qwerty543 Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 People that don't want the mellos cutting through... obviously aren't mellophone players. Mellophones make or break a hornline for me. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchromik Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 OH my! Are you serious?Great mello lines cut through ANY hornline ... great or otherwise. That bell projects like none other. It flat out speaks. When a mello line plays soft and in tune .. it cuts. When they play monstrous and in tune .. they destroy. It's not a french horn my friend. Sorry but there's no way on God's green Earth that I can agree with this statement. What I wanted to post originally was a question: Now imagine PR's lines are just as loud and ballsy as all the G line mello's. Can you imagine if an entire hornline were that monstrous? Like not so long ago? You are kind of proving my point you realize. The mello will always be heard. It's timbre and key will always be distinctive. In other words there is no need to even attempt to rip through. It is not needed. You obviously like the old school wailing mello of yore. Nothing wrong with that. But we are talking about a modern World Class line of F mellos in a corps who lives and breaths in a dark classical book. There is no way you are going to convince me that PR is better served by that old school approach to mello sound. Even when that approach was cool, PR anchored it's middle with dark powerful frenchies, not a mello in sight. It is just not a sound that fits their character. PR is plenty loud, ballsy, and monsterous. No imagination needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchromik Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Interesting points. What do you consider to be the "mello-friendly register" of an F mellophone? It is not so much that the F mello cannot play in the upper register. It can easily, but it is sort of dangerous territory mello-wise. So easy to get thin and bright on anything above the staff. The power band is probably F to F with occasional journey to maybe C above the staff. I am playing a book this year with a fair amount of notes in the top space Eb to C above range. I am still adjusting my mindset to the F mello after some five years of playing it. I have an old King two valve G mello and it feels like a sportscar in comparison to the truck-like F mello. But I have grown to love the F mello's slightly more forgiving nature and extra mass. Back in the day we had to fight to keep that proper 'mello' sound at all times. The F mello is a natural middle voice and though not as responsive as the lightweight G mello, it stays dark and open far easier. At least in the power band. Now if somebody could build a horn without such ideosyncrocies as a flaky top-line F. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrothgar15 Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 It is not so much that the F mello cannot play in the upper register. It can easily, but it is sort of dangerous territory mello-wise. So easy to get thin and bright on anything above the staff. The power band is probably F to F with occasional journey to maybe C above the staff. I am playing a book this year with a fair amount of notes in the top space Eb to C above range.I am still adjusting my mindset to the F mello after some five years of playing it. I have an old King two valve G mello and it feels like a sportscar in comparison to the truck-like F mello. But I have grown to love the F mello's slightly more forgiving nature and extra mass. Back in the day we had to fight to keep that proper 'mello' sound at all times. The F mello is a natural middle voice and though not as responsive as the lightweight G mello, it stays dark and open far easier. At least in the power band. Now if somebody could build a horn without such ideosyncrocies as a flaky top-line F. I've noticed a lot of corps play mello runs from middle C to the G above that and back down (I assume it's because you only have to alternate the first valve so fingers aren't really an issue at any speed). I've always noticed that's where the instruments sound their best to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny Drum Corps Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Do any of you realize that they werent as bright on the King mellos as they seemed to be this past season?...I am just wondering. I actually loved this years mello line and I am totally Ok with the way JD utilizes them in that register. They seemed to cut through more this year than previous years...I am not sure that the instrument change had something to do with it or not. Either way...they were probably the most exposed to error than anyone else, and from an achievement standpoint, they should be credited, IMHO. Donny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mello Dude Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Do any of you realize that they werent as bright on the King mellos as they seemed to be this past season?...I am just wondering.I actually loved this years mello line and I am totally Ok with the way JD utilizes them in that register. They seemed to cut through more this year than previous years...I am not sure that the instrument change had something to do with it or not. Either way...they were probably the most exposed to error than anyone else, and from an achievement standpoint, they should be credited, IMHO. Donny I mean that's the point right? Shouldn't brass lines be able to be identified by arranger and sound? Why on Earth would we want every horn line to sound exactly the same? What would be the point in that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayM Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 I've noticed a lot of corps play mello runs from middle C to the G above that and back down (I assume it's because you only have to alternate the first valve so fingers aren't really an issue at any speed). I've always noticed that's where the instruments sound their best to me. Yes, C to G on mello is easily the most practical/playable range. Most of the shows where I played mellophone seemed to revolve around the key of F Concert, which gave us about an octave to work with (Bb to Bb), with a high Bb that really cut with minimal effort (and a fun opportunity for double F's!). Re: Phantom, their '08 line was good, but in others, especially 2006, there are moments where they are cutting through with un-matched edge and stick-outs. After the trumpet feature in the opener of Faust there is a build-up to a slow half-step 8th-note trill where you can hear at least 5 individual mellophone sounds, which becomes especially obvious when a player on side 2 cuts out near the end of the figure. There's nothing wrong with edge, but IMO it's only palatable when matched from player to player. In this case it was not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchromik Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 (edited) I've noticed a lot of corps play mello runs from middle C to the G above that and back down (I assume it's because you only have to alternate the first valve so fingers aren't really an issue at any speed). I've always noticed that's where the instruments sound their best to me. Yup, that is a classic run. For the Star United Minicorps we did a Jim Prime arrangement of Rocky Point Holiday and the runs at the end are all C up to G, down and up again type. A wonderful mello roller-coaster. Pretty sure it was the same run for the 83' cadets arrangement as well. Jimmer always seem to find a way to keep those runs mostly on the first valve. Easy peasy no drama. The man loves the mello. On the other hand we are playing some original music this year with SU that although cool, gives the mellos a workout with lots of runs of various varieties both in the staff and up to C above, most with lots of nice Abs and various accidentals and the like. Challenging, but fun. (Thanks Frank!) Edited August 21, 2009 by mchromik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchromik Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Do any of you realize that they werent as bright on the King mellos as they seemed to be this past season?...I am just wondering.I actually loved this years mello line and I am totally Ok with the way JD utilizes them in that register. They seemed to cut through more this year than previous years...I am not sure that the instrument change had something to do with it or not. Either way...they were probably the most exposed to error than anyone else, and from an achievement standpoint, they should be credited, IMHO. Donny Interesting. I briefly played the newer Jupiter mello. It felt like a slightly stuffy well built knock-off of the current Yamaha. Not bad, but not exactly a Yama 204. It didn't come across particularly bright on my short spin. Then again I wasn't tooling around consistently above the staff either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoplasm Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Suncoast Sound had some balsy mid horns back in the early to mid 80s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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