Coursing with Coils: The Only Orchestral Instrument Harder Than the French Horn

Authors

Sarah R. Plumley, Cedarville UniversityFollow

Publication Date

4-11-2016

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Natural, horn, French, hunting, music, coils, valves, orchestra, Britain, courts, trumpet, Waldhorn, Cor de Chasse, double horn, stopping, hand-stopping, instrument, stopped horn, crook, crooks, Corno, harmonic series, valved horn

Abstract

Playing the horn has become not only more sophisticated and accurate, but simpler and more efficient for the horn player. The natural horn, used in a variety ways in early history, demanded an incredible level of skill and precision, more than our valved horn today in some ways because it required a more accurate ear, more embouchure dexterity, and the necessity of wrangling crooks for different keys. Thus, it required many practiced skills of the player that are no longer as necessary as they once were. This paper discusses each of these demands along with the history of the horn, its uses and popularity, and how it compares in construction to the valved horn.

Volume

7

Issue

1

Article Number

1

DOI

10.15385/jmo.2016.7.1.1

Recommended Citation

Plumley, Sarah R. (2016) "Coursing with Coils: The Only Orchestral Instrument Harder Than the French Horn," Musical Offerings: Vol. 7: No. 1, Article 1.
DOI: 10.15385/jmo.2016.7.1.1
Available at: https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/musicalofferings/vol7/iss1/1

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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