Mellophone: another naive question

Subject: RE: Mellophone: another naive question
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 04:01 AM

Students of the Skiffler cock-up method will notice the error in my arithmetic, there were 3 altos in the Strodes lineup not 4!
Thanks for the extra info, jimmyt.
RtS

Subject: RE: Mellophone: another naive question
From: jimmyt
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 03:35 PM

I have messed with all these instruments, and one thing I know is that a mellophone is very easy to adjust to for trumpet players, wheras French Horn is quite a different thing. French Hornsare keyed in F where Mellophones are I believe Eflat. Trumpets are of course Bflat instruments. One reason Trumpet players can conver so easily in addition to slightly similar mouthpieces is the fact that the mellophone is fingered (dare I say this ) with the right hand like a trumpet, while the French horn is fingured with the left hand, right hand in the bell. the mellophone has a smaller bell and the hand holds the bell rather than stopping it. Hope this helps. Jim By the way, Spaw, i was and OSU guy for awhile before the bars on High street took their toll on my grades! Charlie Spahn was the band director then!

Subject: RE: Mellophone: another naive question
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 10:24 AM

'Spaw,
You'd have enjoyed the Strode's Band (it is based at the school of that name , but it is their adult ed band, players from mid-20s to 60s) as it had 8 reeds: bari,4 tenor & 4 alto ,plus 2 'bones, french horn, 5 trumpets & 4-piece rhythm, leader & singer.
I'll be back at the club for Blues night tonight with Bob Hokum and the Guv'nors- a bit smaller group.
RtS

Subject: RE: Mellophone: another naive question
From: catspaw49
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 10:14 AM

A great idea!!!

BTW, speaking of Kenton, I have a good friend, John Harner, who was Stan's lead trumpet player, the last one Stan chose before he died. John played for quite a few years with Kenton and Stan always said he thought John was the strongest lead player he'd ever had...and considering his lead trumpet players over the years, that's something!

Actually, John's whole style was geared to be a Kenton lead player and that was his main goal in life, to play lead with Kenton. He had unbelievable range, screech player range, but with power! Phenomenal player. He took the lead job at age 23. You can catch him on several of the Kenton albums toward the end of Stan's life.

When I came back to Ohio State, John and I and Mike Egan shared an apartment an played a lot of small group stuff together as well as OSU's jazz workshop group and a pickup big band. Mike (trombone) had gone to high school with me and went on to play with Clark Terry, Kenton, and few others before doing studio work on the west coast. John ended up playing the Vegas house bands. I went with my other "thing"....cars. I've never really regretted it, but I wish I had been able to do both. It's a part of my life I rarely talk about, but I was a damn respectable reed player. Mike stopped at my house awhile back and told Karen all about it....she had never heard me talk about it much. I wasn't home at the time and he literally told Karen I had totally wasted my life!

Ah well........past lives........we all got 'em. At this point though, neither of them is playing for a living anymore....Both play some pickup stuff where they live and are in education.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Mellophone: another naive question
From: Amos
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 09:56 AM

You need to get the WHOLE BAND a set of those MUDCAT CDs, gentlemen -- there a rich inventory of fine songs therein!!

Spaw hasn't received his yet....


A

Subject: RE: Mellophone: another naive question
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 09:53 AM

Thanks 'Spaw, even a musical klutz like me understood your explanation. I assume you don't have to stuff your fist up a mellophone (carefully avoiding potential jokes!). Certainly the mellophones in the Fate Marable pictures in my reference books look the same shape as french horns, unlike the modern Kenton one which is shaped like the marching band one in the link RichM supplied.
I always thought trombones in a marching band added to the potential for disaster.
Perhaps we ought to revive the NYCFTTS Marching and Drooling Band?
RtS

Subject: RE: Mellophone: another naive question
From: catspaw49
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 08:49 AM

Hey Skiff....If you looked at the pictures and read the stuff you probably have a good idea, but let me mention a couple of things not quite obvious.

The French Horn and Mellophone use different mouthpieces and valves. The Mellophone uses a cup style mouthpiece as do most other brass instruments and uses piston style valves. The French Horn uses a conical mouthpiece and rotary valves.

Contrary to the article, the mellophone does not sound much like a French Horn....a little, but not much. The primary use is to supply an instrument in the same register/voicing to do the Horn parts in Marching bands. Most marching bands shunned them in favor of the alto horn (altonium). The Alto Horn looks like a small, bell front, baritone horn. The Ohio State Marching Band for many years used alto horns and replced the trombones with Tromboniums which fits between the baritone and the alto horns and replaces the trombone voicing. What this did was get rid of the trombones where slides were all carried at different levels and kinda' ruined the "precision" look. They went to trombones again awhile back when they made some major changes in the band (like allowing women and adding woodwinds and doubling the size (it was 120 men, all brass and drums).

Spaw

Subject: RE: Mellophone: another naive question
From: RichM
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 03:53 AM

Pictures!

http://ufhorns.transbat.com/whatis.html

Subject: Mellophone: another naive question
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 03:26 AM

I enjoyed a great big band concert last night (Strode's Big Band, 22 musicians) whhich played Maynard Ferguson/Kenton style arrangements and included a french horn among the trombones. I remembered Kenton used a mellophone and I seem to remember pictures of the old Fate Marable riverboat band with a mellophone thatlooked like a french horn to me. The instrument illustrated as the Kenton one had a straighter bell than a french horn.
Are these essentially the same instrument with a cosmetic design change (US marching bands seem to have slightly different designed instruments e.g. euphoniums played horizontally like trumpets)or are they two different instruments?
RtS
I don't really need to know but I'm just curious (some would say, strange)!