8.4 Valves
397
and a significant number of French instruments where the third finger gives a pitch
lowering of four semitones. It is equally easy to arrange the valve passages so that
operating the valve cuts out the extra tubing of the valve loop rather than adding it.
This ‘ascending valve’ was for many years used on french horns in France for the
third valve: operating the ascending third valve raised the pitch by two semitones.
These alternative configurations required different fingering techniques. Four-valve
french horns generally have the fourth valve ascending from 12 ft F to 9 ft B or from
9 ft B to 6 ft F and arranged to be operated by the left thumb. Instruments such as
tubas which commonly have four or more valves most usually have the fourth valve
lowering by five semitones; the finger used for the fourth valve is the first finger of
the left hand or the fourth of the right.
Some early valved instruments had only two valves. Two valves giving one and
two semitones separately give three semitones in combination. With the longer tube
length of the trumpet (typically 6 ft F or 7 ft D in the nineteenth century), two
valves were entirely adequate to execute the repertoire. With the french horn, players
used valves in combination with hand-stopping, and two valves were enough to
give a complete chromatic compass; two-valved horns were made in France until
the end of the nineteenth century. Even with the early cornet, a third valve was not
always considered to be worth the extra expense. However, as the facility of valve
technique led to greater demands from composers and arrangers, and the idioms
of brass writing became more chromatic, three valves became normal for cornets,
trumpets and band instruments; french horns for orchestral use increased to four
valves (‘double horns’) in the first half of the twentieth century. Orchestral tubas, in
order to have a chromatic compass down to the lowest notes players can effectively
produce, have at least four, and in some models five or six valves.
An inherent problem with valve instruments is the intonation when valves are
used in combination: if a valve adds the correct amount of tubing to lower the
instrument by n semitones, it will not add enough tubing to lower the instrument
by n semitones if another valve is in use at the same time. The calculations can be
complex since valves increase the amount of cylindrical tubing in the windway and
affect the bore profile as well as the air column length. Typically, a three-semitone
third valve used in combination with a five-semitone fourth valve will when operated
together give a lowering of nearer seven than eight semitones.
Various ways of overcoming this problem have been devised. With small
instruments, it is often enough to tune the third valve to lower the pitch by slightly
more than three semitones and then to avoid using it on its own – the player can then
‘lip’ any wayward notes up or down sufficiently for reasonably good intonation.
It is common with trumpets and cornets to fit the main or third valve tuning-slide
(sometimes the first) with a finger-ring or sprung lever so that it can be moved by the
player, at least in slow-moving passages. Some tubas are designed so that a tuning
slide can be manipulated in performance to adjust intonation. Some models of large
instruments such as euphoniums and tubas have large numbers of valves (five or six)
allowing the player some flexibility of fingering – there might, for instance, be two
valves nominally giving a semitone but with one adding more tubing than the other
so that the player can find a judicious valve combination and successfully lip any
397
and a significant number of French instruments where the third finger gives a pitch
lowering of four semitones. It is equally easy to arrange the valve passages so that
operating the valve cuts out the extra tubing of the valve loop rather than adding it.
This ‘ascending valve’ was for many years used on french horns in France for the
third valve: operating the ascending third valve raised the pitch by two semitones.
These alternative configurations required different fingering techniques. Four-valve
french horns generally have the fourth valve ascending from 12 ft F to 9 ft B or from
9 ft B to 6 ft F and arranged to be operated by the left thumb. Instruments such as
tubas which commonly have four or more valves most usually have the fourth valve
lowering by five semitones; the finger used for the fourth valve is the first finger of
the left hand or the fourth of the right.
Some early valved instruments had only two valves. Two valves giving one and
two semitones separately give three semitones in combination. With the longer tube
length of the trumpet (typically 6 ft F or 7 ft D in the nineteenth century), two
valves were entirely adequate to execute the repertoire. With the french horn, players
used valves in combination with hand-stopping, and two valves were enough to
give a complete chromatic compass; two-valved horns were made in France until
the end of the nineteenth century. Even with the early cornet, a third valve was not
always considered to be worth the extra expense. However, as the facility of valve
technique led to greater demands from composers and arrangers, and the idioms
of brass writing became more chromatic, three valves became normal for cornets,
trumpets and band instruments; french horns for orchestral use increased to four
valves (‘double horns’) in the first half of the twentieth century. Orchestral tubas, in
order to have a chromatic compass down to the lowest notes players can effectively
produce, have at least four, and in some models five or six valves.
An inherent problem with valve instruments is the intonation when valves are
used in combination: if a valve adds the correct amount of tubing to lower the
instrument by n semitones, it will not add enough tubing to lower the instrument
by n semitones if another valve is in use at the same time. The calculations can be
complex since valves increase the amount of cylindrical tubing in the windway and
affect the bore profile as well as the air column length. Typically, a three-semitone
third valve used in combination with a five-semitone fourth valve will when operated
together give a lowering of nearer seven than eight semitones.
Various ways of overcoming this problem have been devised. With small
instruments, it is often enough to tune the third valve to lower the pitch by slightly
more than three semitones and then to avoid using it on its own – the player can then
‘lip’ any wayward notes up or down sufficiently for reasonably good intonation.
It is common with trumpets and cornets to fit the main or third valve tuning-slide
(sometimes the first) with a finger-ring or sprung lever so that it can be moved by the
player, at least in slow-moving passages. Some tubas are designed so that a tuning
slide can be manipulated in performance to adjust intonation. Some models of large
instruments such as euphoniums and tubas have large numbers of valves (five or six)
allowing the player some flexibility of fingering – there might, for instance, be two
valves nominally giving a semitone but with one adding more tubing than the other
so that the player can find a judicious valve combination and successfully lip any