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Rethinking the “Inner Game”

John Ericson
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For many years many have recommended The Inner Game of Tennis as a resource for improving your performance. I found it helpful — an article getting specifically into some aspects of the inner game is this one from 2010,

But now I’m rethinking things. Why? Because a major premise of The Inner Game of Tennis relates to an inner dialogue, and,

News flash: Not everyone has an inner dialogue/monologue

There have been some articles come up in recent years on the topic of the inner dialogue or monologue, easily found with a simple search. Basically, depending on the source you read, an estimated 50-70 percent of people have no inner monologue, or, stated another way, only one in four people have an inner monologue. Clearly there is a spectrum on this, and we only experience how we actually think. How other people think is a total mystery to us.

In short, I believe it is probable that if you have no inner monologue the Inner Game books will be an interesting curiosity with little personal impact.

I’ve used the book as a reading assignment in my pedagogy class for years now – with students writing an old-school book report on it. Nobody ever said to me “Dr. Ericson, but I have no internal monologue and the book doesn’t make sense.” But surely it did not make sense to probably quite a number of students!

I personally have a very active internal dialogue

In my own case, the book makes total sense and was very helpful for me to calm my inner dialogue in auditions and performing. In particular, for some years it was part of my routine to re-read the book before professional auditions.

But to that I will add that I also have noted that things kind of mentally “synch up” at times too, the inner dialogue comes and goes. When I’m teaching, for example, there is no internal dialogue, my thoughts happen as I speak them. When I’m writing though, it is all guided by the inner voice, if that makes any sense.

For people with no internal dialogue …

I think probably your best performance tactic relates to visualizations. For me, visualizations do very little, although mental representations of how the music is supposed to sound are really important, which may be a type of visualization. But for someone with a much less active inner dialogue, I think visualizations could be an effective tactic.

And really, reader out there with no inner dialogue, you could be at an advantage over me. I can only imagine what it would be like to have no inner critic causing me to lose focus and impact my ability to perform.

This is pretty deep …

It would be a big challenge to study, but I wish someone could study a large group of very fine horn players and see what in the world is actually going on inside. It would be interesting to know if as a group they had any trends in terms of their actual inner game, or if the spectrum was the same as the general population. Maybe some very motivated DMA student can take on the project.

The Mind of the Horn Player. Click for a closer look.

Image from this article by Bruce Hembd

3 Main Aspects of Playing Improvement

John Ericson
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I have heard it said that we are standing on the shoulders of those that have gone before us. In terms of horn playing, this is very true, and it is something I have thought about often as I worked on cleaning old files in my office this summer. I have several articles in mind related to things that were found.

In one folder, in some materials from the late Tom Greer (of Moosewood Mouthpieces), there was a group of materials from his wife Susie, pedagogical materials saved from her studies. I can’t tell you who wrote this little document, but from the paper and handwriting I’m going to guess it was a European teacher or perhaps from their time in South Africa. The paper is that thin paper like was used for airmail letters, and the text fits neatly on two small pages of the paper. The advice below, presented in full, is thus anonymous, but is great to consider as we head into the fall and getting back into the groove of playing horn. I’ll have a few additional comments at the end.

3 main aspects of playing improvement:

  1. Flexibility
  2. Strength
  3. Endurance

Musical priorities:

  1. Tone quality
  2. Intonation
  3. Expressiveness in phrasing
  4. Coordination in ensemble
  5. Mech. [mechanical] technique

1. Flexibility: First stage of daily practice: one-minute segments arpeggios, expanding from mid-staff downwards, ½ minute rest, expanding upwards and downwards increasing range without strain, always resting in time equiv. to playing time. Play arp’s slurred and separate until full range has been covered. After 20 minutes, rest 20 minutes.

2. Strength: Second stage of daily practice: spend first 5 minutes reviewing flex. Studies, extending to high range; rest 5 minutes. Carouso [sic] studies, then rest 5-10 minutes. Etudes exploring full range and dynamics in approx. 5 min. segments with equal rest periods. Rest after 20 minutes of constant practice. 20 minutes of playing by ear, not using music except for reference (etudes, concertos. Rest 15-20 min. Etudes of non-traditional type for development of ear, dynamics and range (Schuller, Reynolds). Rest after 20 minutes.

