h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I enjoyed reading this Entry, then re-read it to check the details. As far as my knowledge goes, all the technical stuff is correct - and very nicely explained. No problem with the length of the Entry - all the details and tables are needed.

If this doesn't make it too long, it would be possible to add a little bit more historical context for some instruments. Here is a suggestion:

The French Horn as originally designed & built had no valves. It came with several extra pieces of tubing (called "crooks" because they looked a bit like the top of a shepherd's crook). To achieve chromatic notes that were not in the original harmonic set, the player had to remove a piece of tubing (a crook) and replace it with another one of slightly different length ... preferably inbetween playing two notes!

This was the arrangement in Mozart's time. He was aware of it, and wrote deliberately challenging parts for French Horn. The best-known is (probably) the third movement of the fourth Horn Concerto, which is quite difficult even with a valved horn. On the manuscript copy of the horn part, Mozart added comments for the player, including "I bet you can't play this bit!"

Thanks Kes!
I've reposted that at the PR thread, and will be incorporating it into the entry as soon as the site starts behaving

Great! Happy to help.

It's been picked from PR!



very much Kes

Yay!