As a representative sample, the below are highlights of what E-books are available now on Amazon.com. These are all Kindle E-books, but Amazon helpfully notes that if you don’t have a Kindle you can download a free Kindle application to read them on your computer.

Books/Methods

Hill–Collected Thoughts on Teaching and Learning, Creativity and Horn Performance

Farkas–The Art of French Horn Playing

Kind–An Alexander Technique Approach to French Horn Technique

Schmidt-Jones–Understanding Your French Horn

Study Materials

Singer–Embouchure Building for French Horn

Labar–Horn Player’s Audition Handbook

Pottag-Hovey Method for French Horn

Solos

Beethoven–Horn Sonata in F Major, Op. 17

Strauss–Horn Concerto No. 1 

Easy Classical French Horn Solos: Featuring music of Bach, Beethoven, Wagner, Handel and other composers

A final thought

While many of the above are long time best-sellers of the horn world, several are also new to me. For sure more E-books are on the way, as they are cheaper and convenient and portable. This is a method of delivering books to readers that will likely grow to dominate the market, just as downloads have decimated the CD market. What do you think? Click on the comments menu below to leave your thoughts.

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4. On the Demise of “Playing High Horn,” a Descant Dissertation, and E-books Last week I was able to post a video of my performance last year of the Bach B minor mass...
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The benefit of diversification
When I was a conservatory student, my career goals were fairly narrow and specialized (as if they weren’t narrow enough by choosing to play the French horn in the first place). Much later, my goals broadened in order to make a better, more sustainable living.

In this regard, The Saavy Musician Blog asks some tough questions:

What about your own career? Do you just do that one very specific thing (i.e. play classical oboe, choreograph ballet, paint landscape murals)?  Or is your mission open and flexible, ensuring that your work will remain necessary, valuable, and valued no matter how much the world evolves in any direction?

(More.)

Site updates
While sometimes time only allows me to post an article once or twice a week, I am constantly tweaking Horn Matters in the background in order to improve the user experience. Visitors to the site may have noticed that the area under articles – the sharing options, related articles and visitor comments – was a lot to scroll through and it was getting fairly long-in-the-tooth.

No need to worry - all the great stuff is still there. It is just now tucked inside some collapsible panels that help to keep things tidy.

Hoorndag
Bruce Richards shares news of a two-day event in Belgium that will feature master classes, massed horn choirs, the “Belgian Horn Sound,” various instrument displays, workshops, and a hunting horn concert by The Greenfields.

The benefit of diligence

One of the things that has always impressed me about Steve Martin is his diligence. In his memoir, Born Standing Up, he emphasizes this theme — defining diligence not just in terms of persistence, but also in the ability to ignore unrelated pursuits.

Martin was, of course, being facetious when he pepped himself up with the idea that it would only take 40 years to get good at the banjo (he was playing at a high-level in his act within 5 – 10 years of starting his training), but this statement reflects a deeper truth: getting good at something is not to be taken lightly; it’s a pursuit measured in years, not weeks.

(More.)

Unusual valve caps
If you are looking for something a little different, SMK Craftworks is offering pink valve string, and round (or even “square“) valve caps.

A horn player in Afghanistan
A new blog to keep an eye on is Karrhorn in Kabul. 

Andrew Karr (from Tampa, Florida) is chronicling his journey to Kabul, Afghanistan to teach and play in the Winter Festival of the Afghan National Institute of Music.

In typical musician fashion, this trip had to be squeezed between other performing and teaching obligations, so my schedule to travel here has been tight. I left my home in Tampa on the morning of Sunday the 29th, heard entry auditions for USF, where I am the horn instructor, dashed to Opera Tampa’s last performance of Cav and Pag, and then to Clearwater for a concert with The Florida Orchestra.

There, I loaded up my car with a final batch of donations from my colleagues at TFO (more on that later), and drove to Miami. Since I have performances in Miami immediately on my return to the US, it was simplest to depart from there and leave my car there. I had my last horn practice session in the US at the New World Symphony’s spectacular new facility on Miami Beach.

