[Harp-L] Beethoven, shoved fists, and bent notes

[rosco <roscoharp@xxxxxxxxx>]

Winslow writes:



*"Diatonic instruments have a long history in classical music, with
ramifications that don't jibe with the modern preoccupation with every note
having the same tonal quality. *






















*"Until about 1850, French horns and trumpets were diatonic instruments.
After they became chromatic, some listeners commented that hearing
Beethoven's 3rd with chromatic horns was like running your fingers over
velvet with the plush nap scraped off (Cecil Forsyth, Orchestration, 1914,
P. 118). Sound familiar? Harmonica players nowadays talk about the richness
of diatonic tone vs. the evenness of chromatic tone. But the comparison
runs deeper, and it reflects on the whole bent-notes-in-melodies
conversation. Like the diatonic harmonica, diatonic horns and trumpets have
missing notes in the lower part of their range. Actually, in the first
three octaves, with some neighboring notes a full octave apart. You can't
play even a diatonic scale on those instruments until you're up into the
third octave. Bending notes on French horn - or at least their version of
it - was accomplished by shoving the player's fist into the bell of the
horn. This changed the pitch of the note but also changed its tone, making
it kind of muffled sounding. Did the gods of classical music such as
Beethoven and Schubert recoil in horror at the inconsistent tone color of
musicians fisting their horns? Some did, while others wrote especially for
the unique qualities of these notes. Along with the velvet came variety! My
takeaway from this is that you can be musical with varying tone color. If
you play a melody where some of the notes are bent, then you can make good
music with them if you: 1) Play them in tune. 2) Play them with as good a
tonal quality as they can produce, whatever that quality might be. 3)
Phrase and articulate so those notes sound like part of a melody that is
phrased well. In listening back to my Adeste Fideles recordings, I can say
that I did pretty well on 2). I wince at the moments when I didn't do well
on 1). But I'm more concerned about not doing as much as I could on 3). But
then I devoted one evening to the project in an area where I don't usually
concentrate. I found that I learned a lot doing it though. Winslow
Yerxa zzzzz ""*

This is as good a rebuttal to the 'limits' discussion as I have read.

-- 
Later,
Rosco
<http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1615357105>