"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...
In article , Iain Churches
wrote:

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...


[2] Who also moved on from valves to SS in due course and despite
being a keen musician tended then to be puzzled by the ongoing
arguments about valve amps. I can't recall him ever complaining that
without valves he couldn't tell an oboe from a cor any more...


Jim. A "cor" is the name commonly used by musicians to denote a
French horn, (the instrument first developed in France from the "cor de
chasse") and marked "cor" on most symphonic full scores.

Happy to accept what you say. That doesn't seem the usual practice in the
small collection of pocket scores I have, but I'd appreciate that full
professional scores may well be very different. Indeed, when I looked
just now in one of my old books on score reading, etc, some of the
examples show 'cor' for the horns, although others do not.

Yes of course there are variants. Most French and many German
composers seem to have used "cor", for French horns, the English
and Americans use "Horns"

I just typed cor to be brief in what was an aside. Afraid I'd long
forgotten this practice. Probably never had any idea it was common.

I'd be surprised if anyone genuinely misunderstood my meaning, given the
context, but apologies if anyone was.

No apologies needed Jim:-) My reply to you was "tongue in cheek"
If we had been speaking together in person, there would not have
been the slightest doubt of the meanings intended on either side,
I am sure. But as I mentioned elsewhere, you are renowned for
your precision in writing.


I don't think anyone on this planet could fail to discern between a
French horn and an oboe:-)

I think I'd agree. Particulary if they use full scores. :-)

You would be surprised how many do. I get tickets sometimes,
to attend the dress rehearsals of opera, ballets and symphony
concerts. The first five rows are packed with students armed
with scores and a selection of coloured pencils!

One also sees people at concerts with miniature scores, but
thankfully not often.

Regards
Iain

In article , Iain Churches
wrote:

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...


I don't think anyone on this planet could fail to discern between a
French horn and an oboe:-)

I think I'd agree. Particulary if they use full scores. :-)

You would be surprised how many do. I get tickets sometimes, to attend
the dress rehearsals of opera, ballets and symphony concerts. The first
five rows are packed with students armed with scores and a selection of
coloured pencils!

One also sees people at concerts with miniature scores, but thankfully
not often.

When I was younger - and even more foolish - than now, I did do this kind
of thing for a while. I still have some pocket scores with markings in
them. At the time some people regarded this as 'essential' if you really
wanted to detect all the nuances, etc. There was a sort of snobbery about
it as you might guess.

I just found it often got in the way of listening, and was a distraction
once you were reasonably familiar with the piece. So I decided it was a
waste of time for anyone who didn't have to 'study' the work. I prefered to
enjoy the music rather than wanting to study it.

Slainte,

Jim

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"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...
In article , Iain Churches
wrote:

When I was younger - and even more foolish - than now, I did do this kind
of thing for a while. I still have some pocket scores with markings in
them. At the time some people regarded this as 'essential' if you really
wanted to detect all the nuances, etc. There was a sort of snobbery about
it as you might guess.

No snobbery as far as I am concerned. Just a lot of hard work that repaid
huge dividends later. The more you put in, the more you get out. What my
tutor Bernard Hermann used to call "surface listening" is not always
terribly
rewarding.

I just found it often got in the way of listening, and was a distraction
once you were reasonably familiar with the piece.

That's absolutely true. But studying the score is a very good way gain
that familiarity and learn how symphonic tone colour is built up.

So I decided it was a
waste of time for anyone who didn't have to 'study' the work. I prefered
to
enjoy the music rather than wanting to study it.

Yes. I would agree for most that is sufficient. But for musicians and
students who need a much deeper understanding, the score is the
key to this.

Iain