It seemed like an interesting juxtaposition to make use of one of the world’s best facilities for music study before heading to a place which is undoubtedly one of the more challenged!

(More.)

Random videos

I would not want to live in this house.

* * *

Getting back to nature.

* * *

What do 45 tubas, 6 percussions, a choir & soloists of extended vocal techniques, 3 conductors & live electronics all sound like when put together? Kinda scary…

* * *

A new video from Romain Thorel, this time covering a song made famous by Peggy Lee. (Take note of the harmon mute.)

* * *

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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 into an E-book, with other materials from the book also becoming either another E-publication or free downloads or even returning to Horn Articles Online in an improved form. The main E-book will be 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.

And E-books and the horn in general

I will come back to this topic on Thursday. There are a few classic publications already out in an E-book format, and I see this format being one that has huge growth potential in the coming years.

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Excluding the 1st concerto (which has no slow movement to speak of) what is your favorite?

Take our informal poll at the bottom of this page and view the live results immediately!

* * *

Examples

Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, K. 417
Hermann Baumann (natural horn); Nikolaus Harnoncourt, CMW [2/3]

* * *

Horn Concerto No. 3 in E-flat major, K. 447
Alan Civil; Otto Klemperer, Philharmonia Orchestra
(The slow movement begins at the 7:06 mark.)

* * *

Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat major, K. 495
Barry Tuckwell; Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
(The slow movement begins at the 7:25 mark.

* * *

Take the Poll!

* * *

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This was performed as a part of the Arizona Bach Festival. I really enjoyed this event and the opportunity to perform this great work.

For those equipment junkies out there, it was performed on a vintage (1959) Paxman descant. In my opinion a descant is certainly the way to go on this rather than a standard double horn or a triple.

The big challenge of this work is the long wait to play the movement, about an hour with nothing to play. What I did was bring a silent brass mute on stage and play along nearly silently with the choir on several of the movements. I doubt anyone actually noticed but it really helped in keeping things fresh and ready to go.

It is great to now have a couple of quality performances on YouTube that I can point people toward, and I hope to have a few more things out there in the near future.

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Behind-the-scenes we also heard from Brian Holmes a.k.a. the “Cabbage.”

The initial question:

My question is why a natural horn instrument with a certain crook might have a bad note. What is the explanation, the physic behind it? … For example, on my Courtois horn, the top G on the C-crook is terribly sharp in pitch, and has a very poor tone quality.

My first thought was that it might not be clean inside (after all, it’s more than 200 years old!), or maybe a dent was interfering with the vibrations. But I got both the crook cleaned and the dents removed, and the “wolf” note is still there.

Mr. Holmes has been a member of the Physics Department of San Jose State University for fourteen years. His interests include the physics of music and sports, and physics education. A sought-after speaker, his topics include musical acoustics and sports physics.

Mr. Holmes offered his own opinion on this topic and given his background and expertise, we thought that it would be interesting to pass it on to our readers. It is reproduced here with permission.

In response, Brian Holmes

* * *
I’m not sure I understand what Dave means by “equalizing.” And I do not understand the physics whereby such equalization would produce a shortening of the air column. Let me offer another explanation.

Sound consists of oscillating pressure. Without sound, the pressure in the horn would be one atmosphere. With sound, the pressure in the air oscillates, sometimes above atmospheric pressure, sometimes below. When I play concert A, these oscillations occur 440 times a second (different on a natural horn played at “authentic” pitch.)

I buzz my lips in the mouthpiece. The resulting sound travels down the horn and reaches the bell. At the bell, the pressure wave inverts (that is, high pressures are converted to low pressures, and vice versa) and reflects back up the horn toward the mouthpiece. (Only 1% of the sound actually leaves the bells and goes into the room.)