3. Endurance: Third phase of practice, done later in the day. Emphasis is on long setting of the mouthpiece and constant use of diaphragm and face muscles. Etudes, both traditional and modern, played through from beginning to end, not allowing mouthpiece to move from the lips, not stopping to empty water or correct notes missed. Rest for equal time periods. Do no allow pressure on lips to overcome lip tension., but rather miss notes and continue regardless. Orch. Excerpts: Play these in increasingly greater sets, ie: twice through, 5X, 10X, without moving mouthpiece from lips, (perhaps) next day repeat but in a higher key, (perhaps) hold highest note 5X or 10X normal time in the excerpts. Always rest after the lips feel nearly “finished.” To practice beyond this point will damage them. They should “burn,” and feel “crampy” at the corners at the end of each etude or excerpt. Fine tone should be a high priority in this phase, but the passages must be gotten through, to the end, regardless of failure of good tone quality due to fatigue. The endurance phase of the practice should be put off on any day where a heavy playing load is expected (long & difficult performances or several rehearsals). Ideally, the endurance phase should be sufficiently strenuous to do only every other day, allowing the body to build on the off days. Too much – you go backwards in your playing.

This teacher was certainly influenced in the section on endurance by Carmine Caruso, and their comments on balance and rest should not be missed, they are a very important element of the training scheme he outlines – or you can hurt yourself.

Still, the endurance section comes across as rather hard core, and when following advice like in the above, you can become very hard on yourself. As the teacher references Caruso, I’d like to close this article with a quote from Caruso, something to think about in not only any teaching you do but also your own practice.

Instead of thinking “perfection,” encourage yourself to think in percentages, that is “it’s a percentage better than it was.” The words “perfection,” “wrong,” and “good” should have gone out with the feudal lords: they have nothing to do with the art of teaching, and often their use can be a negative factor. If a teacher says something is wrong, the student has the right to ask, “What’s wrong about it?” Then the teacher will explain, and the student asks, “Now, what do I do about it?” It is easy to dispense with all those steps if the teacher merely tells the student what to do. It’s improvement, not perfection, that the student is trying to achieve.

Verbal negativity is not encouragement to the student. Teaching is giving with love, giving in a positive manner. This is such an important concept for teachers to remember. Unfortunately, I have known many students who lost interest in their musical careers because they didn’t have a teacher who could communicate to them a love for the instrument and the art form. They may have been technical wizards, but those teachers could not translate the proper inspiration, and because of this they lost their students’ interest.

“Each instrument has a different personality,” or, different horns are in fact better on different repertoire

John Ericson
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There is a big amorphous topic that is rarely discussed related to horns and repertoire. Over the years it has become more and more clear to me that different music feels better and worse on different horns. This may seem like one of the more oddball topics I’ve ever posted on, but stick with me for a few minutes. Some music is more fun to play on different horns, there is something important here for every horn player to consider.

And note: If you would rather hear me talk about this (with a few more stories and asides!) check out Episode 59 of the Horn Notes Podcast! This summer I will be posting new episodes at least every other week.

“Personality,” and your horn

While thinking about this topic I saw a link to this recent article in the Horn People (Facebook) group:

Nothing else sounds like vintage brass: These CSO musicians are avid collectors of age-old instruments

It is a nice article but this quote really spoke to me.

Second trumpet John Hagstrom puts both of them to shame: He tells the Tribune his grand total was “classified” but concedes he owns more than 100 trumpets which he rates as “performable,” plus hundreds more he’s amassed as historical curios.

“It’s like being a cat person: there’s a point where it becomes a little weird,” Hagstrom jokes. “But like a cat, each instrument has a different personality.”

Modern horns, on the whole, have less personality than older horns, driven somewhat by market forces, but even there you can see differences of personality from brand to brand.

A story about an audition

I have heard a story about a true artist in the finals of a major orchestra horn audition some years ago. The story is that our artist came into the finals with multiple horns, different horns for different rep. One horn was the Mozart horn, one was the Brahms horn, one was the Wagner horn, etc. Unimpressed, the conductor asked them to play Brahms on the Wagner horn. They did not get the job.

(What would the various horns have been? I’d guess something light and small for Mozart – perhaps a single Bb – and for other rep who knows, but horns that felt better for that rep to that player.)

But with years of playing, I can see kind of what the artist was getting at, I can certainly feel it between the various horns I own. And, disclosure, I used a descant and a double horn on the Nashville Third Horn audition that I won. The right tools for the right rep is very important.

Orchestral, or soloist horn?

There is a widespread mindset that there are only two types of horns – good horns, and bad horns. Or maybe professional and student horns. And that you should be able to play any type of music on a good/professional horn. But the reality is that within the category of good/professional horns you can see that horns are made to favor different types of music and playing.

