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Ah Puppet - c'mon. You can't tell me that as a mellophone player - hell, even Whalley (untuneable) Royce Mellophones, you actually thought about those flugel horns as anything besides strange looking lamps that simply hadn't been wired yet!

I ain't buyin' it...

Ray - where have you been? OK. I played one for one season - I don't even think Hy thought it was qood idea ... but what did we know? I was just commenting on the idea of hitting our soft parts with the bell of a Mellophone!

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Ray - where have you been? OK. I played one for one season - I don't even think Hy thought it was qood idea ... but what did we know? I was just commenting on the idea of hitting our soft parts with the bell of a Mellophone!

Puppet,

First of all I'm exceedingly glad to see you posting and sharp - I think the last time I had time to hang on these pages it was a little touch and go for you.

Second I've been crazy busy with work - I manage the operation for the largest (most flights) airline at Logan airport in Boston - it has been nuts - I made it to 2 shows this year - both to see my 17 year old play keyboard with 7th Regiment from Ct.

Life is good but nuts - hope you're doing well.

Flugels? Like eunochs. The single only use of mellophones was for the balls that those 10" bells gave you. No bell, no balls. No balls... well - I don't have to tell you.

No excitement.

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Puppet,

First of all I'm exceedingly glad to see you posting and sharp - I think the last time I had time to hang on these pages it was a little touch and go for you.

Second I've been crazy busy with work - I manage the operation for the largest (most flights) airline at Logan airport in Boston - it has been nuts - I made it to 2 shows this year - both to see my 17 year old play keyboard with 7th Regiment from Ct.

Life is good but nuts - hope you're doing well.

Flugels? Like eunochs. The single only use of mellophones was for the balls that those 10" bells gave you. No bell, no balls. No balls... well - I don't have to tell you.

No excitement.

And, when you've only got four in your line you better have at least twice as many bells! Just one of the reasons (after two decades of not!) I liked the Mello line of Star. They played charts like a house on fire and during the cross-to-cross section of their 1991 show not to mention that the entire show seemed to be written for the "bells" of the Mello line.They are the only reason after 1986 I became interested in Drum Corps again at all. The horn line's control and George Zingali's masterful use of the entire field has never been repeated. Check it out and I swear this is not their best show ... it's just the one every Drum Corps since should study and try (see the star at 8:40 and the build up and the pure dynamic rapture that follows ... and only gets better ... these guys are playing and moving with such acumen it's almost impossible to go from there to there and still keep your lip on the horn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcnTwGgJ8nM

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And, when you've only got four in your line you better have at least twice as many bells! Just one of the reasons (after two decades of not!) I liked the Mello line of Star. They played charts like a house on fire and during the cross-to-cross section of their 1991 show not to mention that the entire show seemed to be written for the "bells" of the Mello line.They are the only reason after 1986 I became interested in Drum Corps again at all. The horn line's control and George Zingali's masterful use of the entire field has never been repeated. Check it out and I swear this is not their best show ... it's just the one every Drum Corps since should study and try (see the star at 8:40 and the build up and the pure dynamic rapture that follows ... and only gets better ... these guys are playing and moving with such acumen it's almost impossible to go from there to there and still keep your lip on the horn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcnTwGgJ8nM

I also liked the 88 show, Porgy & Bess was awesome. AND, both shows played on 2 valve Kings horns.

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Star used the same set of 2-valve Kings for their entire 9 years

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  • 2 weeks later...

I remember some serious buckle clinks when I marched with the Blue Stars in the late 70's. Those cross-belts buckles were positioned just in the right spot. Strange the horns didn't get too beat up!

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Star used the same set of 2-valve Kings for their entire 9 years

Except one soprano lead guy that didn't I once heard.

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If I remember right, I heard that The Cavaliers used the buckles in the 60's to make that "clink" noise when it was by their waist. (They also came in VERY handy during those famous corps fights back in those days ;))In '76 when we moved the buckle up to around the chest with the new sash, it made a GREAT sound.... until it dented horns so much, it started effecting the tune of the horns, and costing us $$ for new horns. We changed to plastic buckles in 77 with prism tape around it to add effect, plus, they didn't want to damage all the new fangled two valve sops we just got. That carried on until, I think, the mid-80's when the uni's were changed to something like you see today.

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Cadets of Greece had the same buckle as Garfield, love the "Chink" sound as we went to Parade Rest. Memories......

We used Greece Cadets uni's in Fusion 82, there was no buckle, just two rows of buttons.

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