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Re: the wonderful thing about triggers


At 01:25 PM 4/2/96, you wrote:
>
>
>"The wonderful thing about triggers is triggers are wonderful things"
>(With apologies to Winnie the Pooh)
>
>I've often wondered why Tenor Horns and Baritones don't have triggers, but can
>you tell us all where they might be placed, Les?  I'm sure we've all seen 1001
>playing positions for the Horn, but, presumably the triggers will be mounted
>on the same position on the instrument as the cornet ones.  Is there any
>favoured position of the left hand amongst the Horn and Baritone fraternity?

Left hand would be most practical I think though any trigger would have to
be on the 3rd valve slide only to be of any use.
>
>The more valves go down, the sharper the instrument gets, and I can remember
>being told that the note starts off in the mind.  A strong sense of relative
>pitch, and an ability to listen should be the best cure for bad intonation,
>but triggers can help if they are used correctly.  I'm sure that if they are
>not, and the whole of the cornet section are going for a low C#, with
>different ideas of the pitch, and different extents of trigger extension they
>might as well be playing on a load of Larks!

The trigger would perform a similar function to say the compensation system
on a 4-valve instrument such as euphonium or tube, I presume.  Can anyone
confirm or refute this?  I must confess that I find such technical details
baffling being merely an amateur brass player who has enough trouble getting
the 1,2,3 combination on the valves sometimes so please excuse my ignorance.

>
>When were triggers first introduced?  On the Horn will there be a distance
>over speed problem to overcome, because of the length of the valve slides?
>Will they have to put water keys on the 1st and 3rd valve slides?
>
I currently play a sovereign baritone horn and already have a water key on
my 3rd valve slide but not on the 1st (but would find one useful were Boosey
& Hawkes thinking of implementing it).  The only other  water key I
currently have is on the main tuning slide.

>Once the tuning slide is moved on an instrument, the valve slides need moving
>as well, and many players are not able to take responsibility for their own
>tuning, so just imagine the fun that triggers will bring. 

I never have to adjust my valve slides to get the notes correctly intonated,
if the main tuning slide doesn't do the trick then the lip sorts it out in
the end.  That's why having a muscial ear is essential for playing brass
instruments.

 Lots of
>practise.........."O.K. - Db major, Soprano, Horns and Eb basses please.....!"
>
What sort of response to this statement are you expecting?

Angela Tregaskes
(something of a novice in these topics of discussions, as you've probably
guessed)



>
>


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