My Patterson Geyer

Speaking generally, I’m going to offer that Geyer style horns are better for orchestral music. This past year I had quite a few students taking professional auditions and I found it really was the best to demonstrate and play excerpts on my Patterson Geyer.

But I love to play the big Paxman 25A that I used to play my first two solo recordings. And the funny thing is I think it is easier to do warm-ups that I like to do on the Paxman (or a single F), and for sure the music I recorded on the two CDs is easier to play on the Paxman. It is almost as if I chose the music because it felt good on the horn. If I was using the Patterson when I put together the CDs I likely would have recorded at least somewhat different music.

For the same general reason, as I’ve changed horns over the years, for sure the instrument has influenced what pieces I choose to play on recitals.

My Paxman 25AND

Related: Let’s talk Gliere

I’ve played the Gliere a few times over the years. I was very comfortable with it on my Elkhart 8D – won the concerto competition at IU! — and am comfortable playing Gliere on the big Paxman. But any other horn among those I own I’d rather not play the piece.

Of course, it is actually very playable on other horns, but the piece feels just feels the best on certain ones.

Aside: Let’s talk about the low range

The fair comparison are my three main double horns. Of the three, the big Paxman is the best in the low range, but the Patterson a very close second. The post-war Kruspe, as sweet as it is, I’d really rather not play low horn on it.

Which is to say, some players struggle with ranges and part of the issue is choice of horn and mouthpiece. The problem is not always you.

Aside: Let’s talk about Sousa marches

A more extreme example is illustrated in this article from a few years ago,

The Alto Horn — The Ultimate Off Beat Playing Machine

Back in the day that Sousa wrote his marches, players “on the march” would have used what they used to call “peck horns,” upright Eb alto horns. They can powerfully punch out those off beats, much better than a French horn.

Closely related, Eb tenor horns can punch stuff out in a brass band that just can hardly be done on a French horn. Piston valves really help with fast runs!

My Paxman “pre-40” descant

Descant and triple horns

These both have so much difference in character and personality when compared to a double horn. Certain rep becomes much more playable.

For a tangible example, I have performed the Telemann concerto at least three different times on a descant. It lays so nicely on a descant! It is playable on a double, but why? It is so much more work. A triple could be used, too, but I tend to think it a horn more suited to heavy orchestral playing than light solo works like the Telemann.

Going back to the low horn topic, the descant and the triple both have the full low range, but if you are really trying to sound your very best in the low range a double really is better.

Seraphinoff natural horn and Paxman compensating triple

Natural horns and trills (and your horn)

Then we get to a really good topic, why are there so many trills in the Mozart concertos? Reality is that it simply is easier to trill on a natural horn. Try it! If you have a reasonably authentic natural horn and mouthpiece you will find that trills are, relatively speaking, a breeze. No wonder they are everywhere!

Modern horns, on the other hand, tend to be stiff and much more of a challenge to trill on. This is part of why you can’t trill well. Be sure to try different horns and mouthpieces, the problem may not be you.

On vintage horns, “personality” can just be bad notes

When my various natural horns and vintage horns it is very clear that different horns would work better on different music – for a number of different reasons. But what it eventually boils down to is bad notes and the way the slurs work. Each horn tends to be favor different notes. We would not tolerate that on a good horn today, but it is fascinating to see how the personality is different. And it is not all a bad thing, the sound does have more character in a way that is hard to describe in words.

Let’s talk about brass quintet

Early in my career I was primarily an orchestral player. When I left Nashville, I quickly started doing a lot of quintet playing in my next position, at SUNY Potsdam, including recording a full CD of music. This is yet another category of horn playing. It would not seem like the right horn, but I purchased my big Paxman in that timeframe, and I loved it playing in the Potsdam Brass Quintet.

Horn playing can be fun

Finally, it is fun to play a variety of horns. I think for demo of excerpts it is hard to beat my Patterson, but the Kruspe has a sweet sound in the right rep and the Paxman is just fun to play.

If you are not having fun, a change may really help. Your head won’t explode, and you could spend money on a lot of worse things than horns! Try some horns with an open mind, it may impact life much more favorably than you imagine.

What Makes a Horn a Bad Horn?

John Ericson
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Often, I see listings of horns for sale that emphasize that the horn would be a good horn for a student. And some of them probably would be, but others are in reality substandard or even bad horns you would be better off avoiding for a variety of reasons.

