2009/4/27 <ardee...@comcast.net>: > > One very good way for anyone to learn to read most of the transpositions > available to hornists is to play the entire Marriage of Figaro opera. Once a > horn player has done this over 12 times, it is highly possible that he/she > will have almost forgotten how to read horn in F!
I recall a few years ago doing one of the Rehearsal Orchestra weekend courses in London - they were running through the whole of Das Rheingold (unstaged but with singers) over 2 weekends. At that stage of Wagner's writing for the horn, he was mostly using the valves as a quick way of changing crook. For the first weekend I was playing 2nd, and there was a change of transposition every few bars, often right in the middle of a phrase. I recall at one point that there were 4 consecutive written Gs, each with a different transposition written above it. I have never been so exhausted after a weekend of music as on that occasion. For the second weekend, I retreated to the relative safety of one of the Wagner Tuba parts. It was a challenge getting used to the unfamiliar instrument, but at least the transposition didn't change as often! Regards Jonathan West _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
