G-horns
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Posts posted by G-horns
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Old brass arrangements are still around. You just need to know where to look and whom to call.
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For the novice on a budget, I suggest NoteWorthy. It's shareware, but for the money it's pretty decent.
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Quote from: St. Raphael's Golden Buccaneers
The contra bass bugle would make it's debut in
62 and St. Raphael's Dennis Banks would be one of the first
hornplayers (and the first in Connecticut) to use it. He would be
joined by two from the Garfield Cadets, and one each from the
Hawthorne Cabaleros and USAF drum corps as "Firsts" in the
nation.
The St. Raphael's contra was the first. Garfield used two, but couldn't field 'em in Legion competition. The AL Contest Rules Committee banned them. The following year's rules congress adopted a rule allowing them. I have the DC News article somewhere. If I can find it....
Those early contras were Getzen "pea shooters" a.k.a. "baby contras". The intonation was horrible, to say the least. The Whaley-Royce Imperial, introduced about a year later, was much more in tune and alot bigger. I've seen comments that the W-R contra was the launching point for the Olds Ultratone design.
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Since you're new to this, I'd recommend writing in concert pitch and then transposing for the instruments. Others have posted the appropriate transpositions, but left off B-flat french horns. I know Kanstul makes 'em. Best bet would be to check what key your frenchies are in before you write. Warmups should be just that, not something that tests the capabilities of the players. b**bs
Valve Rotor Soprano
in Brass Forum
Posted
You've got all the answer you need, but here's some background...
The Olds Ultratone model has a slide combined with the rotor. If working properly (some don't) you push the slide in for A-flat (along with the piston being in). The slide is spring-loaded so it should pop back out when you release it. If you want to tune the open notes on the Ultratone, you use the threaded adjustment on the slide associated with the rotor. I don't know of any other model of horn that has this slide feature. (Arrangers would stay away from A-flats if possible.)
History lesson: Originally, single valve bugles were constructed such that pressing the piston would lower the pitch a fourth (i.e. G-D or Bb-F). The rules didn't allow for any second valve. As those familiar with modern intonation can surmise, the intonation of those G-D horns was awful. Then, somewhere in the mid to late 1950's, those Bostonians got the idea to take a few thousandths off the tuning slide so it could be pulled out easily while playing, thereby lowering the pitch by a halftone. This also added the sophistication to adjust for intonation problems by pulling the slide a bit to compensate. "Lipping" notes was no longer as necessary. Getzen incorporated the "slip-slide" into their design, and a number of corps went to valve-slide horns.
The biggest problem with the slip-slides was they would jam, get out of line, etc. (trombonists know what I'm talking about). So the second valve was added (a rotor valve to appease the rule makers), to have a more durable method of pitch change. Rotors were designed to lower the pitch by a halftone or fulltone (F# or F) for sopranos, and for baritones there was a rotor available to lower the pitch 1-1/2 tones. The astute brass arranger could have horns fitted with different rotors and, while no one horn had a full chromatic series, the section had facility to play any chord necessary by assigning the notes to the proper instruments. Intonation problems were still an issue, because the piston valve lowered the pitch by a fourth.
Then, in 1967, some brass people convinced the rule makers that it would be okay to drop the "valve change to D" from the rulebook. The result was a valve/rotor horn utilizing the existing F# rotor and a valve placing the horn in F when pressed. I also saw a number of "slip-slide" conversions that used the existing slide and shortened the valve tubing, making a hybrid. Rotors didn't turn out to be as durable as originally hoped, so eventually the rules were changed to allow for two valves and the logical shift to vertical pistons.
Yea, I know, TMI