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Revisiting the Ascending Third Valve

John Ericson
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As part of my most recent horn building project I realized that I could set up that horn as an ascending third valve instrument.

Ascending third valve?!?

Back nearly 10 years ago I posted in this site an article introducing the ascending third valve horn. That article is here, and the short version is that this was a valve system that had some degree of popularity, especially in the years before the double horn. The classic instruments would be set up very much like my example.

How it works on a single horn is the instrument is set up so that the open tubing would have the horn sit in G — but the third valve is reversed so that at rest it adds a whole step of tubing, to make the instrument normally stand in F.

To produce that same open harmonic series as normal for the F horn, air normally passes through that third valve slide. However, when you push down the third valve it cuts out that tubing, and as a result it raises the pitch level of the horn a whole step. Push down that valve, and you get a harmonic series a full step higher than normal! (The same length as T12 on a double horn). Thus, the third valve makes the horn “ascend” instead of adding tubing like normal.

How it feels (to the player accustomed to a typical single F) is like a supercharged single F, as you have that shorter tubing length available. Articulations will be better and also the tone is a bit lighter and clearer overall.

I could achieve set this up on this instrument because I made this horn (described in this recent article) so that it could be set up in F or in G and has complete slide sets for both pitch levels. The G horn first valve slide becomes the ascending third valve slide (which has to be shorter than a standard F horn first valve slide).

I did have to temporarily reverse the rotation of the third valve to do this, which I did by stringing it “wrong,” as seen in this second photo.

Wait, how then do you finger A-flat? Or low Eb?

An A-flat on the second space would still be fingered 23, but with this combination the third valve raises the nominal open pitch a step and the second lowers the pitch a half step.

This works also for the Ab below the staff, but the Eb below the staff is missing, and you also can’t finger any notes below low A.

(Ascending third valve double horns have been made; the “Bb” side gets you a low Eb, yay, but there is still no fingering for a low Ab — unless the horn has a stopping valve to use to get an extra 1/2 step descending. But overall that is kind of a deal breaker for the system today).

How does it play?

First, let me say this is or was a horn for a high horn player. The missing low notes would have been a huge annoyance if you were a low horn player.

Positives: It is surprisingly responsive, with a clearer tone than the standard single F. You lose some weight with the changes, and the longest fingerings are now shorter! I can see why this system appealed to figures including Maxime-Alphonse; he wrote several of his etudes with the ascending third valve horn clearly in mind. See for example Book 4 Number 3. Oh, and it is a fun setup to play with for variety in your practice. Horn playing can be fun!

Negatives: One obvious negative is you can’t play below low A, there are no fingerings, and the Eb below the staff is missing too. But the BIG negative to my mind is intonation. If you set up the second valve slide to take you a half step down from F horn, when you use it in combination with the third valve it is really much too long. If you set up a 23 combination correctly the second valve is not nearly pulled enough using it by itself. I suppose you might get used to altering intonation around this issue (and of course, in reality, you set the slide in a compromise position, half way between correct for the two fingerings, which you use quite often). But a standard descending third valve setup is the better one for basic intonation and if having a true fingering for every note in your range is a priority.

It was an interesting experiment at the least! And, again, check my earlier article for more on the past and present use of this valve design.

Sabbatical part 7: A Retro Horn in F and G?

John Ericson
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First let me say this horn came out really well!

For this project I combined most of the tubing from a vintage (probably 1960s) Mirafone single horn with the valve section (and more) from a Yamaha. As part of this process I redesigned the horn itself, so that the pattern now matches that used by Schmidt (among others) in the 19th century. When crooked in F it uses what Mirafone meant to be the Eb slide, and the F slide now puts the horn in G. Photos of the horn are spread out in this article, with the final photo being the only “before” photo I saved from the original eBay listing. Notice that is was missing a few critical parts, and had probably been hanging on a wall.

This conversion was a bit more complicated to do than I anticipated. One element to having to rebend three key parts (which I did with cerrobend), but another element was I was thinking that the original F slides might work in G with them pushed in, but reality was I needed to make a set of short slides (and extend the G main slide). Fortunately, the original Mirafone first and third slides were bent smaller and could be cut down just enough to work in G, and I was able to put together a short second valve from Holton and King parts. The result is that in both keys the horn plays well, and I was able to maintain a pretty consistent aesthetic to the design in spite of using parts from multiple horns.

