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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.

Geyer Dreaming VI – Some Final Stories

John Ericson
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This series has covered a lot of ground! So much so that it has been a challenge to write the conclusion – but it is, of course, a story with no conclusion yet, the Geyer dream will continue well beyond 2023, the 100 year mark of his iconic horn design.

Sadly, the original horns are in fact getting old. There is a conventional wisdom that you might not want to use a horn over about 40 years old as your main, daily driver horn. But some are still in daily use, and to conclude our series we have a few random stores.

Clyde Wedgewood and an influencer today

If you are active on Instagram or TikTok you have seen a major horn influencer post regularly on her original Geyer, Alana Yee. There is a great TikTok post about her horn, which you will have to really dig to view (but well worth the trek). The post was on 2-22-2022. When she had the horn out on trial the seller told her it had belonged Clyde Wedgewood. She then googled him (he was second horn in the Chicago Symphony with Farkas; there are photos of his embouchure and with the horn in The Art of Brass Playing) and got the newspaper article on his murder! Was the horn cursed? But she thought it wasn’t, after using the horn for four years.

Murder?!? Filling in a few more details (and feel free to do the search on Wedgewood), rumor was he was into guns and prostitutes and other shady stuff, and yes he was murdered. But being of short stature, I can imagine that Geyer made the horn specifically to fit him, and it is great that it also fits Alana Yee well today.

Hatfield and the high Bb

Famously, Geyer style horns can have a bad high Bb. During my Doctoral studies my major professor, Mike Hatfield told me a story. When he started his career, he was playing an original Geyer horn, but he had questions — was it him or the horn? He had Chris Leuba and Philip Farkas try the horn. I forget which one said which, but one said the Bb was fine and the other said the horn was unusable and to get another. Eventually he sold it, he just did not have sufficient trust in the high Bb.

Which gets to a standard thing I tell people. When trying a Geyer style horn, test the high Bb. If it is not good, walk away. You play high Bb a lot! You need to have faith in the note. Why they can be bad is a quirk of the design that makers have to work out carefully.

A Geyer dissertation?

If you want to read more, there is a recent dissertation to check out. “Kruspe versus Geyer: An Examination of Horns Used in Several Texas Symphony Orchestras” is a 2016 dissertation from Texas Tech by Andrea Christine Denis. Happy to see some of my writing show up in the footnotes! The full dissertation may be accessed here.

Pondering my Geyer single F

Finally, back during my sabbatical I worked on rebuilding several single F horns to classic designs (series starts here), and one of the key designs in my mind was the Schmidt single F (seen at that same link). I rebuilt a Mirafone horn to a similar design, then was able to buy the remains of an original Geyer single F and rebuild that. The finished versions are seen below.

The key things to note are the Geyer (on the left) actually follows the Schmidt design more closely than my altered Mirafone, and also the Mirafone has several rather bad notes and on the Geyer they are a lot better. I’m probably going to go back and modify the Mirafone bell horn to more closely match the Geyer design. Even with the single F being probably part of a school order, he was just hard wired to make as good a horn as he could, to a solid design. A good final thought in a series dedicated to the craftsmanship of Carl Geyer and the 100th anniversary of the Geyer horn.

Return to the beginning of Geyer Dreaming series

Personal Safety Tips for Lessons

Bruce Hembd
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If you are concerned about your safety with a horn teacher or colleague:

1.) Trust your feelings. If you feel uneasy or creeped out by someone, ask yourself “why?”

2.) Talk to others. They may be able to help you validate your feelings.

3.) Do a Google search. Using search terms such as “firstname lastname sex charges” may produce results. Try variations of these terms to see if you get better results.

4.) Use social media. Platforms such as Reddit allow you to keep your identity anonymous. You can ask direct, honest questions without fear of retribution. https://www.reddit.com/r/horn/

5.) Try a background security check, perhaps even before you start with the teacher or work with the colleague. I have used this app – https://www.beenverified.com. Reports cost as low as one dollar. Do leave some room for doubt. Try not to draw hard conclusions from online security check apps – they are not 100% reliable. But, they can point you in the right direction.

