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Re: French Horns

To: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: French Horns
From: David Taylor <dtaylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 21:49:08 +0000
In-reply-to: <20001117104328.A13569@homer.diplex.co.uk>
References: <LNBBKPBGKBPDNGMLHEFCMEOMDMAA.gjyoung@sympatico.ca> <000001c04ea1$8d730340$59537bcb@KeesDogger> <20001115173209.B6193@homer.diplex.co.uk> <003e01c05013$09790260$c0f9e783@lboro.ac.uk> <20001117104328.A13569@homer.diplex.co.uk>

In message <20001117104328.A13569@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Ian Phillipps
<deep-brass@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
> If you're
>entering a brass band contest, you need to go in with a brass band. I
>you have french horn players who are good enough to cover tenor horn
>parts (don't forget that a top C on a tenor horn is a super-G on the Bb
>French horn).

Actually, it would be an F, not a G (in Bb, but French horns are
generally considered in F (making a tenor horn top C a Bb) - surely
calling it a Bb instrument is like calling a trombone with a thumb valve
an F trombone? - technically correct (in one sense), but rather
misleading), but that's not a major point - the important issue here is
the way in which French horns are set up - tiny bore, tiny mouthpiece on
a double length tube, so the higher harmonics are _much_ easier to
reach. You may be playing on an F tuba length pipe, but the easiest
register for the French horn is pretty much identical to that of the
Tenor horn - the only real difficulty lies in accurately hitting the
closely-spaced harmonics high up (certainly no trivial matter), not in
reaching them (compared to the tenor horn). So a top C for the tenor
horn in Eb (pretty rare anyway, and not easy) is a top Bb for the French
horn in F - eminently playable, and written with similar frequency to
top Cs for brass band horns.
I'd just like to add that I hope that this hasn't come across as at all
patronising, but your point was made in a decidedly ambiguous way, and
needed clarifying.

Dave



--

References:
- F&%$#* Horns
  - From: GJYoung
- RE: F&%$#* Horns
  - From: Kees & Michelle Dogger
- Re: F&%$#* Horns
  - From: Ian Phillipps
- Re: French Horns
  - From: David Gosling
- Re: French Horns
  - From: Ian Phillipps

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