As it is also a question people ask often, it inspired me to lay out the following topics. There are a number of factors that make a horn a bad horn. The horn in the photos that follow, I’m not going to name the brand, beyond that it is Chinese and not a good horn at all.

Too big

Truthfully, the size and left-hand position on this Chinese horn is not that bad. And it is fairly compact which is a plus.

The really bad horns in this category are some of the older US made horns, which come up for sale frequently. Many are really big and would be hard to hold by a smaller person. You should not give a student a horn that is hard to hold, don’t give them reasons to quit!

Single F horns can be particular offenders on the overall size issue. Which is especially bad as beginners tend to not be full grown adults.

Bad left-hand position

On double horns, the thumb valve position and motion can be a big issue to check carefully. Remember: if it does not feel good when you try it, it won’t start feeling better later.

The point being that you need to try a horn before you buy, and don’t buy it if it is too big. The plain fact is that a LOT of older horns were aimed at adult male players, and that leaves them as poor choices for a lot of people today, and they were never good choices for younger players. You will spend a lot of time on a horn, it needs to be comfortable to hold.

Bad leadpipe

It has been said that the first 12 inches of the horn are the most important, and this is pretty correct, it is a very important area.

The issue is “hidden,” but with this Chinese horn it is one of the two biggest issues making this horn play very badly. A leadpipe when correctly made has a venturi about an inch up inside, a “small point” of the horn into which the mouthpiece snuggles down into and then opens up into the leadpipe taper. But, on this Chinese horn, there is no venturi! It is big and open; a pencil of any size falls right into the horn. The Venturi as conventionally made varies at a size just under the size of the average pencil. I strongly suspect there is an acoustical nightmare right there. They did supply a mouthpiece with an oversized shank with the horn, probably to compensate for the strange or poorly made venturi, but this key a part of a horn simply should have been made correctly.

Of course, you could replace the leadpipe of this horn and it might play OK, but there are other problems ….

Bad valves

I was honestly astonished how bad the valves are on this Chinese horn. To make valves this bad basically says there is no quality control, the people making this horn did not care.

What makes this issue worse than the leadpipe issue is that while the leadpipe could be replaced, the valves are what they are, and they are really bad. They simply were not manufactured correctly; you can’t put the valves together with the top bearing seated down fully, and then we get to the mechanics of the action. The issue is something about the fulcrum points and ball joints not being placed correctly. Things just don’t work well no matter how clean and how much oil. It looks like a horn, but this is just not a usable horn.

Speaking generally, you also need to examine the “compression” of the valves, which gives you an impression of how tight or leaky the valves are. If they are too leaky for sure the horn won’t play as well as you would like.

Bad braces

This horn has a broken brace and it could be fixed, but in this case the broken brace is also due to bad design, there is only that one brace on the first valve side of the valve cluster keeping the middle of the horn in place. Not a good design, and it did not hold up.

Speaking generally, often horns at a low price point had some of the parts jammed together, instead of the parts fitting very correctly. Broken braces are often a sign of this.

Valve tube issues

The valve tubes mostly work fine on this horn, but many of the inner tubes are cut off very short relative to the length of the outer tubes, if that makes sense. Acoustically this is not a good scheme, but, with the crazy bad leadpipe and bad valves, I suppose this is not much of an issue on this horn? Still, it was not made correctly.

On the plus side, they move pretty well. Some horns there will be issues related to the tubes not being parallel, which can usually be addressed but is an issue to watch for.

Odd design

While this Chinese horn looks kind of like a Geyer, it is not a Geyer style horn, it is a modified design. If you were to really play this horn you would find it an ongoing challenge to get water out of the F side.

On the other hand, at least you can tell what the slides do easily compared to other popular horns. Some older designs are just odd and confusing as to function and location of the main and other slides. These are often a poor choice.

Dents and dings

This horn has a couple big dents, but it is in good shape generally, probably because it was not played very much. Which is to say, sometimes a horn in really good condition is that way because it has problems, and does not play well.

I suspect that the original player of this horn was a beginner and they may have just quit horn after playing it for a year. This was not the outcome desired — hopefully they moved on to a better horn. I’ll never know.

Water key?

Speaking generally better horns SHOULD have a water key, but reality is that due to “tradition” some very good horns continue to be made with no water key. On the other hand, some bad horns (such as this horn) are made with a water key! I think sometimes the goal is to give parents a perception of being better quality than it is.

In any event, I hope to see a day when every horn is built with a water key in my lifetime — but if that actually happens, I have no idea.

Lacquer?

