Perfect horn, at least for me.

“Perfect horn, at least for me.”

Written on: 01/01/2012

I got this horn in college. I searched high and low, and decided on the exact specs I wanted: Paxman 20M, yellow brass, fixed bell, unlacquered. Then, a few weeks later, my horn prof had a friend selling one with those exact specs.

I've had the horn for 15+ years, while I was a performance major, a dedicated amateur, a returning college student (for teacher certification), and now as a music teacher. I have done all sorts of gigs with it, and it has served me well. In college I was doing a lot of chamber music, and its lighter sound was great for that. To the person who complained about the brightness, I would only ask, why did you buy a medium bore horn? That's kind of the idea -- that person should have purchased a 20L.

That said, when I returned to school for teacher certification I found myself mostly playing in bands and orchestras. My prof at that time recommended a Laskey 80G mouthpiece, and that has done wonders for flexibility.

In short, I love this horn, and with different mouthpieces, it is versatile enough for most any playing situation.