Abstract

The influence of the mouthpiece on the playability of early orchestral horns
Lisa Norman; John Chick; Arnold Myers; Murray Campbell

In the baroque era, musical composition for the horn often included certain pitches with potentially problematic intonation. The most wayward are the 7th, 11th and 13th natural resonance of the instrument because they are notes that do not fit comfortably on any known tempered tuning system. There is some controversy over the extent to which players tried to manipulate and bend the pitch of these notes to bring them more ‘in tune’, and also concerning possible techniques used – embouchure manipulation and/or hand technique. This research has focused on exploring the technique of embouchure manipulation and the influence of mouthpiece design on the ease with which the player can ‘lip’ the pitch of certain notes. The difference between historical and modern mouthpiece design is investigated.