| Graham is right on. Poor horn/player matches and poor horns (leaky and/or with bad intonation) rob the player of energy. An excellent horn can be "magic" for a player, suddenly giving he or she better tone, range, endurance and dynamics.
A great player can "make" any horn "work", but it takes more energy than when the horn matches the player and also has good register-to-register balance and intonation. Call it what you want, but when I pick up a horn that sounds big and dynamic, gives me great feedback, plays in tune, projects well and is a pleasure to see and hold, that's "magic."
Dave |