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SOME NOTES ON PLAYING NATURAL HORN

Look guy's, I have now spent years playing classical hand horn music.

I am still in debate on how to best play a high A. I currently play them by removing the hand from the bell and bend the pitch of the 13th partial up as far as I can. Sometimes they sound good, sometime I get away with them in passing by quickly, sometimes they sound bad. They sound bad to us with ears that have grown up hearing equal tempered music.

My B's are usually a little sharp, my middle A's sometimes flat. I like to lower thirds. There are a lot of tough notes. I have gotten quite good at playing "in tune" but, it is a unique in tune . It's the temperament I like. I think it sounds really good.
When I played the opus 18 concerto with the RSO, my colleagues made fun of my sliding of half steps .

This is how I like playing the instrument , I think it is better than anything Beethoven or Mozart would have ever heard. Please don't tell me my recordings are not historically accurate. I live in the 21st Century. This is my contribution to history.

I am recording multitrack recording of three voices in about two hours per movement. Sight reading with the tape running!

Richard Burdick