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This was the first post (2007) in what became a mellophone series of articles, which led me toward writing A Mello Catechism. Check out the finished product, now (2018) in a extensively revised and expanded third edition, info at www.hornnotes.com and on Amazon.
The below is still an interesting read in relation to thinking about the topic and the challenges of middle brass.
Mellophones are a topic horn teachers don’t talk about much. Hardly anything has ever been published on the topic.
Among horn teachers I am probably more supportive than most of marching band in general. I played in marching band all four years of my undergraduate degree in fact. Back at Emporia State we used double horns in marching band, so really it was good chop time. There was no problem at all transitioning between the marching field and the concert hall.
This morning I was checking a link I received directing me to a photo of an unusual 19th century horn on a forum I had not heard of previously (Horn-u-copia—interesting forum on brass history and instruments) and there found a link to a series of podcasts (!) on mellophones! They are at The Mellocast. A quote from the summary of one of the podcasts really hits the problem on the head for me:
“Aside for the fact that they play in the same key and are brass instruments, the similarities end there.”
This is really the problem overall with mellophones for the horn player.
Why do ensembles use them at all? Mellophones are certainly really handy in the modern drum corps. Imagine this scenario. A corps has a few too many trumpet players and not enough mellophone players. Point at the bottom three, and say “you, you, and you, play mellophone.” And three more mellophone players are born. The mellophone uses trumpet fingerings and a mouthpiece similar to a trumpet mouthpiece; they are good to go. Even more typical perhaps though is mellophones are played often by woodwind players. It is the easiest brass instrument in many ways with the typical mouthpiece setup.
Another thing I constantly hear as a benefit of using mellophones is that their sound “cuts through” on the marching field. Which is, to a point, a good thing, you do need heard.
Horn teachers have tended to prefer B-flat marching French horns for their students who march. They are much more horn-like than the mellophone with a rounder sound and use a normal horn mouthpiece. Sure, they won’t feel as good as a mellophone to a trumpet or woodwind player, but, again, this is an instrument geared to horn players, not converts.
In any event mellophones are here to stay. I have heard it said that there are three options for horn players playing in marching groups that use mellophones — percussion, guard, or drum major — but there are things you can do to have a better experience. I found in my surfing this morning an interview by Scooter Pirtle in another mellophone related website, The Middle Horn Leader, with Texas Tech horn professor Christopher Smith who marched French horn bugle with the Belleville Black Knights and the Madison Scouts. His suggestion is pretty on the money.
SP: Many French horn players who are marching drum corps are being required to switch to mellophone bugles and to also switch to the mellophone “trumpet-styled” mouthpieces. For those players who make the switch, how can they best limit the damage of switching back and forth between concert French horns and mellophone bugles?
CS: The only thing I can say is that it is going to be more difficult for a player to switch over to a mellophone mouthpiece all summer and then try to pick up a French horn mouthpiece and try to sound like a French horn player. They need to take their mouthpiece, that new B.E.R.P. thing, or even an adapter to practice back and forth so they can keep the same feel of the French horn mouthpiece…Because the embouchure is completely different from a mellophone to a French horn.
One final suggestion would be to keep doing low range work on the mellophone when warming up and focus on blending with the lower brass. A mellophone will never sound like a horn but try not to sound like a trumpet.
