Just for fun, I’ve been tinkering with horn fingering charts for a long time. I’m interested in the math of the horn (fingerings, horn keys, horn lengths, frequencies, pitches, intonation, whole-tone trills, and so on), and I wondered how much of that information could be presented on a single chart. (Now you know what I think is fun.)
I was particularly struck by a fingering chart by Timothy Martin that appears in Randy Gardner’s book Good Vibrations: Masterclasses for Brass Players, and I decided to try enhancing and extending it. Here is the result. (Download the full resolution PDF version).
Double horn fingering chart. Download the full resolution PDF, also available on the KBHC resources page.
I finished this version back in the summer, and I had intended to share it earlier. I held off, though, because I felt that the chart would benefit from additional pages explaining the various parts, for those who might be interested. But I wasn’t sure what additional details would be helpful, and I never seemed to have enough time to write the extra material.
It finally dawned on me this week that I could just make the chart available here, as it is, and then I could write additional posts with further information based on whatever feedback I get. Depending on how it goes, I can update the PDF file later with some of those additional details.
Please let me know what you think. What questions do you have about this chart? What confuses you? What else are you interested in?
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