shofmon88 Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Over time, there seems to be movement away from diverse instrumentation in hornlines towards just having one instrument per "voice." For instance, the latest trend seems to be replacing baritones and euphoniums with a hybrid instrument. Do you think this impacts the sound a corps produces? I remember watching Crossmen in 2004, when they had a full flugelhorn line, and thinking that they had a very rich sound compared to some other corps. When was the last time anyone fielded a flugelhorn line? What other instruments have we lost (I know that there were quite a few in the G bugle days)? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Over time, there seems to be movement away from diverse instrumentation in hornlines towards just having one instrument per "voice." For instance, the latest trend seems to be replacing baritones and euphoniums with a hybrid instrument. Do you think this impacts the sound a corps produces? I remember watching Crossmen in 2004, when they had a full flugelhorn line, and thinking that they had a very rich sound compared to some other corps. When was the last time anyone fielded a flugelhorn line? What other instruments have we lost (I know that there were quite a few in the G bugle days)? Yes, it does change the sound. I've been hoping that a corps would experiment with more bellfront instruments such as tromboniums, marching altos, and marching frenchies ( which I know are single horns and difficult to tune). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDCorno Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 (edited) Yes, it does change the sound. I've been hoping that a corps would experiment with more bellfront instruments such as tromboniums, marching altos, and marching frenchies ( which I know are single horns and difficult to tune). French Horns are no more difficult to tune than any other horn. SMH. In fact, when I marched in the Blue Devils, we tuned to the French Horns. Edited September 9, 2015 by BDCorno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDCorno Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Over time, there seems to be movement away from diverse instrumentation in hornlines towards just having one instrument per "voice." For instance, the latest trend seems to be replacing baritones and euphoniums with a hybrid instrument. Do you think this impacts the sound a corps produces? I remember watching Crossmen in 2004, when they had a full flugelhorn line, and thinking that they had a very rich sound compared to some other corps. When was the last time anyone fielded a flugelhorn line? What other instruments have we lost (I know that there were quite a few in the G bugle days)? Yes, would like to see a resurgence in instrumentation (brass, not more violins and singers). It's really a four-part voice setup these days (five, if you count euphoniums vs. baritones). I always preferred BD in the days when we deployed mellos, flugels and french horns in the middle. It created a "sax section" dynamic to the sound that you simply can't get using mellophones and splitting the voices. I'm sure some of it is financial in nature, but classically inclined corps could make use of flugels and french horns over mellos, and as I mentioned, jazz inclined groups could benefit from a little bit of lushness and variety in the middle voices. Yeah, I'm sure some of you are already typing about the "you can't play french horn with today's visual requirements". LOL. You can. Ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfrontz Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 SCV used to have marching french horns, I think. Also BD marched flugels. I want to say this was early 90s? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfrontz Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 (edited) SCV used to have marching french horns, I think. Also BD marched flugels. I want to say this was early 90s? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs8FR-IJznc Yes, the Blue Devils used flugelhorns in 1993. Here is a clip of Wayne Downey talking about arranging brass for the Blue Devils. In my opinion, this was one of the best features ever in the PBS DCI programs. Wish they would return to doing things like these for the Cinecast. I do believe that flugelhorns were used in 1991 and 1992 as well, although I won't swear to it without finding them in videos, which I really shouldn't take the time to look for right now. Edited September 9, 2015 by mfrontz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Over time, there seems to be movement away from diverse instrumentation in hornlines towards just having one instrument per "voice." For instance, the latest trend seems to be replacing baritones and euphoniums with a hybrid instrument. Do you think this impacts the sound a corps produces? I remember watching Crossmen in 2004, when they had a full flugelhorn line, and thinking that they had a very rich sound compared to some other corps. When was the last time anyone fielded a flugelhorn line? What other instruments have we lost (I know that there were quite a few in the G bugle days)? I see on their website the Kanstul makes both Bb and F marching french horns. The Yamaha site says that they did from 1991-2001. Not sure if they make them anymore...probably be a special order if one of their DCI lines wanted them. Looks like King makes a Bb version. I don't see a marching flugel, but I guess a concert flugel would do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenoris4Jazz Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 I see on their website the Kanstul makes both Bb and F marching french horns. The Yamaha site says that they did from 1991-2001. Not sure if they make them anymore...probably be a special order if one of their DCI lines wanted them. Looks like King makes a Bb version. I don't see a marching flugel, but I guess a concert flugel would do. This was high school, but we split our french horn players evenly between flugels and mellos to have both voices. As to the marching with a french horn question... are we talking about the ones Cadets used this year, or the marching french horns that half of corps used back in the 70's and 80's? My HS band director marched '78,'79,'81 with SOA and '82 with BD and played french horn all 4 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 This was high school, but we split our french horn players evenly between flugels and mellos to have both voices. As to the marching with a french horn question... are we talking about the ones Cadets used this year, or the marching french horns that half of corps used back in the 70's and 80's? My HS band director marched '78,'79,'81 with SOA and '82 with BD and played french horn all 4 years. Marching french horns....bell front. Cadets used concert horns (and they were amazing. We used flugels in the band I teach years ago oriented as more 3rd trumpet parts with some mello-ish bits factored in as well. Gave us a nice full sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 In the mid-late 70s we had a mid-voice of both Frenchies and Mellos. Not too many of each but we had 'em..... That was before Euphs so had the 5 horn types..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.