It has quite a retro look, like it could easily be over 100 years old, and I really like the tone and feel of the horn a great deal. The hand-hammered bell and nickel sliver garland are great features toward the ultimate tone color, which I can’t wait to try out for listeners in a larger/better space.

WHY G?

This very obvious question has actually a very simple answer. It may only be a legend, but it has been theorized or speculated that Max Hess, the original performer of the Corno Obbligato part of Mahler 5, used the G crook to play that part on the premier. The horn he used at the time could be crooked in F, G, and A, and may be seen here with other information. He was apparently a fan of the G crook.

Again, it may be legend in regard to Mahler 5, but it was an interesting enough legend to work out the horn, and I’ll write more about it at a later date. The famous solo part certainly pops out better on the G crook than on the F.

Also, I have one more trick up my sleeve with this instrument, I should be able to set it up as an ascending 3rd valve horn that stands in F, such as was used in France. I certainly have the slides to do it, more on that at some later date.

In any case, this horn is done! From vision to completion and a very nice result, with many lessons learned.

I still have a Bb crook to finish for the first project horn of my sabbatical (the Gumpert model horn), and I’ll go back to that next before I start another big project. More on that soon.

Update: That crook was finished!

UPDATE: The horn has had some major details updated, see this article for more. 

Continue in the Sabbatical Series

Horn Camp Connect, and other thoughts one year into “The Year of Zoom”

John Ericson
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This past weekend I was honored to be featured for the monthly Horn Camp Connect session of the Kendall Betts Horn Camp. The video is below, and my portion begins just over one hour in. It starts with a presentation on “conventional wisdom” and five specific areas where it might be holding you back, and ends with an extended question and answer session.

I think the series of online events they created has been one of the best and most valuable contributions to the Zoom era of horn teaching. Besides the helpful and upbeat content, I like a lot that it is meant to be seen live. Not to knock the recent horn workshops, but personally I connect much better with a live event than an event that is largely constructed from recordings.

The Year of Zoom

Tomorrow — March 16 — is also an important date to me specifically as in 2020 this was my first day of Zoom teaching. The memory of the first two lessons will be long etched in my memory, it was really a challenge.

And I suspect it is still a big challenge, even if we have better microphones and are used to it. I did a quick Twitter survey, not scientific by any means, but it confirmed that the level of Zoom fatigue is really high. The sooner we get off Zoom the better.

I have noticed some specific trends and issues that players should be aware of, also touched on in the Q&A in the Horn Camp Connect session. The big two are dynamics and articulations. Practicing in unfavorable spaces with no ensemble rehearsals has really disrupted things. We can adjust and overcome!

Better Days to Come

Another question that came up in the session was what I thought the future would look like for music and horn. I tend to be an optimist that there is a pent up demand for music. Of course, the worry is that people won’t come back to horn playing, that they have become used to not playing. But I am still optimistic that the year of Zoom might instead enhance the newly visceral experience of playing music and to listening to music live in a room. It is fundamentally different than listening to a recording or practicing alone, and gives me hope that better days will come.

Sabbatical project update, and a new book on what?

John Ericson
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In short, the second project horn is playable, and I have a new book out.

To the horn first, this one as has been mentioned combines parts from a vintage Mirafone with a lovely bell (but missing parts of the valve section, clearly it had been hanging on a wall somewhere) with the valve section of a Yamaha single horn. The idea was also to redesign the instrument to follow the design of a 19th century Schmidt single F as close as was reasonable, which required eliminating some tubing, rebending some tubing, and using what was the Eb crook to play the horn in F.

The horn became playable yesterday and I’m very happy with the initial results! I have three different leadpipes that I can use with the horn and I’ll give each a fair test in the next few days. Depending on how testing and further modifications go I could be done with this horn next week. The photos below show the front and back of the horn.

Besides that project, the past month or so I was also finishing up a project mostly completed over the summer — a book! — but not horn related.

To maintain the suspense for a moment longer, working on the final updates of that book I have been checking the sales stats regularly, and the best selling lately are the warmup book, the low horn book, and the natural horn book. If you have never considered buying, check them out.

