Richard Merewether, as a horn designer, has an interesting perspective on hand position in The horn, the horn…. In the day-to-day activity of assisting players of many nationalities and every stage of attainment in the choice of an instrument (whether of our own or other make),... - Hand Position Drift
I am through my first rehearsals and master class of the trip to Asia. The topic that has come up the most for me in terms of horn technique has been right hand position. Many players (not just here) seem to suffer from what I refer...
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