The lacquer here is in good shape, that is a plus. But the horn was hardly played.

In a prior article I also mentioned that I’m not a fan of the “brushed” finish used on some rebuilt horns aimed at students and amateurs. See that article for more on the topic. The issue is that often this is done as a way to hide flaws rather than as a type of bling.

Built like a tank

Some bad horns are built like a tank. This one honestly is not too bad. I’ve played worse. The bell is very reasonable.

If a horn is too heavy you end up working hard, it won’t be as responsive to play. Of course, a light horn will dent more easily, but there are solid reasons why more expensive horns are generally not so heavy.

My plans for this horn?

I obtained this horn from a former student who had been given the horn by a third party. For me this is a parts horn. The bell has an unusually small throat, and looks intriguing in relation to my projects and interest in horns of the 19th century. Which has me looking closer, as I’m likely to either try putting this bell on one of my project horns (one single F in particular is on the radar) or use it as the basis of a plausible natural horn. And I can make use of the slide tubes, braces, etc. in various ways as I work on things in the future.

You get what you pay for

If it is a bad horn, it is actually just a bad horn, it will never be a good deal to play – and it may discourage someone from continuing on the horn. Don’t buy a bad horn.

A competent horn teacher will have some ideas of horns that are good choices for your situation, talk to them, the honest advice is worth it.

Introducing the Redesigned Conn 6D

John Ericson
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Back in March (here) I posted about the new and improved Conn 8D for the 21st century. I have still yet to try one, so far as I know no example has made it to the Phoenix area, but I remain interested to try one of these and also the new 6D. This is also rather big news, the 6D is a venerable horn. It has also been redesigned and updated — noting especially that it is now being built as a Kruspe wrap.

Wait, the 6D now a Kruspe style horn? What?

I’m excited about this change. In 2021 I posted an article with the somewhat provocative title, “Could the Kruspe style horn come back?” The basic idea of the article was that there really are nice qualities to the Kruspe wrap, and you could make one that had essentially the same sound as a Geyer – and the best original Kruspe horns were not built huge, they had smaller throated bells than the 8D.

A brief history lesson

The new 6D is described in Conn website here. The 6D has significantly changed once before. As Conn relates,

The story of the Conn 6D begins in the early 1920s with the introduction of the original “6-D” model. Equipped with a piston change valve in the “Schmidt” style, this 6-D was Conn’s first double horn. The 6D was revised in 1935 with a rotary change valve to much acclaim, quickly becoming “…the favorite of big symphony players.”

The next-generation 6D takes the critical mouthpipe, first branch, and bell tapers of the historic 6D and pairs them with the chassis of the iconic Conn 8D.

The plain fact is that the 1935 redesigned 6D for a LONG time has been a cheaper, lower-level horn, and it was also built rather “big,” at least that is how it always felt in my hands. A big left hand would be helpful! To my mind I have never felt the 6D as produced in the recent past to be a good choice for a younger student, and clearly also it was not a good enough horn for even a good adult amateur. Over the years the 6D was seen I believe more and more as an oddball design with a strange tubing layout. They sold lots of them to schools over the years, due to the lower price point (it was the first horn I played!). I suspect even though the new horn is completely redesigned, they had to maintain the 6D designation (and the price point) to maintain a sales base for the horn.

The 1935 6D clearly had become a tired, old design of low interest to serious players. The image below is from a Conn parts manual ca. 1970, providing a nice overview of the familiar version of the 6D.

The new 6D

At long last Conn has gone big and made huge changes, changes that were long overdue. The new 6D is a yellow brass Kruspe style horn, with nickel-silver slide tubes and more.

Wait, isn’t this just a modern version of the 28D or 8DY?

Over the years Conn off and on (mostly Elkhart era) produced a model called the 28D. Essentially it was a brass 8D, originally made with a smaller throated bell. It was sold at the same price point as the 8D. A good Elkhart 28D carries some special value to the right buyer. The image below of a 28D is again from a Conn parts list, ca. 1970. In black and white you can hardly tell the difference between an 8D and a 28D.

Later (Eastlake era), a similar model was the 8DY, which was an 8D with a large yellow brass bell. The new 6D really is significantly different than the 28D and the 8DY models, it is based on different tapers. According to the introductory video (at the end of this article) the tapers in fact favor the Bb side, which will be a plus for some players and for sales.