But if you search my publications on Amazon you will now find a new book in my author page (here), and it will likely be a curiosity to the horn community. Model Railroading in American OO, 1930-68 is on the history of a model railroad scale, one rarely used today but one that I got interested in when I was in high school and have worked in every since. Maybe that is part of why horn appealed to me also, to be honest — why do the easy model railroad scale (or instrument) that other people use?

I don’t think many Horn Matters readers will find the book of special interest, but if you are curious search for it on Amazon, it is available in Kindle and print editions. The cover is below.

Continue reading Sabbatical series

Tweaking bracing for more security

John Ericson
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2021 has already been a long year, but I hope shapes up in the end as a good year for horn. It has been a year starting with adversity for sure, but that can be something that leaves you stronger.

Part of keeping your mind in a good place is having your chops in a good place. Toward that end, I’ve posted a few videos on Instagram in the Horn Matters feed, and I’m finding that to generally be a positive space.

This semester, being on sabbatical, has been an interesting one for me, no ensemble playing of course and very little teaching, but I’m happy to report that my chops are holding up. I’ve been enjoying working on horn building projects and that has driven my practice along, I always have things I’m trying.

I was very pleasantly surprised by one tweak I did on the horn that I recorded my Rescued CD on. It was built for me by Richard Seraphinoff in the late 1990s, and a slide had come off.

To fix it properly, I needed to dissemble and clean the area but also it was weak by design, as there were no braces in the valve section. I found two braces that would work, seen installed in the second photo. I’ve played this horn a lot with valves (the section is detachable, it is also a natural horn), but the surprise was the high range is noticeably more stable. The high F and Bb, which you use a lot (!), are quite improved. And then I learned from Rick that he now puts those same braces on his more recently made valve horns, it was a great tweak.
Finally, to hear what that valve section sounds like on the horn it is used on, this is one of my favorite tracks on my Rescued CD, one I have been coming back to often these months, the first movement of the Sonate, Op. 347 by Fritz Spindler. Enjoy!

Sabbatical, part 5. A Gumpert Horn Reborn

John Ericson
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The last big horn building project I had completed was in the 1990s when I was playing in Nashville, which is when I also built my first workbench and obtained the tools I’m relying on today. The big project then was recreating a Gumpert model horn from the 19th century, using modern parts.

This was a horn I had put together under the guidance of historical horn maker Rick Seraphinoff, the last real work being done in Potsdam where I cut the bell. The body was a King/Cleveland single F, to which I added E and F crooks built with his tapers, and an additional section of tapered tubing from the crook socket to the main slide (a portion of a tube that Rick would have used as a first branch on a natural horn), among other tweaks then. Ultimately, I was not completely happy, as the valve set was not great and there were some odd intonation issues.

For the sabbatical I purchased a King single Bb and used that valve set to upgrade the instrument and, with completely disassembling the instrument, I worked over all the joints, rebuilt all the slides, etc. If you look closely at the back of the horn you can see where I had to add a 1” straight section of tubing. This was because the geometry of the horn changed as I was fixing the joints and creating the best build I could.

Ultimately the body of the horn is about 80% King parts (from two different horns), with a flare from an older Holton descant and one Mirafone part thrown in for looks. With the crooks being made on Seraphinoff tapers the end result is the horn plays quite well! I think the basic Gumpert design is quite good. Extra care in assembly helped improve many things, as did finding and removing a costume jewelry ring (!) from the area of the joint between the bell tail and first branch (more here). Looking at photos of period horns and modifying the bracing pattern was also more helpful that you might guess.

One thing to mention is my craftsmanship I believe has improved, although, and this is important to note, virtually every step took at least twice as long to do as I thought it would. Maybe I’ll get faster, but the more important thing was that I took the time to be sure things were done right. This was a great project to start with for the sabbatical horn building, as it really refreshed my memory and set me up well for what is to come.

The build is documented in a series of posts on Instagram (@ericsonhorn), and at the end of this article several more photos of the horn in progress are to be found.

The Gumpert horn is not quite done, as I will also be making a new Bb crook for it. A very innovative thing about the Gumpert design was that it could be set up to play in F or in Bb (or any other key, really), and I now have matching slide sets for F and Bb. Using a crook from my natural horn to test it, the horn plays quite well in Bb — building the new crook of the same type (but slightly longer) is a project for future weeks.

