Tools of the Trade

The horn you play is important to say the least.

I play a doctored Holton H179. In New York, Holtons aren't really the Horn of Choice. Here it's all about the Conn 8D's, but there's plenty of room for Paxmans or Alexanders. Every now and then you'll see the occasional Olds or hear about a Hoyer. Additionally you'll see a single Bb or a Bb/high F combo.

When I started, I played a King Eroica. The King was a very large bored horn, and I filled it. It's also less than a pro model, so by the time I got to College, I had outgrown it. In the South, it's all about the Holtons. Consider that my teacher studied directly with Philip Farkas, so it was inevitable that I'd be playing a Holton H179.

A few years in I had my lead pipe replaced with a Lawson, which made the horn play even better.

At the moment, I don't know if I'm in love with the Holton or not. But it's the horn I know, and I know it intimately. I had the bell cut and replaced it with a Lawson Ambronze bell. Chuck McAlexander at The Brass Lab gave it a thorough cleaning, so it's in about as good of condition as it can be. There are no dents, but it's definitely showing years of use and wear.

I'm also on the Mouthpiece Wheel of Doom, but it's a little different for me. Since I'm trying to adapt my embouchure to adjust from the enormous Denis Wick 2 Tenor Horn mouthpiece all the way down to a French Horn mouthpiece, I know it's a process. I started with a Wick 4, then a Laskey 85, then a Laskey 825 and now I'm trying the Wick 5N (which is a "heavyweight" mouthpiece). My goal is to get my range and accuracy back but keep the "bigness" of the sound I want.

You see, I hate it when a Horn gets that thin, half-muted tone. That's one of the reasons I've decided to not play a single Bb. I like that the single Bb is nimble and light, but the F Double horn has a deepness and richness that the single Bb lacks, in my opinion. I'm very excited that IYM is going to let me test out their horn mouthpiece.

My accuracy could still use a boost. I find myself using Bb horn fingerings as much as I can as they're more secure in the "cash" register (middle C to 2nd line G), even though the tone does suffer some.

I'd love to get a new horn. A Hoyer triple sounds like a dream, but I really can't afford it. So for now it's me and my trusty Holton.