Horns
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Her acquaintance with the horn could not have started in a more casual way - her
father happened to bring one home one day and the young Pam, finding it lying
on a chair, decided to have a tentative blow. But it was not until later life
that she returned to the instrument and started to have serious lessons.
In addition to The Alderley Edge Orchestra, Pam also plays with the
Macclesfield-based King Edward Musical Society (KEMS) Orchestra and admits to a
passion for the music of Dvorak and other late romantics. Outside music, her
main interest is geology and she is currently in the middle of an Open
University degree course on this topic.
Mother of three grown-up sons, Pam lives in Macclesfield, Cheshire.
There can be no doubt that the French Horn is the most capricious of the
instruments of the orchestra. Those who play it deserve our encouragement;
those who play it well (and The Alderley Edge Symphony Orchestra is indeed
fortunate in having some excellent exponents) deserve our unreserved admiration
and gratitude.
So why should this handsome instrument present such a challenge to the player?
For a start, there's a surprising amount of it, despite its apparently modest
size. A fully grown specimen contains some 6 m (20 ft) of coiled tubing, much
of quite small bore, widening at the end into a very characteristic large
funnel-shaped bell. This makes it a relatively hard instrument to play in sheer
physical terms - so much so that it is common in large symphony orchestras for
an additional plThere can be no doubt that the French Horn is the most
capricious of the instruments of the orchestra. Those who play it deserve our
encouragement; those who play it well (and The Alderley Edge Symphony Orchestra
is indeed fortunate in having some excellent exponents) deserve our unreserved
admiration and gratitude.
So why should this handsome instrument present such a challenge to the player?
For a start, there's a surprising amount of it, despite its apparently modest
size. A fully grown specimen contains some 6 m (20 ft) of coiled tubing, much
of quite small bore, widening at the end into a very characteristic large
funnel-shaped bell. This makes it a relatively hard instrument to play in sheer
physical terms - so much so that it is common in large symphony orchestras for
an additional player (a 'bumper-up') to be engaged to help out the principal
horn when he or she is faced with extended sequences of taxing notes. Another
challenge for the horn player is the cultivation of the exact lip embouchure
required for a specific note: high notes require the lips to be pursed and
pressed very hard against the mouthpiece, while low notes need an entirely
different relaxed lip configuration.
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The notation of horn parts is of such complexity that it virtually defies
understanding by normal mortals. Briefly, the problems stem from the fact that
horn parts have, over the years, been written for a variety of different
transpositions. Alto and basso B flat horns were commonly specified in
classical times (and to complicate matters further, Mozart and Haydn didn't
always specify which, occasionally resulting in debate at rehearsal); a rare F
sharp horn is called for in Haydn's 'Farewell' Symphony No. 45, and Horns in H
(the Germanic equivalent of B natural) are commonly specified in the music of
Brahms. It may be added that the latter horn requires the awkward transposition
of a tritone, never a welcome proposition to the long-suffering horn
fraternity.
However, during the nineteenth century, a transposition around the increasingly
standardised Horn in F became the general practice, and horn players nowadays
tend to relate notes automatically to the F horn, whatever key they happen to
be playing in. But the complications continue. Horn music is, alas, written in
both treble and bass clef, and by tradition notes in the bass clef are
transcribed an octave down. The result of this is that when horn players are
required to play very low 'pedal' notes, they are set out in the part many
leger lines below the bottom of the bass clef - a practice condemned by later
composers who thought it was more logical that bass clef notes should transpose
in the same way as those in the treble clef.
The inevitable consequence is that the horn player is likely to encounter both
notations side by side, and it is not always obvious without a degree of
detective work whether a composer is using so-called 'old-notation' or
'new-notation.' In general, traditionalists such as Mahler, Ravel and even
Stravinsky preferred old-notation, while Debussy was a champion of the new.
Confusingly, Elgar was rather caught in mid-stream (possibly finding himself on
the 'horns of a dilemma'?) and achieved the dubious distinction of being one of
an extremely select band of composers to use both notations during the course
of a single work (his Enigma Variations).
Oddly, horns parts are usually printed without key signature, all sharps and
flats being indicated as accidentals as the music proceeds.
Mention should be made of the practice - puzzling to the rest of the orchestra -
which requires horn players to insert their right hands into the bells of their
instruments as though they are trying to keep their fingers warm. Quite by
accident, a horn player called Hampl in Dresden in 1770 responded to grumbles
from the strings that he was playing too loudly (nothing changes) by stuffing
some wool down the bell. To his surprise, he found that this lowered the pitch
by exactly a semitone, and - even more conveniently - he could achieve the same
effect by inserting his right hand instead. He also found that by putting only
part of his hand into the bell, the sound could be very effectively muted
without changing the note itself; furthermore, if he moved his hand while
blowing the note he could produce a 'swooping' or portamento effect which
further enhanced the flexibility of his instrument. Thanks to Herr Hampl, such
'hand-stopping' remains today an important part of the horn player's technique.
Well-known solo works for horn include Mozart's much-loved four Horn Concertos,
three concertos by Haydn (plus a concerto for two horns), and two excellent
concertos by Richard Strauss. General orchestral music contains many notable
contributions from the horn: two fine examples are the opening solo bars of
Schubert's 'Great' C major Symphony No. 9 and the finale of Chopin's F minor
Piano Concerto No. 2.
Finally, we alert the reader to the existence of two imposters that make false
claims to be members of this noble family. The basset-horn is, in fact, an alto
clarinet; whilst the cor anglais ('English horn') is actually the alto member
of the oboe family.ayer (a 'bumper-up') to be engaged to help out the principal
horn when he or she is faced with extended sequences of taxing notes. Another
challenge for the horn player is the cultivation of the exact lip embouchure
required for a specific note: high notes require the lips to be pursed and
pressed very hard against the mouthpiece, while low notes need an entirely
different relaxed lip configuration.