I was able to borrow a couple of similar horns from a local collection. One is a Pizka Vienna horn. There is a very interesting comparison to be made between the two, and to be honest, in terms of actual playability, the Gumpert horn compares very favorably to the Pizka. The other borrowed horn is not playable, an unmarked crooked rotary valve horn from the 19th century, but taking the time to examine it closely has been of benefit to me at this point in the project.

As I plan to spend more time building than writing, a quick description of future projects is in order. I have two other main projects lined up. One is to rebuild a Mirafone single F with what looks to be a wonderful bell (but trashed valves) to sit in F with what was the Eb main slide, patterned after a 19th century Schmidt design, replacing the valves with Yamaha valves (I’ll also be able to put it in G with the original F main slide). The final project is a “conversion horn” idea using a Yamaha single F to make a crooked single F. I have the parts to do both. Will require bending tubing, etc., won’t be easy projects, but I have the time. Oh, and at the very end, if I have time and motivation, I’ll work the remaining modern parts into a natural horn, hopefully something a level above the typical conversion.

But today was my day to force myself not to work on horns, I have too much stuff to catch up on. Maybe it is the pandemic, but this has been such a great change, it just feels great to do physical work in the shop. On to the next projects soon.

Continue reading Sabbatical series

PSA: Strauss 1 has No Exposition UPDATE: Also Strauss 2

John Ericson
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In recent years I have seen repeated references to an “exposition” of the first Strauss horn concerto. What makes it very puzzling to me is the people I see making the assertion that Straus 1 has an exposition are people with college music degrees. Thus, a Public Service Announcement.

Introducing sonata form

Classical era concertos and sonatas almost always have a first movement in sonata form. Sonata form movements in brief have three sections:

  1. Exposition
  2. Development
  3. Recapitulation

This is something that would certainly be covered in college in a music history or music theory class, and probably in both. If you have not had these courses and are just now learning of this form, the Wikipedia has a handy article on the topic well worth skimming over, as understanding sonata form is a must!

The first movements of the Mozart concertos, for example, are all in sonata form with a double exposition. It is pretty obvious how the exposition relates to the recapitulation and the overall form presented in the horn part.

Is Strauss 1:1 sonata form?

Then we turn back to Strauss 1. The first movement does not have an exposition because it is not in sonata form.

At this point some of you are thinking wait, then what is the form of Strauss 1:1? There is a longer answer to this, but in the big picture, thinking simply, the movement is through-composed in terms of the horn part. Nothing comes back, it is just one musical idea after another. The orchestral materials that bookend the first movement are related, but that does not make the movement sonata form.

It’s not sonata form

The reason for this PSA is that I have seen audition requirements that ask for the exposition of Strauss 1. As near as I can tell those people are thinking of the opening call and the following lyric section with the high Bb’s as being the “exposition.” The first 1/3 of the piece roughly.

PLEASE, if you are creating an audition list spell out what you want clearly. And don’t ask for the exposition, because Strauss 1:1 is not in sonata form and does not have an exposition. Thank you.

UPDATE 2025:

Strauss 2:1 is also not sonata form

I’ve now also seen references to the “exposition” of Strauss 2 on an audition list. Yikes!! It’s not Sonata form either. I’m guessing they mean the first page only?

Sabbatical part 4. Hidden Problems to Fix

John Ericson
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Another type of hidden problem to fix is tubing ends under the ferrules that join the various pieces of tubing. The tubing ends on a better horn are cut off square and fit together perfectly under the ferrules, so that there is minimal acoustic disturbance.

In the case of revising my first project horn (last worked on in the 1990s, more here), the fine folks at King/Cleveland were not quite so careful. The part on the left was cut off at an angle, so under that joint there was an area where the acoustics of the horn were negatively impacted. This is the same piece that I discovered also had the ring stuck in it (see the UPDATE to the previous post).

The good thing is that by disassembling this horn and working it over with a new valve section, and correcting issues like these, it has got to play better! With luck by the end of next week it will be back together, but I am taking this slow to be sure everything lines up as well as possible.

Continue reading Sabbatical series

Toward Healthy Chops, and a Tip you can use Now

John Ericson
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A major concern of mine for horn (and brass) players going forward into 2021 is chops. It has been a strange 9 months of practice for all of us. Already several of my Horn Matters posts for 2020 have related to chops.

