by Tiffany Johns (reprinted with permission)
If you are curious about brass instruments, you may have come across something called an ascending valve in your internet travels. If you’re not sure what that is, or you do know but would like to read about all the different kinds of ascending valves out there, this article is for you.
The concept of an ascending valve is pretty simple. A normal valve is inactive when it is not pressed down (via piston finger button, rotor paddle, etc.), so the air goes straight through and doesn’t detour through the additional valve tubing. When you press down the valve mechanism, the valve activates, redirecting the air through the valve tubing and lowering the instrument’s pitch. An ascending valve is set up the opposite way—the valve is active when it is not pressed, so its default state is using the additional valve tubing. Then when you press down the valve, it becomes inactive, raising the pitch.
In fact, there is an ascending valve that is completely standard in the modern brass world: the change valve on a double horn. The instrument stands in F, and then when you depress the change valve with your thumb it shortens to B-flat. (That said, some players will [set] the change valve to stand in B-flat, especially in Europe.)
Ascending valves have a long history and have been used on various brass instruments in many different ways. They had the most widespread use in French piston-valve horns (that can properly be called French horns!) from the late 19th century until the middle of the 20th. Probably the most interesting type is the Chaussier horn, an instrument developed in the 1880s.
The valved horn was still unpopular in France at the time, and the Chaussier horn was intended to be played essentially as a natural horn with built-in crook changes. The Chaussier horn had a valve system completely alien to modern brass players:
- Stands in F
- 1st valve is a normal 1st valve (descending whole step, resulting in E-flat)
- 2nd valve is an ascending half step (resulting in F#)
- 3rd valve is an ascending major 3rd (resulting in A)
- Thumb (4th) valve is a normal 4th valve (descending perfect 4th, resulting in C basso)
The use of all these valves allows you to set the horn in any key from B basso to B-flat alto. As the highest possible standing pitch is achieved with both ascending valves (2 and 3) deactivated, B-flat alto is the true length of the open horn. But as it stands in F, it is thought of as an F horn with 2 ascending valves.
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Selmer Thevet Ascendant
compensating double |
Alexander 203ST ascending
full double with stop |
When the French fully adopted valve horns, they continued with the ascending valve idea, but in a more conventional way. On many French piston-valved horns, the 3rd valve is an ascending whole step, while all the other valves are in the typical configuration used today. The result is an instrument that actually retains most standard fingerings, but with the added bonus of easier high notes using the (ascending) 3rd valve. It is still a compromise though; because you lose the descending minor 3rd of a typical 3rd valve, you lose a few notes in the low register.
A normal single F horn with descending 3rd valve can play chromatically down to sounding B1, while a single F horn with ascending 3rd valve cannot play lower than D2 (excluding pedal notes) and also can’t play A-flat2. Because of these compromises (easier high notes in exchange for worse low notes in the ascending horn, and vice versa for the descending horn), it was common in France for high horn players (1st and 3rd) to play horns with ascending 3rd valves, while low horn players (2nd and 4th) would play horns with descending 3rd valves.
A standard F/B-flat double horn with descending 3rd valve is entirely chromatic all the way down. If you exclude the F-side pedals (which most horn players can’t reach), it can play chromatically down to E1. If you do include the F-side pedals, the lowest real note is B0. (With false tones you could play even lower, into the double pedals.) Meanwhile, an F/Bb double horn with ascending 3rd valve cannot play D-flat2 (or D-flat1, a pedal), and without F-side pedals bottoms out at G1. Thus, French horn makers continued to make both ascending and descending models when double horns became standard.
Ascending 3rd valves didn’t catch on outside of France, but there are a few single B-flat horns with ascending valves that you can buy today, such as the 5-valve Ricco Kühn W125/C. There have also been a handful of modern ascending double and double descant models, though I don’t know of any currently offered.
To read the complete article and see numerous additional photographs, visit Tiffany Johns’ website at https://tiffanyjohns.com.