Notice that I didn’t explain why the pressure inverts. But let me point out that if there were a wall at the end of the horn (you can simulate this by closing the bell with your hand) then the reflected pressure wave would not invert.

(Let me know if you crave a detailed explanation of the inverting/noninverting of the reflected waves.)

Imagine that you are a tiny insect living inside the horn. (There may be plentiful green goo to dine on.) You will be in the presence of an outgoing and a returning sound wave. At certain locations, the high pressure regions of an outgoing wave exactly line up with low pressure regions of the returning wave. In these locations, the two waves cancel, and the insect will hear little sound. These locations are called pressure nodes. In other locations, the high pressure regions of the outgoing and returning waves will line up, as will the low pressure regions. In these regions, the two waves reinforce, making the sound louder; these spots are called anti-nodes.

When you play a note on your horn, there is a standing wave inside. As the insect walks from the mouthpiece to the bell, it will notice a succession of nodes and antinodes.

Now suppose that there is a tiny leak in the side of the horn. This makes it more difficult for pressure to oscillate there: if the pressure rises above one atmosphere, the air rushes out the hole. And if the pressure falls below one atmosphere, the air rushes in from outside the hole.

Here is the result. Suppose you have a standing wave in the horn, and you open a hole in the side. If the standing wave has a pressure node where the hole is, the hole will have no effect on the pitch of the note. If the standing wave has a pressure node near where the hole is, then opening the hole causes the node to move toward the hole, changing the pitch of the note.

(I have a trumpet on which I demonstrate this effect. If I open the spit valve, the note G is unaltered. This means the standing wave for G has a node at the location of the hole. Meanwhile, the note A flat gets flatter, and the note F sharp gets sharper. )

Suppose, instead of a hole, you have a tiny dent. Then the tendency will be for pressure nodes to move away from the dent. And once again, the effect will be different for different notes.

My guess, therefore, is to look for some imperfection in the tubing of the crook that is causing the mischief. Since the other crooks behave acceptably, I suspect either a small obstruction (a dent, blob of solder, or a joint between tubing of different diameters) or a small leak. But it’s easy enough to test a crook for a leak.

* * *

As a final note, I would highly recommend a video lecture/demonstration by Brian Holmes -  ”The Physics of Brass Musical Instruments: or What do the Horn Players do with Their Right Hands Anyway?” (Real Player is required.)

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Right off the top, my recital (presented jointly with Daniel Katzen) was among the best if not the best workshop performance I have ever given. And all from memory: the Schumann Dedication and the Fantasy Pieces (originally for clarinet) and also the Franz Strauss Fantasie. I wish more people had been there; it was the first event of the conference, but for sure that started the weekend off right for me!

The venue itself was a great size and location, at a community college rather than at Arizona State. There are faculty at smaller colleges and community colleges that really need to give hosting a regional workshop some thought as the hall was big enough, everything was right there, parking was easy, etc. I hope someone out there takes note of this.

Many outstanding performances were heard. Really, we have some horn talent in the southwest!

A great variety of music was heard as well, from standards to world premieres. If you like the horn you could easily find a lot of music that you liked hearing, and hear it performed on the highest level. As “Exhibit A” I would present this video below, shot at the workshop and uploaded very nicely to YouTube by an audience member. It is of Laurence Lowe, horn professor at BYU, from the Friday evening recital. A stellar performance of two of his works (I especially enjoyed the first one, his Intermezzo for Horn and Piano) and also the Caccia movement of the Reynolds Partita. (Direct link to video here).

Great master classes and sessions were heard as well as great horn choirs. And soloists! The featured artists (J.D. Shaw and Bruno Schneider) were excellent but really there were many very fine performances. It is impossible to briefly encapsulate what all was heard except to say you should have been there!

