Question about fingerings in 5th valve

[Roger Marlow]

Hi! I'm a college student, and I've recently purchased a new horn (A MW Thor), which will be a significant upgrade from I'm currently playing on (Miraphone 4/4 BBb School Horn).

However, I won't get the Thor until Aug. 22nd. This is a slight problem for me, because I have an extremely important audition on the 26th, and have never played a CC horn outside of trying the Thor.

This is my question: I've heard that on some CC horns, if you hold down the 5th valve, you can play with BBb fingerings. Is this true for the Thor? If so, how will it impact my tone/sound?

If that isn't a good idea, would it be better to practice my excerpts using CC fingerings on a BBb horn?

Thank you for any answers!

[Roger Marlow]

The main reasons I'd prefer to audition on the Thor are its more even tone and response in the low and high register (the BBb has some severe tuning/sounding issues below the 2nd ledger line Bb, and the excerpts go as low as a pedal E) and because the BBb's valves have a tendency to click and stick at the most inopportune times.

[aqualung]

They are auditioning the musician, not the hardware. Play the horn you are familiar with.

Since you are not even familiar with the various configurations of 5th valves, don't expect to master the concept in 4 days.

Even if the horn DOES arrive on time.

[Roger Marlow]

Ok. So I should play the audition on the BBb?

[Roger Marlow]

Ok! Thank you both for your help!

[DaTweeka]

You may have already thought of this, but if you're holding the 5th valve down the entire time, I think it would be worthwhile to let out all the tuning slides to BBb lengths. The 4th valve will be especially short.