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Re: English Horn: New vs. Old

Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-06-22 19:39

The area that needs improving, and is LONG overdue in improving cors is the right hand tonehole layout. It's easier said than done, though I hope someone is working on it - maybe I ought to design something with regard to this.

The E tonehole is only where it is (placed too high and made too small) because of where the fingers lie (it's mostly down to comfort, and also how to fit the mechanism around the toneholes) - moving it into it's correct place without keywork extensions will involve a huge stretch for most people's fingers, and as full Gillet cors need the perforated middle fingerplate and the split D#-E ring (as well as the pillar positions for the RH C,C# and Eb cluster), a new mechanism will have to be designed to offer the full Gillet specification so that all trills and ventings are correct. Just having fingerplates operating toneholes a distance away will rule out some of the Gillet trills and altissimo fingerings, and a complex system to make them work could be too difficult to make and keep in regulation.

Several makers of oboe d'amores have sorted out the RH finger and tonehole placement to give the proper sized and placed toneholes (and still with full Gillet keywork), it's about time the same was done with cors as they're much more widespread than d'amores.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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