Placement on Stage for the Horn Soloist
Some time back I had a post on placement of horn sections on stage, but I don’t believe that I have ever posted about the placement on stage for the horn soloist [UPDATE: See comments]. It is actually a topic I talk to students about often and at any horn workshop it is something every artist has to think about a lot. The place where you will sound the best to the audience will be a bit different in every hall.
Fortunately, James Boldin came to the rescue in his new horn blog with a great post on this topic, “Solo Performances: Where do you stand?” He begins,
Based on the title, you might think that this post would involve some sort of philosophical discussion about the nature of playing solos…actually it’s much more literal than that. Knowing where to stand (or sit) when playing a horn solo with piano isn’t always clear cut, especially for younger students, and even for college students. Because our bells face backwards, there are issues of projection, clarity, and resonance that we have to consider.
This photo is example four of the five standing positions he describes, all of which I have used at one time or another. This particular one was favored by Verne Reynolds in the time frame that I was a student at Eastman.
I should also note that sound in the hall is only half of the equation. The placement on the stage needs also to look good in the hall. Among non-hornist colleagues that I have worked with occasionally a strong opinion will crop up and in my experience it seems to favor a cross between examples one and four in the Boldin article. If you are too sideways it seems like you are out of communication with the audience but if you are too straight to the audience it seems like you are out of communication with the pianist. It is purely a visual thing as the sound is not that different between the two options but how it looks in the hall is something to balance with the sound aspects of where you are on stage.
It is an important topic to consider; check his article for more on the topic.
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