423.11 vs. 243.11

At the risk of stating the obvious, I've been meaning to briefly address the mildly curious numbering paradigm.

I have always used the protocol of most brass music publishing and distribution companies to describe the instrumentation of my charts. If memory serves, this may have been started by Robert King.

423.11 (which indicates 4 trumpets, 2 horns, 3 trombones, 1 euphonium and 1 tuba) is in conflict with the way publishers and distributors describe the brass section in an orchestra (ordinarily - 433.01 or 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones and 1 tuba). This can easily be explained by looking at any orchestra score and understanding the way the horn section is used in the western classical music tradition; that is, the horn belongs both to the brass and woodwind sections and is thus placed between the two sections in the score.

In my scores (and most brass only scoring), the horns are placed in between the trumpets and trombones roughly corresponding to the relative tessituras.

Orchestral composers who write the occasional brass only work (Bernstein and Copland come instantly to mind) reveal their habit by using the standard orchestral order in their famous works for brass.