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Jonathantuba wrote:Has anyone here played one? In which case how did it compare to a tuba (except for the obvious of having no valves)?

I've had the pleasure of playing one a few times (most recently in a concert at Valparaiso University two weeks ago), and it is indeed fun! It is basically like an unrolled valveless tuba ... nice mellow sound and easy to blow.

I tried it initially with a Kellyberg, but the length of the mouthpiece threw the pitch just a hair flat (not a problem in a solo, but just enough to be irritating in a duet or trio), so the last couple of times I substituted a Kelly 1-1/2G trombone/euph 'piece (large shank), and the pitch was spot-on! It also helped the high range a bit without killing the pedal ...

I played one as a Stierhorn in Die Walkure...worked very well with a bass trombone mouthpiece...and scared the crap out of a viola player when I slid it under their chair!

Dan Satterwhite wrote:scared the crap out of a viola player

I thought they always sounded like that!

We have a pair of new alphorns at our local Germania Mannerchor club. They came with their own wooden mouthpieces that are perhaps about the diameter of a tenor trombone MP but with a very deep funnel-shaped cup... like a French horn. The alphorns are very easy-blowing and it takes very little effort to make different notes... actually, kinda squirrely.

Legend has it that Roger Bobo had George Strucel or Larry Minick make up a valve section for an alp horn. When played atop the hills in Switzerland the local alp horn players were dumbfounded.

DonnieMac wrote:Legend has it that Roger Bobo had George Strucel or Larry Minick make up a valve section for an alp horn. When played atop the hills in Switzerland the local alp horn players were dumbfounded.

Rogers old Alphorn is sitting in my living room and I can’t for the life of me figure out where the valve section is

Norm Pearson

Wooden Alphorns are available in tenor/baritone Bb through bass Eb. The standard Swiss pitch is Gb.

Some makers offer alternative 1st branches for varying pitches. Some offer Alphorns in synthetic materials.

The bent up bell has its origin in how trees grow on slopes. They set off their growth at 90° to the ground and then continue to grow perpendicularly (edit: wrong word, should have been ‘vertically‘). Today most makers make their bells out of several pieces of wood glued together.

Non-valve bugles are an important part of my collection, and I would like to have an Alphorn also. However I find them overpriced compared to their playing values. Even if the latter shall not be underestimated.

The Alphorn is a fixture in folk music TV features from the southern end of the German speaking area. A well-rehearsed trio of Alphorns will display a purity of intonation not always found in brass ensembles too engrained in equal temperament playing.

Never saw an Alphorn with valves. However Miraphone at some point of time offered a 3 RV Almhorn in Bb, basically a straight valve trombone with a bent-up bell. Alm is the German term for the summer pastures of the cattle in the Alp region.

Bringing up to and taking down the cattle from the high grounds is traditionally surrounded with ceremonies having strong local social and religious implications.

However I never have seen or heard the Almhorn in actual usage, whereas the valve trombone is a very common instrument in German folk music (the Germans are infamous for making very bad trombone slides).

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

schlepporello wrote:How about making an alphorn from varying sizes if PVC?
Has anyone ever tried this?
Would it or could it actually work?

I've heard of someone building a serpent out of PVC, using reducer couplings to get a (stepwise) conical taper. I don't see why it wouldn't work for an alphorn--the only problem is that unless you used some pretty heavy stuff, it'd be a little floppy. On the other hand, you could disassemble it pretty quickly if you just used dry joints...

Interesting idea!

schlepporello wrote:How about making an alphorn from varying sizes if PVC?
Has anyone ever tried this?
Would it or could it actually work?

I have seen this done with limited success.

Dad was a professional woodturner (one of the VERY few), and one day a pro frenchhornist brought a Bb alphorn and had Dad make an insert piece to change to F.
Those are the very fun projects that are more interesting than furniture feet by the dozens.
The hornist even came to try and fine tune the taper.

Somewhere I read the alphorns were also used as a means of communication among alps and even down to the valley. I have no idea whether or not this is true, but it makes sense to me.

In Brand, the highest village in our valley (Brandnertal, for those of you that go skiing) the community band features a group of alphorn players.

I believe that was Larry Minnick. But he is no longer with us.

I was referring to the thing that Roger Bobo had made. (Do I dare call it an Alpine horn?)

So, tell me, which pipemaker's tubes sounded the best, or had the best taper?

BTW - if you're montre8, who are the other three fonds du orgue - bourdon, flute harmonique & gambe?

Bob1062 wrote:I live in Valparaiso!, and although not/never a student there, have played in the community band, trombone choir, and pepband (and I'm only 24, so it's not like I am a retired citizen of Valpo or some such thing. I sorta didn't feel right wearing a VU shirt during thegame.
I gotta ask the low brass professor about the alphorn, he's been holding out on me!

What was the concert?

It was the Community Band Festival on April 29th. The groups involved were the Valpo Community/University Concert Band, Clinton Prairie HS Band, Duneland Early Music Consort, and the Ein Prosit German Band from Kalamazoo, MI (the group I play in). Three of our members have alphorns, but one had a schedule conflict for that date, so he sent his alphorn to Valpo with one of the other members for me to play. The concert was in the chapel ... what a great place to play (especially the alphorns)! It's huge (roughly 4 second ring time). The faster pieces, of course, were a bit muddy, but the slow stuff -- WOW!

It appears, that some posters have a first hand experiences with playing Alphorns. Which I sadly haven’t, for now at least.

My question will be about mouthpieces. Even if I play a lot of different instruments, I tend to use as few mouthpieces as at all possible. Everything in the eup/bassbone range is done on the Yeo Signature from Yamaha. Or on an old Besson mouthpiece coming with one of my bassbones in G. Fairly large cup, but tenor shank.

I once negotiated with an Alphorn maker about a buy of a specimen in F. I wanted the receiver dimensioned for the Yeo, but the maker insisted on a wooden mouthpiece. He rather would make a wooden copy of the Yeo.

This wasn’t the splitting point of the negotiations. I knew the right price of the instrument, he didn’t. And I am not cheapish.

Yet my main point is about the wooden mouthpiece. Is the mouthpiece material really important in Alphorn playing?

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

Is the mouthpiece material really important in Alphorn playing?

Well, it´s the kind of stuff that was around when alphorns were invented. Then comes traditionalism...

tubeast wrote:Then comes traditionalism...

I always favored cubism

imperialbari wrote:Yet my main point is about the wooden mouthpiece. Is the mouthpiece material really important in Alphorn playing?

My one experience with alphorns found me trying to make a tuba mouthpiece work, but it was too fuzzy and uncentered. (Ray will remember this.)

The wooden mouthpiece that the owners had (but did not use) was more like a tenor trombone size with a deeper cup. But the players used euphonium mouthpieces. One player was a tuba player, and one other had some experience playing euphonium.

They performed a long way away from the Alps, so I expect they cared less for tradition than for intonation and playability--and the appearance of tradition.

Rick "who was embarassed by the sounds he made on the alphorn" Denney

I have my special order Eb (yes Eb!) Stocker Swiss Alphorn for sale at Baltimore Brass Company. It comes with a great custom gig bag and a large size wooden mouthpiece. It's a beauty. I'm asking $2800 for it if anyone's interested.

The horn paid for itself very quickly with convention gigs, oktoberfest and busking. It's a great horn.

Contact the me or the guys at David's shop.

Which has the darker sound.....a laquered wooden mouthpiece or a plated wooden mouthpiece?