The Marching French Horn in Bb

[Blockbandmusic]

Does anyone have any experience arranging/composing for this instrument?  There is surprisingly almost no information about it.

I would like to get an idea of its range.

As I understand it, the marching French Horn is basically a baritone in Bb with a French Horn mouthpiece.

That being the case, I imagine that it would have the same range as a Baritone playing as low E natural 2 (E natural below the bass clef).

What's generally consider to be the top of its range?

Here's the most important part of my question though.  How does it transpose?

If the marching French plays a concert Eb right above the bass clef does it correspond to the F in the lowest space of the treble clef or the top line?

With the instrument having such a low range I can't fathom that a ton of its range would be all ledger lines below the treble clef.  That would be the case if concert Eb was transposed to the F at the bottom of the treble clef staff.

[Rudy Wiedoeft]

On 7/5/2023 at 3:15 AM, Blockbandmusic said:

Does anyone have any experience arranging/composing for this instrument?  There is surprisingly almost no information about it.

I would like to get an idea of its range.

As I understand it, the marching French Horn is basically a baritone in Bb with a French Horn mouthpiece.

That being the case, I imagine that it would have the same range as a Baritone playing as low E natural 2 (E natural below the bass clef).

What's generally consider to be the top of its range?

Here's the most important part of my question though.  How does it transpose?

If the marching French plays a concert Eb right above the bass clef does it correspond to the F in the lowest space of the treble clef or the top line?

With the instrument having such a low range I can't fathom that a ton of its range would be all ledger lines below the treble clef.  That would be the case if concert Eb was transposed to the F at the bottom of the treble clef staff.

Here is some information that might be helpful:

• The Bb marching french horn is basically the Bb concert horn with a bell front tubing wrap.  Here is where it gets confusing...  the Bb marching french horn reads music that is transposed in F which sounds a fifth below written (same as a concert french horn).   This allows for easy transition for concert horn players to read the music.

• The tube length and fundamental pitch of a Bb marching horn is the same as the Bb baritone but that is where the similarities stop.  When reading treble clef music, the fingerings on a baritone are different than a Bb marching french horn.  The narrow bore of the Bb marching horn allow the player to reach a higher range that the baritone.

• written RANGE (sounds a fifth lower).     Basically the same written range as a trumpet.  I would recommend avoiding going above the staff.  

• HoughtonHorns.com have a Bb Marching French Horn fingering chart available for download on their website.

• The Bb french horn is very difficult to play while marching (I marched french horn bugle for several years back in the day).   The main challenge is the small width of the mouthpiece rim.

• There is a surprising amount of WRONG information on the web about the marching french horn, even from college horn teachers.   

• Best of luck and I hope this helps you!

[ironlips]

Regarding range, think of it as a low trumpet. Write in treble clef (everybody can read that) and I wouldn't score any lower than the "G" below the staff (concert F) or higher than 4th line "D" (concert C), except for an accomplished soloist.

French Horn unisons with mellophones, in the latter's mid range, can create a rich texture, though there may be some pitch matching challenges.  When they split, score the mellos on the top part. 

The Frenchie can also double the higher Baritone and/or trombone parts to good effect. If you write them as a separate voice make sure you have 4 to 6 of them at minimum.

Before mellos were ever used in drum corps, the alto voice was the marching French Horn. This program will give you some idea of what that sounded like. This group had 6 French Horns in a line that totaled 32 bugles, all pitched in G. There were no tubas (contra basses) either:

https://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/2009/01/off-the-record-remembering-the-1961-queensmen/

They are notoriously difficult to control while moving, so be conservative with traveling demands for this section.

[Rudy Wiedoeft]

Frank brings up a very important point.  The notation for drum corps has been different than the notation for marching bands. 

Even though the marching Bb french horn is technically a Bb instrument, for band it is written in F (5th above sounding pitch).   

Here is an excellent MelloCast episode that you might also find helpful:

http://hornmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/MelloCast_Episode_57_9-07-2008.mp3

[Mike Jones]

I play one of these horns. The B-flat french horn is NOT written in F like the other posts are saying.

Their parts are written in B-flat, the same key as the trumpets. BUT, the horn's fundamental pitch is an octave below a trumpet, so the parts look low when you read it.

Middle C or D in the staff is about as high as you would see, after that the pitches are really hard to play.

There are marching french horns in F, but they are more rare.