Re: Notation of french horn

[Jonas Olson]

Even though I do understand the nature of the valveless horn, I do not
see why one omits the key signature today. Just tradition doesn't really
explain it. Could someone clarify this? Here's how I understand it so
far:

On the valveless horn you change crooks to give the instrument a
transposition that matches the music. That way, the music is always
notated in C major (assuming major mode), just like how music sounding
in B♭ major, played on a B♭ clarinet, is written as C major. Rather than
calling this "no key signature", I'd say we have the key signature of C
major.

When we switch over to valves, we no longer match the transposition of
the instrument to the key of the music, so it's only natural for other
key signatures to appear. To continue the tradition of valveless horns,
one would rather have to consider every valve press to be a change of
crooks that alters the transposition of the instrument, and then write
for this transposition until it's time for the next valve press.

In summary, having no key signature (rather, the key signature of C
major) appears natural to me when dealing with valveless horns (whose
transposition match the key of the music) but not when it comes to horns
with valves. I'm looking forward to getting this explained to me!

Regards,
Jonas