More details

Although placed in the same “Professional” category in their website as the new 8D, the 6D occupies a lower price point, it is in the “Artist” series rather than the “Connstellation” series. I would still be really interested to see how it plays though, as I do believe that there is room in the market for a real, professional Kruspe in brass with the smaller throated bell. It may be a good starting point for customization.

There is no mention in the website of a CNC machined receiver (a feature of the new 8D), although the 6D pipe on the horn in their website has the visual look of the new 8D pipe. I should mention one minor disappointment — based on the photos in the video, it has no water key. They must have felt the minor cost saving of leaving this off helped them place the horn at a lower price point. But clearly the new 6D has benefitted with the updates in the 8D in various ways – bracing, improved manufacturing processes, etc.

Interested?

Some examples must be getting slowly out to dealers. The new 6D and the new 8D are certainly horns I look forward to trying soon. When I do, I’ll report on it further, as this really is big news in our horn world. The videos below tell more.

A Word on “Brushed Finish” Horns

John Ericson
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A type of finish that has been showing up on some of the used horn postings you see is what they call a “brushed finish.” It is a potential “hot button” topic that I don’t believe has been much commented upon in the horn press.

What makes a horn shine?

The typical finish desired of a new horn is achieved by cleaning, buffing, and polishing the horn completely in the final stages of construction. It may then be lacquered to preserve that look, or it may be left to develop a natural patina over time.

What is being done on some used horns is an alternate finish, the brushed finish. This finish is accomplished by working the surface with steel wool or similar, aiming for an attractive pattern.

What do I think of it?

The first time I saw this finish on a horn I was not impressed. I can see the advantage of this type of finish in a complete rebuild situation, but I am certainly biased toward a conventional finish. [For more on “why” see the update at the end.]

Which led me to pose a question on Twitter. Only 25 responses, but I think maybe a fair sample:

As you can see, about half were “meh” and almost 1/3 were not fans.

But some love it

I was interested to see though that some do actually love the finish, so maybe it has some room for growth in the market. Time will tell! But I’m not a big fan personally at this point.

UPDATE: Comments on Facebook line up with why I’m not a fan. My perception is generally this finish is applied to hide or disguise issues with an instrument. Also, it is destructive, it takes material off the horn and, in the process, probably creates new problems. And if there are more repairs done later it can be difficult match the brushed finish in the newly repaired area. I prefer a traditional finish, there is a reason why it became the standard.

Chart of Tube Lengths of Natural Horns (and Valved Horns)

John Ericson
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Working through organizing my files I found notes I put together back in 1989 about the lengths of natural horns in all keys. I was using the info to derive a plan for the crooks and couplers for my first natural horn build, working with Richard Seraphinoff. As I’m working on finishing up another horn, these numbers are again helpful ones, and I thought might also be of interest to horn matters readers as I don’t believe they are easily found in any online reference.

How long are the various crooks?

It took some digging to find my source again, but the following is based on the chart in the “Horn” article in the 1954 edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians — generally confirmed further by measurements I took from another natural horn that Rick was working on of a similar design to what I was then planning to build. I see a footnote in their article that the chart there is calculated for A=435. In any case, the general chart of natural horn lengths would be as follows, in traditional feet and inches:

C alto – 8 foot 2 1/8 inch**
Bb alto – 9 foot 2 ½ inch
A – 9 foot 9 inch
G –10 foot 11 inch
F – 12 foot 3 ½ inch
E — 13 feet
Eb – 13 foot 9 ¼ inch
D – 14 foot 7 ¼ inch
C basso 16 foot 4 ¼ inch
Bb basso – 18 foot 5 inch

**UPDATE: Based on being half of C basso, in the published chart they simply call this  “8-foot-C.” Also, the overall chart is primarily aimed at showing the harmonic series of each fingering, illustrating all the theoretical alternate fingerings; I suspect that the numbers are not all exactly correct, but served their purposes as illustrations in a chart. 

If you wish to compare these numbers to realities of horns in your possession, a tape measure may be used, holding it to the outer surface of the tubes. It just takes a bit of math to work out the approximate length of crooks and couplers in relation to each other. The body of the horn being another element to measure — the total length of a crook and the body of the horn would be approximately the number in the chart above.

Relationships

It is an interesting chart to ponder, as several relationships can be seen. A big one is that C basso and Bb basso are both twice as long at their alto counterparts! That is a lot of tubing.

From experience with the valved horn, you should be able to visualize as well that each half step is a bit longer than the previous one (that is why the F horn second valve is longer than the Bb horn second valve). And all the various standard natural horn crook lengths (besides the longest and shortest on the chart) are available as fingerings on a double horn.