Another thing in the category of things I was very impressed by was the movie produced by Annie Bosler, 1M1: Hollywood Horns of the Golden Years. I was not sure what to expect honestly when I sat down but tremendously enjoyed this one hour plus documentary, premiered this summer at the IHS symposium. It really is in the category of must see for any serious horn player. My understanding is that the website for this movie will launch soon, when it does we will have more on Horn Matters.

Did I mention trying horns? I was particularly interested to try the new Dieter Otto horn that is now endorsed by Jeff Nelsen. It is a very nice horn, well worth a longer look. For more on that specific horn (the model 180K) check this page on the manufacturers website. And Bruce Hembd has more on the topic of horns at the event.

As I have already posted about the Konzertstuck performance  and my “Horn Secrets” session I would just close by noting again that many high notes were heard and that overall the event was very inspiring to me. In the end it is hard to put it in words exactly either but the result is that the event has me thinking bigger and looking at some existing projects and new opportunities in new ways. Hopefully others at the event came away feeling the same. Many bravos yet again to host Rose French!

And remember, if you missed this event there are always more out there on the horizon. Check our Events page at Horn Matters for more.

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3. Random Pictures from the 2012 SW Horn Conference, Part II I have attended a number of international horn and brass conferences, but before last weekend I had never actually been...
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Specifically, Flanagan looks at paths orchestras could take to arrive at a stronger operating platform.  He examines historical trends and prospects for growth in  ”performance revenue,” meaning ticket sales, revenue from recordings or touring, and other direct performance revenue (school concerts, etc).

He studies orchestras’ capabilities for growing “non-performance income,” defined as  government grants and subsidy, private contributions, and endowment/investment income. And finally he looks at ways orchestras have reduced or might consider reducing or slowing the growth of performance expenses.

(More.)

One wonders how much impact this book will have given the rather cool response to the now-infamous Flanagan report, upon which I assume this book is based.

Another bell lift to consider
As an alternative to the Watt Lifter, the Bellrest comes in wood without a clamping mechanism. These devices are added onto the bell in order to raise the angle of the instrument and increase playing comfort.

The only caveat is that if you want a Bellrest from its maker Femenella, you will need to use measuring calipers in order to assure the best fit.

Engineered wood
Wood carver and engineer Rob Jones is probably best know to us horn players for his horn sculpture. He continues to gain attention for the many wood carvings he shapes and creates. This video gives another nice overview and in it Mr. Jones gives a few more details behind his marvelous wooden French horn.

Getting into the flow
James Boldin looks at Nancy Sullivan‘s new book Flow Studies for Horn.

Flow Studies for Horn is divided into three main types of patterns; slow, medium, and fast, though there is considerable variety within each section. For example, the “Slow Flow Studies” section contains scale and arpeggio exercises in several different keys, as well as a whole tone study.

The author suggests practicing the studies in a rotation, playing two studies from each section per day.  By following this schedule, a player can cover the entire book in one week – once the patterns have been learned, of course.

(More.)

Getting to know you
Mary Pritchett Boudreault, a member of the Da Capo Brass, gets a nice write-up at the Delos web site.

Odds and ends

• Coffee is good.
• An abstract sketch.
• Wall decor.
• According to Webster.
• A thought on colleagues.

Getting recruited for the band
Derek Hull, 78, shares a memory.

It was this ability to play the French horn a little, and his general musical background, that helped Mr Hull get into the Band of the Royal Marines when he signed up for his National Service in 1952 at the age of 18.

He said: “The man who interviewed me wanted someone who could play on the march. Obviously, I couldn’t play the cello but I played him a few notes on my French horn and was signed up.”

He was posted to the Royal Marine School of Music in Deal, Kent, where he received a great deal of help from one of the sergeants.

(More.)

Random videos

Arkady Shilkloper demonstrates circular breathing.

* * *

Eldon Matlick performs a Mozart rondo.

* * *

Peter Kurau, with a flourish.

* * *

Meanwhile in Lugano, Switzerland…

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Here is the question once again, but answered by our contributing writer Dave Weiner.

