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re:F Horn in brass bands

Kees...........

You should listen to the band from in front then.  Kees,  with all due
respect, you couldn't be more wrong. French horns don't blend well
except in certain pieces of music... for instance... Erik Leidzen's
"Pressing On" which begins with a fanfare for horns.  That would be
great. Tell me what is wrong with the brass band sound as it is?  You
mean we have been doing it all wrong for 150 years?  I love the french
horn.  When you arrange or compose,  you do it with certain instruments
in mind.  You can't just change the concept of scoring by playing the
parts on different instruments.

As a solo instrument with brass band  the french horn works well.  I
arranged the Strauss Horn Concerto No. 1 for River City Brass Band (who
use only french horns by the way).  Another wonderful piece I would like
to hear with brass band,  and a piece I began arranging, is Concertpiece
(Conzertstuck in F major, op.86) by Robert Schumann for 4 french horns.
The reason I stopped, was that I couldn't make up my mind if I should
use 4 french horns in addition to 3 tenor horns in the band.  It limits
the amount of performaces significantly but would be my preference. I
would rather hear Mozart's Rondo with french horn rather than euphonium
any day.  Vinter's Hunter's Moon is another good example... much better
on french horn then tenor horn.  I would like to hear especially written
music with a section of french horns either in addition to or in place
of tenor horns.... but why destroy the tradidition brass band sound
which is what we were all attracted to in the first place.. and I might
add that it was also the (most,  if not all) composer's and arrangers
intent when they wrote it.  Can you really picture starting "Journey
Into Freedom" with french horns?  How clumsy !!!
Stop trying to fix something that isn't broken. You know there are
french horn lists among others.... do you think they are discussing
using tenor horns instead of french horns?  Not a chance..... I know
there are other composers and arrangers on this list.  It would be
interesting to hear from them about this as well.
Brian?  Bill?  You too Adrian........
****************************************************************

On 30 April Adrian Drover <saxhorn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On 28 Apr, Cameron Mabon <cmabon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > French horns simply  could not fit into such a sound.
>
> That's true ;-)
>
> Adrian
>

I've been following this discussion for some time now and I have to say
that I played in several Brass bands during my formative years.

As a professional educator and Hornist I feel that my sound did not
detract
from the brass band sound - it blended in well and at times added a new
tonal quality which was very useful in developing the Organ-like timbre
of
( especially ) hymns and slow pieces. This was especially true when I
was
playing 1st or 2nd horn parts, where the parts are not usually played
with
strong conviction or tone. The French Horn sound really filled these
parts
out.

I also found it a nice effect to double the Eupho parts to round off the

Eupho sound in similar tunes.

If the Horn is played correctly it will fit into any combination of
instruments ( Horn players are very sensitive to intonation and timbre
problems ) and will only add to the band's tonal colour.

As this was a long time ago and my participation in brass bands was
rewarded by being banned from contesting, etc ( rules, rules ...) I
ceased
to play Horn in them and went on to almost all the other instruments,
which
I approach with the same style as my Horn playing.

I hope this adds to the general discussion.

Kees Dogger, Conductor Biarnsdale Citizen's Band.
Dogger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kees & Michelle Dogger


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