At 9:17 AM -0500 8/24/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Think it's time for a HIP band movement? I'm impressed that anyone here has actually SEEN a d-flat piccolo. (And then there are Wagner's d-flat trumpets and horns (assuming that they were intended to be for real....))
The use of Db piccolos AND Db flutes (I don't know about the brass instruments) arose from the firmly held (and spurious) belief that flutes were more comfortable in sharp keys (or, alternatively, that they were uncomfortable in flat keys). That wasn't even true for the 18th century 1-keyed flute, for which F, Bb, and Ab used cross fingerings, and CERTAINLY was never true of the Böhm flute, with natural scale fingering for F and Bb. And of course the 3rd sharp is the same fingering as the 3rd flat (assuming equal temperament).
Because of the cross fingerings, I will stipulate that it may have been true FOR BEGINNERS, but not for professionals. In fact one of the goals of the 19th century conservatories was to force students past what was "easy" on their instruments and make sure that they could play equally well what was "difficult."
But everyone and his orchestration teacher believed thoroughly in this urban legend, and I wouldn't be surprised to find it repeated in 20th century orchestration books. It ain't necessarily so!
Oh, and there's already a sort of HIP orchestra movement, which takes into consideration the fact that, for example, the wind instruments for which Stravinsky wrote in Paris were not the same and did not sound the same as the instruments that are favored today. And of course there are reenactment bands using 19th century saxhorns, just as there are reenactments of Civil War battles.
John -- John R. Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