* * *

Pierre-Antoine asks:

My question is why a natural horn instrument with a certain crook might have a bad note. What is the explanation, the physic behind it? … For example, on my Courtois horn, the top G on the C-crook is terribly sharp in pitch, and has a very poor tone quality.

My first thought was that it might not be clean inside (after all, it’s more than 200 years old!), or maybe a dent was interfering with the vibrations. But I got both the crook cleaned and the dents removed, and the “wolf” note is still there.

Dave replies:

First, a disclaimer:  I am not an acoustician, and I only have a technician’s practical understanding of the physics.  I am willing to be corrected by those more learned than I.

The physics of producing a vibrating air column is all about pressure.  When you vibrate the air column with your lips, a wave of pressure moves down through the trapped air column in the horn, and back again.  It happens over and over at hundreds of cycles per second.

As the vibrations and pressure increase, certain points in the air column will equalize as the pressure from one direction equals the pressure from the other direction.  At the moment, the length of the vibrating air column will shorten and produce a higher pitch.  More pressure produces more and differing points of equalization, and even higher pitches.

As it turns out, to produce notes in tune the diameter of the tubing has to be in proper and precise ratios.  As the air column pushes back it also pushes against the wall of the tubing.  If the tubing wall is not the precisely the diameter it needs to be then one segment of the vibrating air column will “want to be” longer or shorter than it needs to be.  As you struggle to vibrate the air column to play in tune at the proper pitch, your horn is working to play out of tune.  Hence, the “wolf” note.

The problem may not be the C-crook itself on you horn, but the combined taper of the crook and corpus.  Even so, I would strongly urge you to consider the coupler as a possible source of the difficulty.  If it is leaking or worn or bulged in some way, that could cause your problem.

Otherwise, consider trying a new crook.

* * *

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This agenda began with a pocket full of mouthpieces.

Bring more than one mouthpiece

Being a staunch Moosewood customer, I brought three mouthpieces:

• Moosewood D6*
• Moosewood A10*
• Moosewood RB12

The D6 and A10 are heavyweight models* and due to their unique profile (and short external shank) I was not able to use them on a number of the European horns with deeper lead pipes.

For those horns I used the RB12. As the numbering system implies, this mouthpiece is the smallest of the trio and so that factor had some bearing. For the most part, I tried out horns in which the D6 or A10 would fit. Next time I will be better prepared with a European shank mouthpiece.

Hybrid horns

There were a number of modified stock horns to try out and compare. Having owned a few hybrid horns myself, these horns intrigued me the most.

The Conn 28D 400,000 series horn at the Houghton Horns table – priced at $5,250 – got a lot of attention. It is a modified, hybrid horn with a traditional 8D sound and some extra spice.

Of all the Conn brand horns at the conference, this one was my favorite.

With the Houghton custom leadpipe it was capable of a nice range of colors – from muted pianissimos to brassy fortissimos. I had a hard time putting it down and also had fun listening to a number of other people play on it. This horn has a charm, warmth and clarity that is difficult to put into words.

Like mouthpieces, a quality custom leadpipe can add huge and even mysterious properties to a horn. It is not something that I fully understand, but it is suffice to say that I have never been disappointed with a custom leadpipe on a stock instrument.

Hoyers with custom lead pipes

Along these lines two Hoyer horns at the SWHC – both with custom lead pipes – stood out. A stock Hoyer is a fairly good horn to begin with and with a custom lead pipe, it takes a quantum leap forward.

This Kruspe wrap horn from Houghton Horns with a custom leadpipe is a bargain at $6,250.

It had the wide, traditional 8D sound with the added bonus of an excellent medium-low range and a nice colorful, fortissimo sound.

I have nothing but equal high praise for the Hoyer G10 with a Patterson Hornworks leadpipe, priced at $5,045. I had a chance to compare this horn to a stock G10 (with a stock leadpipe) and noticed a significant improvement with the addition of the custom leadpipe.

