Re: Notation of french horn

[David Kastrup]

Josiah Boothby <address@hidden> writes:

> You're not far off, actually, and Wagner did this for his horns and
> trumpets (and Wagner tubas). He knew he was writing extraordinarily
> difficult horn parts for players who were playing technologically new
> instruments, and he knew that early adopters of the valves were very
> accustomed to transposing. So not only did he end up eschewing key
> signatures (they would only confuse the poor horn players!), but he
> took advantage of our little mind games: writing for Horn in A or Bb
> doesn't actually make the high notes easier for a valved horn, but
> horn players seem less likely to choke on the high notes when they
> don't have ledger lines to scare them.

How do you get a violist to play tremolo?  Write "Solo" above the
passage.  Thank you, thank you, you are so kind.  What a great audience.

-- 
David Kastrup