6.) Bring a friend. If you are already enrolled at a school and are feeling uncomfortable, try bringing a friend to your lessons (and offering to go to theirs) under the guise of “observing.” Or, ask to record your lessons for review and study after the lesson.

7.) Leave the room. In an absolute worst case scenario – leave your horn and leave the room. If necessary, knock on doors and make noise. Make phone calls. You can get your horn and personal belongings later, with another person.

8.) Seek out the Title IX office or HR office of your institution. Document incidents and keep records, even journal entries, as much as possible. A Google Sheet can do this – https://www.google.com/sheets/about/

Special thank you to contributors at https://www.reddit.com/r/horn. and COR Community on Facebook.

The Trauma of Elliott Higgins

Bruce Hembd
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 **Trigger Warnings:

  • Elliott Higgins,
  • thoughts on misogyny,
  • straight talk aimed at men.

Background story is here.

Mr. Higgins is teaching me that trauma in the horn world exists, and that it is inextricably connected to his horrific story. Old wounds are being opened. #MeToo, for example.

Abuse exists in our horn world, done mostly by men who take advantage of innocent victims. It exists on a continuum, ranging from Elliott Higgins as the extreme example, to just plain words and tone of voice.

I confess

When I was young and stupid, I complemented an attractive female student on her appearance in a private lesson. Her demeanor and body language changed immediately.

I said nothing and moved on without saying anything, as if nothing had happened. I knew that I did something wrong; 30 years later and I still think about it. I remember her name.

I wish that I owned a time machine, where I could not only stop myself from saying what I said, but could also apologize to her for even thinking it in the first place.

Most likely I said other stupid things to other horn students, without even realizing it. I imagine that other men have done the same.

I am a witness

When I was a child my divorced mother dated black men, in the 1970s in Indiana – a bastion of the KKK. “Separate, but equal” was more-or-less still in effect; there were black schools and white schools in public education.

Some of the men Mom dated were married. I saw lies, and witnessed abuse and addiction. I experienced secondary racism. On top of this, Mom and I took care of her handicapped daughter (my sister), who required constant attention. I heard the insult “reee-tard” a lot as a kid, especially when carrying my horn case on the school bus.

As an adult, I lived in many places when pursuing a career in music performance: throughout the USA, in Mexico City, and a bit in Europe. I witnessed abuse, misogyny, predatory behavior, sexism, and racism in all these places.

Sometimes it was horn celebrities who were (and still are) well-known and revered.

Today I work in web technology, remotely from home, and play the horn as a hobby. I witness pervasive misogyny in the workplace and most social media.

I see predators

I hear and see things – over and over again – with certain men active in our field today.

These men engage in predatory behavior with intent and purpose, and get away with it.

They exude charm and charisma to seduce and manipulate victims. They game the system to remain employed and continue their abuse, for years on end.

See something, say something

Good-hearted men that find this repulsive, especially those who are leaders in the horn world, need to speak up. LOUDLY. This behavior is absolutely unacceptable. It is morally reprehensible.

Remember that if you see something creepy and say nothing, you are complicit… perhaps even culpable.

Burying heads in the sand and moving forward as if nothing is happening does not make a problem go away. It just allows the problem to fester like an open wound, and continue on and on in a vicious cycle, for years… even decades.

Case in point, Elliott Higgins.

***

If you were affected by Elliott Higgins and his actions, please seek help. You are not alone. Please do not keep it a secret. Talk to someone.

Geyer Dreaming V: The Mouthpiece Man

John Ericson
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Continuing to the topic of Geyer and mouthpieces, there is an article by Milan Yancich, “Carl Geyer — The Mouthpiece Man,” that was published in the March 1962 issue of the NACWPI Bulletin. Wait, the mouthpiece man??

A mouthpiece made especially for you!

