Mellophones vs. Horns

[cowtown]

I liked marching French horns, they really filled out the sound, gave it depth / richness

With the expanded corps /horn lines, I was hoping for more diversity in voicing…we hear designers complaining all the time about adding voices and textures to their palettes and yet....they all seem happy working with in the rather narrow and trendy confirms of the ‘standard’ DCI hornline

They have mics now, and we still don’t get an FH playing at least a solo upfront.

Nice that Crossmen are marching some flugels though

Imagine a line with sops /mellos/ flugels / FH/ Bari/ Euph / Contra – that’d be a fat, full sound…no need for synth brass there

[lastknight]

I would think the main issue would be a lack of players who can control a mouthpiece with a teeny tiny rim at foot velocities approaching 200 bpm. The airflow is entirely different on the FH than anything else in the line too. I just have doubts that most corps could find/train 6-10 musicians who could play up to the rest of the line in the current environment. Mind you, they could sound amazing in a standstill, but most of our shows aren't standstills.

[hostrauser]

I would think the main issue would be a lack of players who can control a mouthpiece with a teeny tiny rim at foot velocities approaching 200 bpm. The airflow is entirely different on the FH than anything else in the line too. I just have doubts that most corps could find/train 6-10 musicians who could play up to the rest of the line in the current environment. Mind you, they could sound amazing in a standstill, but most of our shows aren't standstills.

Exactly this. French Horns in the brass, and double reeds in the woodwinds, are inherently extra-difficult to play WELL while moving at anything more than a stroll.

From a composer's perspective, french horns are probably the least agile of the brass at high tempos. Sure, Symphony Orchestra pros can handle just about anything, but that's not who DCI arrangers are writing for each summer. The horn's rich sound and smooth tone makes them great harmonizers and a fantastic "bridge" between brass and winds/strings, but blazing 16th-note runs are not in their wheelhouse. I shudder to think of a group of 18-21 year old performers trying to tackle, say, Star of Indiana's 1991 mello book on the french horn. The mellophones add a level of musical agility simply not feasible with french horns at this skill level.

I agree that French Horns sound amazing in a concert setting...

...but the instrument is pretty ill-suited to drum corps or field marching band (parades, okay).

Edited June 29, 2011 by hostrauser

[cookie]

Regarding French Horns vs. Mellos, let an old timer give an opinion, please.

I went from Soprano Bugle to French Horn Bugle in 1950 and performed in parades and contests

with 2 "Jr. Corps" and 2 "Senior Corps", including the Yankee Rebels of Baltimore and

The USAF Drum & Bugle Corps in DC for 4 years. All those years [10] we used either Holton or

Getzen Horns with a single valve and slide [later slide & rotor]

We were able to hold our own, so to speak, with usually 4 Frenchies against the full corps.

We had the power of the full midrange sound all in "G" at that time in history. Yes, they were

a bit cranky to use just like the Symphonic ones are, and you had to be on your game. But

wow! could we nail the crowd back with those 4 horns. It appears that it takes 3 times

the Mellos these days to equal that group of 4 horns.

Not to denigrate the current Mellos, part of it was the fuller "G" sound we got over Bb, etc.

and the way the runs as well as punctuated accents were applied by the arrangers.

Just an old timers thoughts.

"cookie"

[BoyWonder1911]

Is the original oster referring to MARCHING French Horns or actual concert french horns (which are currently prohibited along with sousaphones and trombones if I'm not mistaken)? I remember a French Horn soloist being very effective in a HS Marcing band production of Maria from WSS so it COULD be effective, but there is still a completely different sound from an actual french horn and a marching french horn (which is basically a marching euphonium played with a french horn mouthpiece).

Well I didn't really think they would be allowed to use actual FH in a drum corps, but I guess you cleared that up, but I was wondering what kind of allowed marching horn is closest to the sound of a real FH? And I also agree that marching a FH really doesn't work well because of

I would think the main issue would be a lack of players who can control a mouthpiece with a teeny tiny rim at foot velocities approaching 200 bpm. The airflow is entirely different on the FH than anything else in the line too. I just have doubts that most corps could find/train 6-10 musicians who could play up to the rest of the line in the current environment. Mind you, they could sound amazing in a standstill, but most of our shows aren't standstills.

It would be nice to hear some more variety of sound in a drum corps besides the standard trumpet, mello, bari/euph, and contra. And I don't think that "more variety" should come from synthesizers. An occasional soloists, like say, an electronic clarinet, or a fiddle, or bass guitar, I don't see problems in that, or synthesizers used sparingly for sound effects not possibly made with brass, but synthesizers should not be used to blend with brass, or to add to volume of sound, etc. But that is another topic I'm really not trying to get into here.

I used to be one of those who thought drill > music, but now that I've seen tons of live competitions over the past two years, I now think opposite. I'm more impressed with music than drill, and that's probably because it is much easier to see an entire drill and how it works with a show when you're watching it on "the site that shall not be named", rather than up in the stands. A lot of places, even sitting on the very top row will not give you enough height to completely ingest a visual program.

But all in all, I love the sound of the French Horn, and mellophones are great and all, but they just aren't the same. I guess they just don't sound "mellow" enough to me. Seems like they can't put out FFF without being piercing, while a Horn can play with a lot of volume but not necessarily having as much a piercing "buzz" to it.

Are there any other marching-style horns that come closer to the sound of a French Horn than a mellophone? Would be nice to have some of those older-school horns that some of you talked about to make a reappearance into drum corps.

Thanks to all of your replies.