In any case, I used the chart above to work out what the crook and coupler system of the first natural horn I built. The goal was to match the crook and coupler system seen in a photo I found of a horn by William Shaw, London. The horn I made then (as a Doctoral project) is described further in this article:

Bringing it to today

This morning I confirmed that the coupler I had bent last year (not yet finished) was meant to take my current project horn from F to D. I also had enough time to finally finish the scraping and sanding the F, E, and Eb crooks (seen below); they are prepped for buffing soon! Nice to see some progress, I’m hoping to finish this project overall (and more) before I have to close down the garage shop for the summer.

Crushed Tube Braces and the Natural Horn

John Ericson
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Recently I’ve been working toward finishing a natural horn build, and worked out how to make the crushed tube braces. These are highly iconic to some natural horn makers. A quick search also suggests that there may be nothing at all online on this topic, one deserving a quick look.

What is a “crushed tube brace?”

Stated simply, it is a brace made from a crushed tube. The ends are what are actually crushed, formed in the process to fit over the tubes they are attached to. These are often seen on natural horn bodies and crooks. Thus, the braces are hollow rather than being made from solid stock.

Why?

There are a several reasons why you might do a brace of this type instead of a brace turned from brass stock on a lathe. But that actually is the main one I think, how the design originated. You don’t need a lathe to make one of these, just a small piece of tube.

Then it clearly became a style thing. There is a look to these braces that is unmistakable. French makers and makers inspired by the French designs are highly likely to have made their natural horns with the crushed tube braces.

My current natural horn build (described more in my personal blog, here) involves using parts for a Cousenon copy that were obtained from Richard Seraphinoff. He had completed some of the body braces, which I honestly had struggled a bit to finish. And I still needed to make them for the crooks, which created a new challenge for me as I got back to this project over the holidays.

How?

This part was a big stumbling block to me until I finally hit upon a method of making the crushed ends. I’m going to leave my exact method a secret for purposes of this post, but it is actually quick and easy and I will be using them as often as I can in the future! The photo below shows what they are (and the photos at the end of the article show more of how they are applied to a crook).

In my build the crushed tube braces match between the body of the horn and the crooks, another indication to a future owner that they belong together. A detail to look for if you are in any doubt that a crook does or doesn’t belong to an instrument.

Why again?

Makers in other areas were more likely to use braces made from solid stock in some manner (forged or turned on a lathe), but the French came to favor this design. As already stated, the crushed tube brace was style thing but also practical and traditional, and their use hung on for a long while. ASU owns for example a Hawkes piston horn (with a full set of crooks) dating to ca. 1916 that has crook braces of this same type.

As to me, I will be using these braces whenever it makes sense, I do like the traditional look and I can quickly make them to any needed length.

Big News: The New 8D for the 21st Century

John Ericson
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Conn just dropped some big news on the horn world, that they have upgraded the venerable 8D model horn, following extensive focus group testing of design upgrades with professional hornists who are fans of the 8D.

A quick look back

First, one of my more popular articles on the site looks at the original Conn 8D and the evolution of the design over the years:

In honor of the original horn, below is part of an ad dating to ca. 1939, when the design was new. The 8D was for many years a standard horn used by many pros in the USA, but times have changed.

Recapturing the magic of a classic horn

A goal of their redesign process was to meet or exceed the playing qualities of a specific “holy grail” N series 8D, and to produce an 8D for the 21st century market. A video explaining all this was part of the release package, which will be linked at the end of this article.

Wait, a water key?!?

This is where this writer really began paying attention to the video, as clearly this redesign was a serious venture. Because adding a water key to the 8D was the most obvious upgrade ever! Over many years, it was very clear that Conn was very reluctant to change anything that obvious on the horn. Was the 8D not already the perfect design, in need of no changes? And they sold every instrument they made, so why change anything?

But of course, the design had drifted over many years. It was accepted as a given that pretty much any 8D made after they closed the Elkhart plant in 1969 would not be the choice of a pro, and, besides, in general horns that are over 50 years old also are not typically the ideal horn of choice for a real working pro.

The big change/upgrade: the leadpipe

In the recent Geyer Dreaming series I had a quote referencing Carl Geyer saying the first 12 inches of the horn (along with the mouthpiece) were the most critical for tone production.

Recognizing that same fact, the big change for this new 8D is that the first section of the leadpipe is now being machined on a CNC lathe instead of being opened up by hand. Opening the end of the receiver up by hand is traditional, but relies on the skill of an individual to get this area up to a critical spec.