Diamonds in the rough?

Based on what I saw at the SWHC, the average cost for a premium double horn ranged from about $8,000 to $11,000, while hybrid horns ranged anywhere from $4,000 to $7,000.

In seeking out a quality horn to purchase, one does not necessarily need to invest in a high-grade import or expensive custom horn. There are some pretty good hybrids out there that are at least worth considering.

The Schmid double horn

On the highest range of the pricing scale for double horns, we have Engelbert Schmid double horns. At the SWHC there were several Schmid doubles to try out, as well as a few descants and triples.

Compared to my current double horn, the Schmid double felt like lifting a bag of marshmallows; its weight seems impossibly light.

Of all the horns I played at the conference, the Schmid doubles felt the easiest and most secure to play. Playing on it in fact, almost felt too easy. Its sound glows like sunshine in all ranges, but somehow, I remained suspicious.

A few passersby noted that Schmid double horns sound very good up close, but do not carry well in a large hall. Yet, some people - like James Boldin – really like their Schmid doubles and have nothing but praise for them.

For the time being at least, I remain somewhat undecided.

Delusions of grandeur

I would love to get this Schmid double horn – and well actually, all of these horns –  into a large room with other people listening.

In closing out this two-part article on auditioning horns, that thought is probably the most important tip of all. Before making a final commitment towards purchasing a new or pre-owned instrument, be sure to have someone listen to you.

There are any number of factors that can cloud any musician’s good judgment, and in terms of what an instrument actually sounds like at a distance an impartial listener (or two) can help to sort out what is fact from what is fiction.

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A number of people asked me subsequently how many rehearsals we had, and this is the answer: one, for only forty minutes. How does that translate into a strong and exciting performance? By all of us being ready to go. Myself, I played the work a number of times through with recordings before the rehearsal to be sure I had it as ready to go as possible at a tempo faster than I anticipated it to go in performance.

An audience member shot a video of the performance and did a great job with the production, especially considering it was recorded on an iPhone. It is in two parts below. On third horn I carry the melody quite often including for the entire second movement, as we are performing the version arranged by the American Horn Quartet. (If the videos do not load below, the direct link to the videos is here.)

Be sure to watch to the end, and yes, I can now cross the Konzertstuck off my bucket list.

For those interested in the equipment used, Shaw used a Conn descant, Lowe a Schmid triple (high F), I used my Geyer style Willson, and Katzen used an early (CA made) Rauch.

To close, it truly was an honor and a joy really to play this work with this great solo quartet before a packed house of lovers of the horn. I would love to play this work again with the same quartet; perhaps that day will never come, but still I am grateful for the opportunity to perform this work, especially with so many friends, students, and colleagues to hear it.

I will have more from the conference in a later article, but to close, again, the big key to any performance that you have coming up with short rehearsal time is to be ready, totally ready, to play. That is part of what being a professional or treating any performance like a professional is.

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But before getting started, an agenda for consistent testing was needed in order to determine as fairly as possible what horns played the best. Based on my own personal and subjective set of standards, I wanted to come up with a wish list of what I would deem as “top gear” for this conference.

Keep it simple

Basic scales and arpeggios can tell a lot about a horn.

With even the simplest patterns, one can quickly and fairly judge intonation, response and many other determining factors. Myself, I prefer basics over solos or excerpts for one simple reason: to concentrate less on performing and more on critical evaluation.

Sometimes moving a slide or two may be involved. On my first morning of trials at the SWHC for instance, a door was open and the room was relatively cold; moving slides was a necessity on that occasion.

Bad notes

Next on the agenda is to find out if the horn has any weak spots, and in particular, any bad notes. Geyer-wrap horns, for example, can be fairly notorious for a few particular quirks and here is what I go for right away:

• Does the horn have a high B-flat?
• How is the high A and what fingering works best?

