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Last week I was able to post a video of my performance last year of the Bach B minor mass on descant horn. Randomly in another search I also stumbled upon a very interesting 2011 University of Miami dissertation, “An Equipment Guide to Performing Baroque Horn Music” by Joseph T. Falvey. The full text is online and it is well worth checking out if it is a topic of interest to you.
My vintage descant
Besides quoting and citing several of my publications I was very interested to actually learn something new about my descant horn! It is the one I was playing in the video, an early Paxman that in my contact with Paxman I had learned was made in 1959 by Robert Paxman himself, before Richard Merewether joined the firm. What new thing I learned from the dissertation was that, according to Paxman, my descant was a new model introduced in that year, 1959. I don’t believe a lot of these were made, with this layout and the double change valve set this way, but really it is a very fine descant. The only note being it does need a mouthpiece with a larger than standard shank diameter.
This past twelve months I have had three works come up in fact that I could have chosen to play on this vintage descant or on my triple. I did back to back tests and every time the descant has won out. If I were to cut it all down to just two horns at this point in my life I would keep this descant and my current double horn.
A topic I am enthusiastic about
Descant and triple horns are a topic that I am enthusiastic about in general. They are tools that every serious horn player needs to be familiar with on at least a basic level. As I often tell people, a descant horn can save your life! I have had a short, general article on the topic in Horn Articles Online for years.
That became the topic of a book
Seeing it as a topic that had not been covered in much depth in any existing source, I set out to in fact write a book on the topic, which expanded on materials that had originally been online in Horn Articles Online and then later in an article in The Horn Call. It was one of my first four publications at Horn Notes Edition, and was initially the best seller.
A book that is now out of print, at least for now
About a week and a half ago I reworked the shopping cart and sales page for Horn Notes Edition. Check it out; the sales area is a lot better (and last week we had the most “combo deals” ordered in quite a while), but in the process of reworking things and after having done inventory and such (I have about ten copies left) I have actually pulled Playing High Horn from publication. Dedicated to the memory of my father, parts of the book I really like still but honestly I tried to do too much in this book. Part of the problem was it was a little hard to categorize in a way as it was a combination method and excerpt book with solos and more! And I did not make that much from it, in the end. It had some real overhead to cover in particular with paying for the rights to publish the Shostakovich and Ravel excerpts.
A book that will return!
My plan is to break the book up, with the first chapter perhaps mostly never seeing the light of day again but with parts of other chapters condensed and better focused.
It will take a few months to edit and ready this and at least one other new E-publication (more on that soon). Keep watching here or at Horn Notes Edition for updates. The recent dissertation though confirms in my mind which sections have the most value in the original high horn book and will be included.
UPDATE: Playing Descant and Triple Horns has been updated in a new, affordable second edition in print and Kindle versions. For more information please visit hornnotes.com
