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Patterson Hornworks has introduced a new triple horn, and their initial (summer 2013) newsletter tells us
This triple horn is a culmination of a 2-year project requested by Gabriel Kovach, principal horn of the Phoenix Symphony. Gabe has owned 4 triple horns and gave us valuable feedback on the weaknesses of each of their designs. Our design dramatically improved all of these weaknesses and may be the first triple that truly plays in all registers of each key.
We are happy at Horn Matters to be physically located so close to the developers of this new horn, and Kovach agreed to an interview on the topic of the new horn and triple horns in general.
JE: First, congratulations on being able to design a horn! This is something many horn players dream of.
GK: Thank you, it really was a fun thing to be a part of and indeed an honor to be thought of by Jim in regards to my own thoughts on making a triple or what I’m personally looking for.
JE: In the Patterson newsletter it mentions that a driving factor was to correct the weaknesses of the designs of prior triple horns you have used. Without being specific about brands, what sere some of the major weaknesses, especially ones that triple horn buyers should be aware of?
GK: This is a great question to start with, especially for those who are just getting in to or considering their first triple horn. For me it was from a point of departure in regards to how I was personally using the first triple I owned to what I was looking for in Jim’s new triple. The road has spanned almost 15 years of using triple horns. To give you a little background. When I purchased my first triple, I was still in school and about to play in Ottawa Canada on a one year position as principal horn. My goals at that immediate time were to pursue a career revolving around small ensembles, chamber music, and chamber orchestras. I was moving back to Philadelphia to be Principal Horn of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Both of those ensembles are 35-45 members. I had also just finished 3 summers at the Marlboro Music festival and just founded a woodwind quintet at Marlboro. Basing myself in Philadelphia and also wanting a freelance career, I needed an instrument that day in and day out I could take in and not worry as to what music I was going to see on the stand. Do I need a descant horn today, my Conn 8D, should I be using a small bell horn, etc. etc. etc.? All the questions that go in to an instrument making us comfortable to properly serve the music.
JE: Right, so you were looking for a horn that would “do it all.”
GK: Yes, versatility was serving the function in my case. I stayed on my first triple for nearly 10 years.
JE: So this brings us back to what things to look for, and what limitations you felt there were with that first instrument.
GK: What was apparent to me was the limitation of being able to change things on an instrument that’s made in oversees. It’s not that simple to make wholesale changes on an instrument, beyond bells and leadpipes, when the maker is in Germany or Britain. It’s not economically easy to get on a plane, hotels and go to Europe to change anything that a player may want for his/her own sensibilities. It’s a great resource to have an American made triple.
Specifically to the drawbacks on triples, first off we need to change a bit of our own mentality towards them. I think we all need to be aware that we are sacrificing something, somewhere on the horn. It’s not going to have the same setup as a full descant, or the same setup as a full double. So the combination of the three horns means that we have to divorce ourselves from an expectation or a comparison to what may be “missing” from it. And evaluate what we need it for and our own expectations of use of the horn and what we want out of it. I try to think of the instrument purely as it own entity and not try to label it compared to double horns or descant horns. Seeing that there are more and more Triples available, it’s easier now than it has even been to use the comparison tests to what else is out there and not what our doubles feel like. All that being said we have to realize that the rate of tapers on our lead pipes is also going to be inherently different. Instead of a double or descant with one dedicated leadpipe, we now are creating a horn that has it leadpipe either serving the double and descant simultaneously in a shortened pipe (that tries to occupy that same amount of taper in a shorter space) or a leadpipe that splits in 2 different directions to give a separate leadpipe for both horns. In either situation, again we need to treat our mentality towards it as a separate instrument and not a comparison to the other standard double/descant models.
Part II will continue with more on the goals behind the development of this new instrument. Photo courtesy of Patterson Hornworks.
Continue to Part II of Interview