This is a huge change of production method, but one that I know at least one custom maker out there is already doing. That maker purchased a high-end lathe to be able to exactly machine the critical tapers of the first portion of the leadpipe, which they connect to the remainder of the leadpipe made in the traditional way. This seems to also be what Conn is doing now. The result is a critical area of the horn should be consistently and exactly built up to specs. This is a huge upgrade and improvement to the horn.

[Variations in various areas of a horn, especially this one, is also why Conn felt the need to define a “holy grail” N series horn to use to test against the new designs. Some small number of horns were made really closely to ideal specs, but many if not most instruments were out of spec in various ways — even in the best Elkhart production years.]

Updating the bell and the bending process

Besides updating the bell mandrel to match the original specs for the 8D (they determined that the mandrel was far out of spec after all the years), Conn has also upgraded how the branches are bent. They had been bent the traditional way by filling with pitch and bending by hand. As with traditional leadpipe manufacture, this process inserts some variability into the exact results, as the tube will tend to get out of round. The modern process now used should deliver tubing that is exactly up to specs. Another game changer; thousandths of an inch matter.

One thing not upgraded was the alloy, they determined with blind testing that the modern Nickel Silver used actually sounds better than the original alloy used on Elkhart built instruments.

Improving the “look,” and the bracing

In addition, when you look at the video and the updated Conn website, they have improved the look compared to recent production horns from Eastlake, with classic design valve caps in particular. Any Conn 8D fan with a good eye will be able to easily spot this new 8D compared to prior versions (including the recently made Vintage 8D, which appears to now be out of production) due to these valve caps and updated bracing choices, chosen to produce the best end product.

Is it too little too late?

It certainly was time to get these changes out there on the market. I’m also certainly interested in trying one of these to see how it compares to an Elkhart 8D. A new horn with all the best qualities of a low milage, classic 8D is certainly one that a lot of people will want to give a good look at; we at Horn Matters do wish them the best with this reborn classic horn for the 21st century.

The new 8D is described further in the Conn website here. And the video is below, well worth watching, with the area of most interest starting around the 1:45 point.

UPDATE: And just like that, the video does not work; Conn turned it into a restricted post. No idea why such an informative video on a new product was taken down. However, if you go to the Conn website for info on the 8D horn at the link given in the previous paragraph, there is a shortened version of the video there.

Pros and Cons of Changing your Embouchure

John Ericson
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Over the course of my studies, I changed my embouchure twice while in college. The first time was in the summer of 1982 while studying at the Aspen Music Festival between my sophomore and junior years of college, working with David Wakefield.

A glimpse into my thinking process

In some recent cleaning of files, I found my notes from early in the summer of 1982 that outlined the pros and cons of changing my embouchure. Why these were saved all these years I don’t know, but it is an interesting window into a critical piece of thinking.

I had the previous year changed my major from music business to horn performance. The thoughts below are a combination of my thinking, my reading of the Farkas book, and things Wakefield must have said in the first couple lessons that summer.

The old embouchure

I listed these pros regarding my existing embouchure, which was 2/3 lower lip:

  • Playing fairly well
  • Good high range to mid-low range
  • Good tone
  • “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
  • Possibility I’ll [still] master low notes, or at least a smaller shift

The cons were:

  • Extreme low range hard – big shift
  • Not “textbook” placement

The new embouchure

The new embouchure was 2/3 upper lip. As to the pros:

  • Good extreme low range
  • Possibility to be better
  • “Textbook” placement
  • Possibility that someone will later try to change it

I think what I meant with that last point was that if I did not change it now, likely I would still need to later.

The cons were:

  • No high range
  • Struggle in most of range
  • “Waste” about a year learning new [embouchure]
  • Little playing done at Aspen
  • Worst horn here

Those were some big negatives but the pros did win out. It really did take close to a year to work out, as the change was so large, 2/3 lower to 2/3 upper. My entire junior recital did not go higher than G at the top of the staff! By the next summer things were very stable with the new setting. I used that embouchure until early in my Doctoral studies, when I shifted the embouchure up a little more, working carefully with Mike Hatfield (with a goal of improving endurance).

How it looks now

Today, my embouchure is about half-way between the Aspen embouchure change and the IU embouchure change. So, things clearly did work out. It is always a topic to think out carefully, as there are pros and cons to weigh in relation to your performance goals. If you are in the midst of an embouchure change, be encouraged that you will see the light at the end of the tunnel, as I did.

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