A big picture thing to point out right away was Geyer understood that he needed to control the entire system to give the best result for his customers. He knew that he could make a great horn, but if someone played that great horn with a so-so or bad mouthpiece (or a mouthpiece otherwise unsuited to use with his horns), then the result was the buyer thought it was a bad horn.

The mouthpiece needs to match the horn. Part of his genius was that Geyer developed his mouthpieces to not only match his horns. but also to match the individual players he made them for. As Tom Bacon learned firsthand, when he bought his Geyer in 1962-63,

I knew that I had found what I was looking for and told Mr. Geyer so. I asked if I could buy one of his horns. He said that he had a lot of orders to fill, but if I would wait six months he would make one for me. And with a sidelong glance at the old, beat up mouthpiece I was using he added, “I vill make new mousepiece for you too.”

Made one by one

As introduced by Milan Yancich in his article “Carl Geyer – The Mouthpiece Man,”

Geyer’s mouthpieces, like his horns, were never mass-produced. Each French horn and mouthpiece was made to fit the individual’s needs and purposes….

Although Geyer’s main forte was the manufacture of French horns, he always had an intense interest in designing and making mouthpieces for musicians. In my own case he spent countless hours trying to help me improve my playing by making the correct mouthpiece. Carl Geyer met the challenge of making and improving mouthpieces with an intensity that always awed the lucky recipient, especially if the mouthpiece fit the individual’s need.

Turning out a mouthpiece on a machine lathe might take an hour’s time, but then the real work began with testing of the mouthpiece. Hour after hour is spent making adjustments for faulty notes, for intonation problems, for tonal discrepancies, and for other idiosyncrasies that might arise. Sometimes all his work came to naught because of an error in judgment like drilling the opening or backbore a shade too much or by making the rim too thin, etc. What did he do when he failed? He started over again! No wonder so many of our nation’s hornists hold Mr. Geyer in such high esteem.

There is more in the article about specifics of designs used at the time, but for now I would highlight this quote, which is 100% true: “Mr. Geyer states that the first twelve inches of the mouthpipe in conjunction with the mouthpiece spells the secret of tone production at its best.”

Geyer also designed some of the mouthpieces that were produced by other makers

Turning back to Yancich, in his A View from the Rear book he also states that

Most of the stock mouthpeices manufactured in the United States were designed by Mr. Geyer. The Conn No. 1 and the Conn No. 2 mouthpieces were designed for a German friend craftsman employed of the C.G. Conn Company. The Reynolds Company manufactured a mouthpiece that was originally designed by Geyer for Max Pottag, then its representative. The Holton-Farkas model mouthpiece was designed for Farkas by Geyer. The “MY” mouthpieces, specifically designed for me [and manufactured by Alexander] were Geyer products. His influence on the playing community was remarkable and incalculable.

Wait, Geyer designed the FARKAS MODEL???

This is where things get a bit spicy. Farkas stated that he came up with the design of the classic Schilke FARKAS MODEL mouthpiece in 1949, after much experimentation, working with Schilke on the design since 1947. His version of the story may be found here:

I think both accounts could be true, because Farkas obviously did play a mouthpiece of some sort before working with Schilke on his design, and as a Geyer-playing professional hornist (from the start of his career in 1933!), he would almost certainly have used a Geyer mouthpiece all the previous years. Farkas likely refined a Geyer design he had been using to arrive at the 1949 FARKAS MODEL, thus it owed a debt to Carl Geyer.

[It is all somewhat reminiscent of the story of how the classic Holton Farkas Model horn (developed 1956-58) came to be. Objectively, visually it is an updated version of the Reynolds Pottag Model horn from the 1940s (described further here). However, it was much better marketing on the part of Farkas (and Holton) to say that “It was actually a hybrid horn that had all the good qualities of the Alexander, the Kruspe, the Geyer, the Schmidt, and several others.” But really, the Reynolds horn is quite similar overall to the subsequent Farkas Model horns, and would have certainly been familiar to Farkas.]

