Posted by Scott Landry on May 27, 2001 at 14:16:14:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: 5th valve? posted by Brian on May 24, 2001 at 07:24:22:
Brian:
To add to Mike's comments, the fingering charts on Sean's site will definitely help; the best way to determine which fingerings will work for YOU on certain notes (esp. pedal tones) is to sit down in front of a tuner and experiment with as many combinations as possible. As long as you keep in mind that the function of most 5th valves is to lower a given combination by one whole step (usually while flatting the tuning of the pitch, hence a "flat whole step" system), you should be able to eliminate the non-usable ones pretty quickly.
I don't have any problems with a 4-valve horn - if you can yank tuning slides on the fly and put the pitches in tune, great. With respect to 5-valve instruments, better to have it and not need it - besides, the 5th makes for more fingering options (they come in really handy for avoiding occasional nasty trill fingerings).
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Good to hear from you.