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"B flat" instruments


Bruce Linderman

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I once posed a question as to why most horns today are keyed in Bb but mellos in F. Someone got back to me with a reason, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. If someone could help refresh my memory that would be great. :thumbdown:

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I once posed a question as to why most horns today are keyed in Bb but mellos in F. Someone got back to me with a reason, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. If someone could help refresh my memory that would be great. :thumbup:

Because F matches the tone more closely -"Fooooooooooo".

:thumbdown:

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mellos most closely resemble the sound of a (French) horn which are typically pitched in F. I've played on marching french horns which have been pitched in Bb....I know a little weird. You'd think marching horn would be in F like its concert counterpart. I found the marching french horns very stuffy to play due to the leadpipe.

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mellos most closely resemble the sound of a (French) horn which are typically pitched in F. I've played on marching french horns which have been pitched in Bb....I know a little weird. You'd think marching horn would be in F like its concert counterpart. I found the marching french horns very stuffy to play due to the leadpipe.

Since most folks are using F mellophones - even in marching bands - the manufacturers are less apt to put tons of effort into perfecting marching frenchies.

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I once posed a question as to why most horns today are keyed in Bb but mellos in F. Someone got back to me with a reason, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. If someone could help refresh my memory that would be great. :thumbdown:

The mellophone in F against the trumpets and baritones in Bb is actually one of the advantages to the new voicings. By pitching the mello's in F, they have a fundamental pitch a fourth below the trumpets, and a fifth above the Bari, thereby giving an actual "alto" voice between the two. This wasn't really the case with all G horns, as the fundamental of the mellophones was the same as the sopranos.

Bruckner8 explained this in more detail earlier: This Post

Other answers above are also true, mostly that they are the pitches used in bands.

Edited by j.morgus
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....I know a little weird. You'd think marching horn would be in F like its concert counterpart.

They used to be, pitched just like the concert horn. The new models are either in Bb or the newer F models built an octive higher - unison with mellophones. I'm not sure why this has changed.

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