I have seen college bands on TV recently. Some of the players have instruments that look like trumpets or cornets with bells that appear as large or larger than the the bell of a slide trombone. The instrument is held with both hands and is played straight out in front of the face -- not across the body as a baritone horn. What is the name of this instrument
Posts: 79 | Location: Annandale, VA USA | Registered: 06-12-02
The mellophone is a brass instrument that is typically used in place of the horn in marching bands or drum and bugle corps.
The mellophone is a brass instrument that is typically used in place of the horn in marching bands or drum and bugle corps.
The mellophone has three valves, and the keys are pressed with the right hand. The fingerings of the mellophone are identical to the fingerings of a trumpet, though alternate fingerings on higher notes often are more in tune than normal trumpet fingerings. Mellophones are typically pitched in the key of F. The overtone series is an octave above that of the horn. Many drum and bugle corps, however, use mellophones pitched in G, although the number has dwindled somewhat since the two major United States drum and bugle corps circuits (first Drum Corps International and then Drum Corps Associates) passed rule changes allowing use of instrumentation in any key (although corps using mellophones pitched in G typically have the whole of their brass section also using G instruments, while those using mellophones pitched in F generally have the remainder of their brass section using B♭; instruments). Mellophones, like most brass instruments are available in a number of keys. Mellophones are usually in either E♭, F, or B♭.
The main reason that the mellophone is used in place of the horn for marching is that the mellophone is a bell-front instrument, so that the sound goes in the direction that the player is facing. Although, the marching french horn also is in this same bell front configuration. Mellophones also are usually constructed with a larger bore for louder volume than marching french horns. This is especially important in drum corps-style marching, in which the audience is typically standing or sitting on only one side of the band.
Mellophones are also more directly related to bugle-horns such as the flugelhorn, euphonium and tuba. Their design is more radically conical than "French" horns producing a sound generally considered more suitable for martial music and tends to be easier to articulate sharply as is required by martial music. In rare occasions mellophones (usually old ones) have been made shaped like horns (and more modernly vice-versa) but due to the tonal qualities of the horn being more suitable for orchestral music and that of the mellophone being suitable for marching band or bugle-corps type ensembles, mellophones are almost always found as bugle shaped marching horns. A mellophone shaped as a concert horn is built with piston valves and with the bell facing the left, in reverse of the traditional horn.
One maker/instrument of this type has proven to be of particular interest, the Conn Corporation (U.S.) and its mellophonium. These appeared in Conn's advertising in 1957, with the earliest examples having production codes dating even to 1956. This precedes by a handful of years their adoption by American jazz ensemble director Stan Kenton, though much unfounded rumor and misinformation circulates in print and online. Despite stories circulated by the Kenton circle and others, the instrument was in production and offered for sale years before the Kenton organization sought it out. ************************************************************ Different Styles of Mellophones
Edited to correct page distortion
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Posts: 17506 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
You're welcome, ccfwbird. I learned a bit, too, from lookig it up. I was sure it was a mellophone, but didn't realize that there were different types. I also accepted the Kenton story.
Posts: 17506 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
