Horn Terminology ----------------
Mouth piece: The small piece of metal that you speak into. You can often hear players speaking near this when they've just messed up a high entry.
Mouth piece receiver: The builtin microphone of the mobile phone of the player next to you, making annoyingly frequent appearances during rehearsals.
Tuning slide: This is when your concentration wavers later on in the evening, and you forget to make sure that your pitch is accurate, and so your tuning slides. Usually the slide is in the downwards direction, hence the oft-heard phrase "be flat tuning slide".
Valve section: This refers to the trumpet, horn and tuba players, but not the trombonists.
Piston valve: A non-traditional method of lubricating valves. It is considered better to use valve oil.
Rotor: The smooth circular movement used to turn the horn upside down to empty it of water, aiming to land on the next player's shoe.
Piston: The motion of a player's foot tapping up and down, usually slightly behind the beat of the conductor.
Rotor axis: The bit that sticks out and snags on your shirt button when you do the water emptying manoeuvre.
Bore: The player next to you who insists on talking all the way through the rest passages, putting you off your counting. If he covers a wide range of subjects, then such a player is a general bore.
Bore at mouth piece receiver: When the player next to you talks into his mobile phone instead of to you.
Horse shoe: Keep one of these in your case, to give you luck in reaching the high exposed entries.
Horse shoe screw: The little screw you used to use to keep the horse shoe in one place in your case without it touching the horn, but then it fell off and got behind the padded bit and now your case rattles when you carry it.
Bumper: This is an attachment you screw onto the back of your chair, to prevent stray trombone slides hitting you on the head.
Bumper receiver: The bracket for the attachment. Usually padded and covered with residue of hair gel that the principal horn player likes to use.
Back screw: When the principal horn player takes one of the flautists into the back row of the percussion, and pleasures her on the glockenspiel.
Bridge screw: Similar to the back screw, but on the marimba.
Stopper: When you are sightreading a piece and suddenly run into a passage of demisemi quavers in a vivace section. A variation is the _show_ stopper, which occurs when you play it correctly.
Duck foot: When you move your foot out of the way of the next player doing some vigorous foot-tapping.
Bell flare: Trousers for horn players, 70s style. Not so widely used these days as emptying the horn of water tends to leave splash marks on the hems.
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