Let us talk about the truth now. You have "penetrating" problems & problems to be heard over the band or over the orchestra.
Have you really said such nonsense ? Really ? Did you ever understand the function of the horn ? My answer is: DEFINITELY NOT. The horns & the complete horn sections function is to be FILLER, nothing else, like the violas in the symphony, nothing else. So it is absolutely bad taste, if you try to be really HEARD, heard as a separate voice. Well, there are few, very few pieces, where the section might be on prominent voice, but few times. Mostly the horns just double the trumpets one octave below, if the horns play melody eventually. In the symphony it is still less. Don�t come with argument as : but Mahler. This is a foul argument. Even there, the horns have the filling function. And it is just wise, to contribute to the whole thing, and not in a race who is louder. And the tutti (section) players are worse than any principal, as they just fart as loud as they can to impress others "I can play louder than the principal !". Punctum. So they ruin everything in the music. But when it comes, that they have to hit a certain higher note with forte dynamics or even fortissimo accent, there will come a weak mezzo forte only, as soon as they have realized, that they will be playing ALONE. Write solo above a long held middle range viola note, - and create VIBRATO. Fits for many tutti horns too. Remember, playing music is not to be heard as an individual player, but to contribute to the enjoyment of audience & player. If you like to be heard as solo, make yourself independent & play solo. The only solution. The orchestra soli, if they shall be heard above the whole orchestra, well, they are for the whole section mostly. So no problem, to be heard well. If there is a real solo in the concert literature & you have problems to be heard with your soft solo, call the conductor to keep the accompaniment soft enough - it is a greater virtue to play soft than to play loud -, AND play your part as soloist. Solo means, that even the piano or the pianissimo must be altered, enriched with more substance (comes from inside yourself, from your spirit), to carry. It is just a different attitude, different approach. And now the main problem: Many of you seem to be spoiled by your first teachers, who had just trumpeter training,, and even a very miserable training, not to talk here about complete missing basics of musical education like singing, transposing, recognizing chords, arpeggios, tonalities. But you go out & play a Mahler symphony with your community orchestra, just because "it is cool !" Start again with some basic musical work, like reading different rhythm, do it with a metronome, do long notes with a metronome first & later without, start reading scores & following the different instruments. The other problem I notice, is the switching between instruments. Just extremely few individuals in the world might have the embouchure for different, very different instruments. Remember very few. But do not count YOU, to be one of these few. A trumpet embouchure or trombone embouchure will RUIN any serious horn embouchure definitely. Any fine tuning or fine playing will be ruined. All hard work (IF at ALL), will be ruined. And your tone problems: no wonder with these pinching tiny mouthpieces or these great shit pots of mouthpieces for low horn. Did you ever think about the difference between dark & really dark as a tone colour for low horn. Not a fat fart, no, no. There is the black of the toner of a computer printer. Ever seen ? Or the dark of an old worn out diesel truck. But there is also the sparkling anthracite colour of crystal rock coal. Guess, what dark colour I desire ? And the bright colours ? Yes, the flash light of 10.000 Watt, the penetrating blue lights. No, not these colours. But lava red, the blood of the mountains, the burst of a Jupiter rocket, the emerald green laser beam, the sharp sunlight in the forest, YES, this is bright & powerful. Farkas preached the darker tone, yes, yes & yes again, but in contrast to the super light & pinching tone around him in his days. But his preaching is understood falsely. And, why do so many (weak) player care so much about the extra tricks, but the same time missing the simplest note, due to inadequate basic knowledge. Isn�t that more or less nothing else than betraying yourself ? A deflection from your deficits ? As I suppose, that many of you are very successful in their "non musical" jobs, why do you open your mouth that wide, sometimes or even too often ? Don�t you notice, that birds are flying around, many birds. And where birds fly, bird droppings will fall for sure !!! For a good horn tone, you are invited, to visit my special pages about the Viennese School of Horn Playing at www.pizka.de/WrHrPlay1.htm & connected pages with many audio & video clips. Look for the Dirge from the Britten Serenade or the Sinfonia domestica. Prof.Hans Pizka, Pf.1136 D-85541 Kirchheim - Germany Fax: 49 89 903-9414 Phone: 903-9548 home: www.pizka.de email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
