During the work week I have a fifty minute period when I have pretty much nothing to do, so as a personal favor for a friend, I did a very informal survey of the horns being used in United States non-school orchestras as listed on hornplayer.net (I may expand it to include European countries later). I mined a few “nuggets” of interest that I wanted to share with the list. A few notes: Orchestras were only professional, semi-pro, civic and community orchestras. No obviously school-affiliated orchestras were checked, regardless of quality. The assumption (I know what “assume” means ;) ) is that the adults past school age have the means to play any horn they want, if they want it hard enough. Also, this survey cannot in any way be construed as scientific, as some horn sections only list the players, some list only a few instruments per section, and some do not give enough info (How many models does Paxman make if you take into account the model number, the material, and the bell sizes of M,E,L, XL, and A? Merely listing “Paxman” is not nearly enough info). 1. In the US, Kruspe clones are by far the most popular instrument, with the Conn 8D the single most popular make of horn played in orchestras today. 2. Good news John. Alex 103s are one of the top five popular instruments used in the US orchestras. Another interesting tidbit is that a 103 is more likely to play with Conn 8Ds then with Geyer wrap horns. 3. Most full-time professional orchestras play on boutique or hand-built horns, although these horns also have a sizable presence in community and semi-pro orchestras. 3A. Lawsons, Rauchs, and E. Schmids are quite popular in the custom category. 3B. There are a lot of actual Geyers and C.F. Schmidts still seeing daily use out there. 4. Getting to the crux of my purpose, in the US more Orchestras have a player whose only horn is a descant then play Finkes in any setup. There are almost as many players in the US that play a pumpenhorn exclusively as play Finkes. Any ideas why? Well, that is enough for now. Happy playing! Respectfully Submitted, Scott Young
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