Geyer from Pope Instruments

On older horns too, grabbing the stop-arm rotor and giving it a good shake back-and-forth can reveal if there is wiggle-room in the valve. If the valves are tight, there will be little or no movement.

At the SWHC, this original Geyer with rebuilt valves and a new lead pipe by Ron Pinc was on Ken Pope‘s table. I played on it for a good while and enjoyed listening to others play on it too.

The valves seemed very tight and there were no bad notes to speak of. Characteristic of an original Carl Geyer horn in good shape, the tone felt like warm melted butter and it is well worth the price.

This horn is for sale from Pope Instruments, and another horn on the same table that caught my strong attention was the Paxman 25LGD.

I had never tried a dual bore horn before and thoroughly enjoyed the F-side of this instrument, among many other things. The Paxman 25LGD is a large-bore horn and it had a very open and free feel and response.

‘Wow’ factor

For any make or model of horn, I also like to slowly toggle between the different sides of the instrument to see how they do (or do not) line up. Again, moving a slide or two might be necessary. Be sure to give that a try before giving up altogether and putting a tester horn back down.

Patterson Custom Double

One of my favorite tests for Kruspe wraps in particular is to play a few loud forte-pianos and sfortzandos. I do this to see if the instrument can get some color and sizzle with having to work too hard for it.

If the horn just says ‘wow’ instead of WOW! I put it down and walk away.

One horn that had me saying WOW was the Patterson Custom Double. This was easily one of the best horns at the show. The Patterson Custom Double has the open feel of most Conn horns, but it contains plenty of sizzle and power for when it is needed.

Tone quality flows evenly throughout: the high range did not get shrieky and the low range did not feel stuffy or sound tubby.

Be aware of bias, stay open for surprises

Back in the day, the word fink was a pejorative for someone who is a tattle-tale and rats out their friends. You dirty rotten fink! Pinko commie fink!

This bias, I must sheepishly admit, has always been in my mind whenever I see or hear the brand name Finke  - and so to be fair, I had to put that aside and actually sit down and try one out.

Thankfully I put asunder my rather childish hangup and decided to try out the Finke Americus horn at the Osmun Music table. It was a nice surprise and a very fun horn to play on.

Finke Americus from Osmun Music

The Americus model is described as a large-bore Geyer-wrap design and it is made in nickel-silver. The tone quality and intonation felt even and smooth in all ranges.

Unfortunately, my camera lens had a smudge on it, but there is plenty of information at the Osmun Music site on the Finke Americus.

I felt an immediacy to the response of this horn, one that really intrigued me the more I played on it. The tone glows and radiates like an Engelbert Schmid double horn, but with perhaps more depth and weight.

Ultimately, the big lesson for me with the Finke Americus was that preconceived notions about a horn can lead to missed opportunities. I look forward to trying one of these horns out again.

* * *

In Part II: Custom lead pipes, my favorite Conn horn and the dilemma of the Schmid double horn.

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The main thing in particular that I enjoyed with the Southwest Conference was the relaxed pacing of events.

It always seems that at the international events, three or four things might be going on at the same time and one is forced to make impossible decisions between one great program or another. At the Southwest Conference, there was plenty of time to play horns and chat with people that I might otherwise not see face-to-face.

More random photos follow. As before, click on any image for a closer look.

* * *

One of the highlights of the conference was the Saturday evening concert that featured a premiere of a new piece by Eric Chasalow and a jaw-dropping performance of the Schumann Konzertstück for Four Horns and Orchestra.

4 music stands await for the final piece.

The orchestra warming up.

Bruno Schneider demonstrated smooth elegance and superb breath control throughout. A few of us noted his embouchure and discussed its similarity to what is known about Dennis Brain’s embouchure.

Bruno Schneider was holstered and ready for action.

* * *

Horn choir rehearsal.

* * *

A different shot of the Sam Pilafian warm-up session. Note the bright red tuba!

* * *

I bought a new mute from Ion Balu and also tried out his horns with the double-walled lead pipes.