With 2021 starting soon, something I plan to do is early in the year feature on the Horn Matters Instagram page a series of videos toward getting and keeping your chops healthy. The videos will be relatively short, not full warmups, but will focus on use of exercises from two publications:

I will try to make the videos so you can pick up the gist of the exercises by ear, but to get the most out of the videos, you may wish to purchase the books. And be sure to follow us on Instagram @hornmattersofficial

There is a tip I want to share as well, one that I heard from an amateur hornist, and one that has really helped my most recent practice. I had noticed in my teaching, dynamics are a challenge for many players right now, due to no big rehearsals and bad practice spaces. I know in my case, in the fall I started playing VERY loud at my office for a little while every day (I was teaching from my ASU office), and it helped my chops – but not everyone has that luxury. At home, my son hates it when I play loud and will make me stop. But I do need that bit of loud playing to keep my chops feeling right.

To the tip finally, a solution to this issue, is to play very loud on a practice mute at least every day. It does not need to be long, just a few loud exercises, a few loud etudes or excerpts will help you greatly. You need the loud playing as part of your playing diet, you can’t practice all the time at MP/MF and have healthy chops. I’ve also lately been playing brass quintet horn parts for variety, not that I have any gigs coming, but they remind me of how to play and hit the needed dynamics and articulations.

A year ago, I can’t imagine I would have written those words. At my university I have to complete an annual report every year covering the previous three years of activity, and in their wisdom they changed the system. As a result, I have spent many hours working through the past 3 years. The exercise has left me very reminded of how dramatic the shift of everything was after spring break 2020.

Which brings me to a final topic, change in the horn world and Instagram specifically, where a lot of great content is being produced right now. My theory is that Facebook and Twitter got so toxic with the election that Instagram became the safe space. What is great about the platform is that you can focus tightly on specific interests with low drama. If you are not on Instagram, you really should try it. There are a surprising number of hornists on Instagram with well over 1,000 followers, putting out interesting content every day. And during my sabbatical from ASU I will be among them, both with our Horn Matters healthy chops initiative and on my personal Instagram, which will focus on my sabbatical projects. Follow me there @ericsonhorn

Sabbatical, part 3. Shock Horror Inside View of a Horn [Updated]

John Ericson
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One thing I wanted to obtain for this project overall was one of those flexible cameras. I bought one inexpensively on Amazon (Nidage brand) that works off an app on a phone, and it works really pretty well. It can be used for two main things, one to just inspect inside a horn generally, and also more specifically to check valve alignment (those marks are not always 100% accurate).

In part 2 I mentioned the prior project where I constructed a Gumpert model valved horn that takes crooks, and that I was not entirely happy with it and would be working it over during the sabbatical.

One specific thing I wondered was how the horn looked at the area of the joint between the bell tail and the first branch. I had it apart 20 years ago to cut the bell, and I was not sure the parts ever fit together really well. From the outside it looked a bit suspect.

This photo reveals an unexpected problem! This is right at the joint, inside the horn. You can see a bit of silver which is the solder, and then there is all that “stuff.” Water has not flushed out the debris. I suspect the root of is it, the ”glue,” is paste flux remnants related to when I cut the bell. [See UPDATE] Fortunately I found it now, and I was planning to take that area apart again anyway, as I will most likely replace the first branch when I replace the valve section. It should make more than a little difference! And I need to get back in the swing of using acid flux again, which was what I used when I was working with Rick – I got out of the habit, as paste flux I found easier to work with.

For comparison, this second photo is of how the joint should look, a smooth inside view with a strip of silver visible from the solder. This is my Patterson Geyer, but several other horns I examined looked the same as this — really, all should look like this. No blobs of solder or flux, no gunk, no rough edges.

I’m looking forward to using this device more to check for debris and valve alignment. Little things matter a lot on your horn. But the first real project now that grades are in will be getting the workbench area reorganized.

UPDATE. When I got to taking that horn apart, I had quite a surprise. What we were seeing the edge of in the photo was a costume jewelry ring! The three photos below tell the story. Follow me on Instagram @ericsonhorn for more as the builds continue, I will be sharing more there than will be posted on Horn Matters. 

By the way, I have no idea the source of that ring. I am now not certain I had that joint apart when I cut the bell, it might date from the original beginner that used the horn at some point in the past.

The horn actually played OK with that ring inside, so I’m really curious to see what it will feel like without it! I’ll be putting it back together soon.

Continue to Part 4

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