A legacy we enjoy today

Clearly many of the popular mouthpiece designs used today owe something to Carl Geyer, as the “old school” types made by Giardinelli and others on the east coast have largely fallen out of use.

When the series concludes (no!) we will reflect further on his legacy.

**The photo of Geyer working at his lathe is from this Facebook page

Continue to the conclusion of Geyer Dreaming

On Bill Broughton’s “Orchestra of the Americas” and Learning from Adversity

Bruce Hembd
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Recently, I became aware that recordings I participated in over 25 years ago with the Mexico City Philharmonic are available on YouTube.

Below is the Wagner “Ride of the Valkyries,” recorded in 1994, with yours truly on principal horn. We literally ran through this once, touched a few spots, and started recording.

Background

An old doodle titled “Life in Mexico ’94.” The city was very polluted at the time.

It took a long while to get accustomed to living and playing in Mexico City.

  • The altitude is 2240 meters / 7,349 feet.
  • The city is populated by millions and millions of people.
  • The air quality is terrible.
  • The pace is hectic.

Bill Broughton

From my best recollection, the circumstances behind this recording went something like this:

Bruce Broughton‘s brother Bill Broughton (primarily known as a session trombone player in the LA scene) set up some kind of agreement with the Mexico City Philharmonic to record soundtrack scores as the “Orchestra of the Americas.”

The scores included “Silverado,” “The Cowboys,” and Bernard Hermann scores such as “Psycho,” “Marnie,” and “North by Northwest.” It also included some arrangements by Bill, of John Williams scores such as “Star Wars,” “Jurassic Park,” and “Superman.”

From Bill Broughton’s bio at Trombone USA (click to view):

(The name of the orchestra is wrong in this account.)

Lots of heavy playing

The recording sessions were brutal. Bill conducted, and he was a strict taskmaster. The charts were only touched on briefly before recording began. Recording was done all on company time, in the Philharmonic’s hall. The sessions lasted about a week, with around 4-5 hours of playing on each day.

Royalties?

Seeing these videos appear many years after-the-fact is fun and exciting, however I can’t help but wonder how Entertainment One Distribution US acquired the rights to distribute this material freely on YouTube.

My best guess is that Bill sold the rights to these recordings sometime before his death, and that at some point, this conglomerate company acquired them. I have never received a residual check.

“Orchestra of the Americas”

My work papers.

The final product was marketed as “Bill Broughton – Orchestra of the Americas” under a series titled “The Magic of the Movies.” It ended up being 6 CDs.

My best guess is that the producers of these materials thought the recording would track better in US and international markets under these brand names.

Worth mentioning is that the “Broughton” name in itself is a brand when associated with film scoring, and so in this context, there may have been some nepotism or coat-tail riding involved. Who knows?

Learning from Adversity

The real star behind these recordings – the Mexico City Philharmonic – was an international mix of musicians: American, Canadian, Eastern European, Russian, Mexican, and Asian. At break time, it was commonplace to hear a multitude of languages being spoken, along with lots of coffee and cigarettes (just coffee for me).

These recording sessions were an intense pressure cooker, and what I learned was this: it doesn’t really matter what language you speak in order to collaborate and put on a good show.

Ensemble cohesion, intonation, and unity of style can sync without speaking a word, if you just stay alert, remain flexible, and make an earnest effort to engage and “play” with your colleagues.

Listening to this Wagner recording from over 25 years ago has reminded me that in adverse situations, an ensemble of musicians that is bonded like this can survive just about anything that is thrown at them.

They may even manage to have fun and make great music while doing so… or at least have good jokes and stories to tell afterwards.

More?

Other selections from this series with interesting horn parts:

Suite from Marnie – https://youtu.be/VceROsBToHE
North by Northwest – https://youtu.be/jCS2rItQyR4
Vertigo – https://youtu.be/6NlolIX4AO0
Cowboys – https://youtu.be/gbv0yc7lKWM
Gremlins II – https://youtu.be/GUzvV2AQ2Rg

HORNS:

  1. Bruce Hembd
  2. Bob Schwendeman
  3. John Findley
  4. Janice Kraynok

Musings on Oiling Rotary Valves, and Brief Review: JM Lubricants

John Ericson
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A new lubricant line for horn players to consider is the line of products by JM Lubricants. Manufactured by J. Meinlschmidt GmbH, a company that has produced rotary valves since 1866, the line has a similar range of types as the popular Hetman oils.

