I recall back in '87 when I took delivery of a Paxman "New World" compensating triple (great horn!), that I received a small treatise by Dick Merewether discussing this very issue. In quick summary, he advocated putting the hand farther ito the bell than may be customary, but not "cupping" the hand to radically, if much at all. My experience confirms what has been already contributed by others. The technique helps to stabilize the notes and is especially apparant and useful on pitches above the staff.
Here is the only link that I could find quickly with quotes from Merewether on this issue. If someone had access to the full article, I believe that you will find it clear, intelligently argued (would you expect less from Mr. Merewether), and convincing: http://hornmatters.com/2010/06/hornmasters-merewether-on-right-hand-position/ Best to all, Chris >>> Dan Beeker 01/23/11 1:35 PM >>> Valerie, Indeed, at least for a Conn 8d, putting the hand further in the bell does increase the amplitude of the resonant peaks in the higher register. John Backus did some research back in the seventies using a Conn 8d on this. I would suspect other horns behave the same way to varying degrees though perhaps with newer horns ways have been found to raise the impedance of the higher harmonics through changing the acoustic shape of the horn so less hand motion is needed on newer horns. Having played exclusively on older horns - Alexanders, Conns and a smattering of Bessons etc, I can't really say much about newer model horns. Perhaps others have someting to say about this. A good discussion and some graphs of this effect that is available online can be found at online.physics.uiuc.edu/courses/phys193/NSF.../adamwatts_thesis.pdf. I don't agree with quite everything that is said in the thesis but in general what is said is reasonably valid. Dan Beeker Message: 1 Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2011 10:32:05 -0800 From: valerie wells [1] Subject: Re: [Hornlist] Right Arm To: horn list 2 memphis [2] Message-ID: [3] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Wendell, have you found the use of hand in bell for centering upper register notes more important with certain horn types? I saw a master class taught by Gail Williams. The student playing an 8D and was struggling with the upper register. When Gail had her "use more hand" in the bell the upper notes popped right out. The difference was so dramatic, it looked almost "staged" but I doubt it was. I haven't personally found such a dramatic difference in hand use for centering the upper register of the horns I've played (Yamaha 667, Holton 179, Holton Merker with medium, and Holton Merker with large bell throat). What say you? Valerie Wells ---------------- -- Dan Beeker References 1. mailto:[email protected] 2. mailto:[email protected] 3. mailto:[email protected] _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/cwilhjelm%40pascack.k12.nj.us _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