Ion Balu.

* * *

Kevin Stiles and Michael Reipe from Wichita Band Instrument Company.

* * *

Besides trying out lots of horns, I enjoyed listening to others try out horns – especially the models that I specifically liked (or did not like). I also must confess that enjoyed eavesdropping on dealers and customers chatting about equipment and other shop-talk.

Bill Bernatis tries out an Atkinson horn (a nickel-silver Geyer wrap) while Scott Bacon and a rep from Osmun Music chat.

* * *

Here is a picture of one of my favorite instruments from Ken Pope.

Unfortunately my camera lens had a huge smudge on it and so the picture is marred (there are more pictures on the Pope Instrument site). My faulty camera lens aside, this horn played like warm melted butter and in my opinion is well worth the price tag.

A Geyer horn with a Ron Pinc pipe.

* * *

Do you like horn pictures?

Throughout this week I will be posting a series of articles on my favorite instruments from the Southwest Horn Conference, and more specifically, my routine and criteria for trying out horns and determining what I like.

Stay tuned!

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1. Random Pictures from the 2012 SW Horn Conference, Part I Over the weekend, I had pleasure of attending the Southwest Horn Conference. The event was expertly hosted by Rose French...
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Click on any image in this article for a closer look.

The weather in Phoenix was an average from the mid-40′s in the morning, upwards of 70 degrees during lunch.

I missed the first full day of events, and was not able to get there until the Friday evening concert. The parking lot looked more like this when I arrived.

The first thing I noticed was the merchandise table. The conference logo looks great on a variety of materials.

I attended the opening concert in the 250-seat capacity auditorium. The stage actually seems larger than the audience space.

Nancy Joy with marimba.

The following day - a warm-up session lead by Sam Pilafian.

Randall Faust leads a horn choir session.

I then pursued my one-track mission on playing as many horns as I could.

From Scott Bacon's display.

I had a great time playing horns and talking to new and old friends.

Dennis Houghton and Victor Valenzuela

Milton Kicklighter and Ken Pope looking at an 8D.

Bill Bernatis, Gabe Kovach and Jim Patterson talking shop.

Tom Greer of Moosewood tries out a Kuhn.

Ion Balu and host Rose French.

* * *
(More random pictures later today!)

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3. A Holiday Gem for Low Horn It is December and that means holiday pops concerts for many musicians. Along with sugar plum fairies, sleigh rides and...
4. Random Monday: Hello 2012! Recycled horns In the BBC documentary Scrapheap Orchestra, the horns are all made of recycled materials. A couple, who run an...
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She asserts that deafness in general is largely misunderstood by the public and she has taught herself to “hear” with parts of her body other than her ears.

In her essay Hearing Essay she talks openly about her condition.

So far we have the hearing of sounds and the feeling of vibrations. There is one other element to the equation, sight. We can also see items move and vibrate. If I see a drum head or cymbal vibrate or even see the leaves of a tree moving in the wind then subconsciously my brain creates a corresponding sound.

A common and ill informed question from interviewers is ‘How can you be a musician when you can’t hear what you are doing?’ The answer is of course that I couldn’t be a musician if I were not able to hear.

Another often asked question is ‘How do you hear what you are playing?’ The logical answer to this is; how does anyone hear?. An electrical signal is generated in the ear and various bits of other information from our other senses all get sent to the brain which then processes the data to create a sound picture.

The various processes involved in hearing a sound are very complex but we all do it subconsciously so we group all these processes together and call it simply listening. The same is true for me. Some of the processes or original information may be different but to hear sound all I do is to listen. I have no more idea of how I hear than you do.

(More.)

Beyond the surface details of her inspiring story, she offers very thoughtful and insightful lessons for us as horn players and musicians to learn from.

In this brilliant lecture from her TED talk from 2003, she illustrates that music transcends the mere auditory, and that it is a whole-body experience.

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