The old days

My first band director used to say that all valve oil was from a big vat, and all of it was about the same. Back then in the mid 1970s, with standard types of traditional oil, he probably was correct to a point. Oh, and then you had a bearing oil that was very popular …

Science, and the horn player

With the modern synthetic oils available today, you always needed to have a couple different grades of oil to properly service your valves.

As a student and in the early days of my career my personal “go to” oils were Al Cass Fast oil down the valves and either woodwind key oil or Singer sewing machine oil on the bearings. Those were common choices back then, but today we do have better choices.

Many horn players today seem to be attracted to the “scientific” lines of oils with many grades of oil to choose from – more so than players of other brass instruments.

One of the reasons why the JM Lubricants line is of interest, and why it was developed, is because it is similar to the popular Hetman line. As I understand it Hetman oil not off the market, but it has become more difficult to obtain the past few years. The new JM Lubricants line fills in the same market niche and is one horn players will want to check out.

For my tests I was able to obtain (from Houghton Horns) the types in the photo! With no obligation to review.

Which leads me toward a bigger topic I want to address today:

What does valve oil do? How often do you need to oil your valves?

I recently was reminded by something on Horn People of a way to think of rotary valves and oil. Essentially, imagine it this way: your valve is floating (rotating!) in a layer of oil. Oil is what keeps it all moving well.

You need to use typically somewhat heavier oil on the top and bottom bearings, and lighter oil on the rotor itself (most commonly oiled by dropping oil carefully down the valve slide tubes).

But again, to repeat, your valves float in oil. Which means you need to oil your valves often! At least every week! And use good oil! Your horn will play better and your investment is better protected.

You may actually need to oil even more often than weekly. My original double horn, a Holton 177, worked best if I oiled the valves thoroughly every single day. Of course, that was in part because the Al Cass oil I primarily used was so light. In general though, weekly is probably enough for most horns, if you use a high quality, modern oil.

Did Dave have something to say about lubrication?

Back ten years ago we had a regular series of articles on Horn Matters that asked Dave Weiner questions relating to horn maintenance and more. Specifically, his general answer to the question on oil is that you should certainly oil your valves every week at a minimum. More specifically, heavier oil on the bearings weekly and a drop of rotor oil down in the rotors daily. By the time your valves are getting slow, that is long after when you should have oiled your valves. For more details, see this article:

Some further general advice

One other trap to mention is this: just because your horn has rotary valves it does not mean that you have to use rotor oil as the main lubricant. It depends on the tightness of your valves. A horn with very tight, new, high-quality valves may feel sluggish with a standard grade of rotor oil, as it is a bit too thick. On the other hand, a horn with well broken in or worn valves may need an even heavier oil in general to keep things spinning smoothly. Your oil should not slow you down! But it does need to overall be thick enough to do the job of keeping your valve floating in that sea of oil.

I would also mention horns in storage. Certainly when you put it in storage be sure it is oiled up very well with somewhat heavy oil, that will save much trouble down the road.

Is it the new JM oil compatible?

Sometimes there are compatibility issues from brand to brand. An incompatible oil can cause a gummy residue to form. Myself, in my testing so far, I have had no issues using JM lubricants on valves that had been previously lubricated with Hetman products and with standard types of Monster valve oil, another brand of oil which I have also made good use of in recent years. If I note any issues I will update this post.

Have you oiled your valves lately?

Well, you should! At least every week! Protect the investment in your horn.

Finally, there is no danger of using too much oil. If you are low on oil and having trouble buying what you have used in the past, think about trying the JM Lubricants line, it is well worth a look.

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