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Ranges of Horns


Snowcone

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I'm playing around with arranging music for drum corps, just out of my own amusement, and I was wondering what are the ranges of the typical Bb and F horns. I have the feeling that my mello parts are about two octives too low ^0^

Thanks

Snowcone - Corps Nerd who should head to class soon

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I forgot to mention that I'm writting everything in C (as it would be played on a piano) hehe.

Anyways, if middle C is C5 here is the range of what I have:

Sop: F4 - C8

Mello: F4 - C8

Bari: C4 - F7

Contra: C2 - C5

Thanks a bunches!

Snowcone - Corps Nerd who thinks his bio prof is a hottie!

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yeah screaming mellos.. that's what I'm talking about.

But if it was G Horns it would be right.

It's all confusing with the whole piano range thing... but this is what I know

Comfortable ranges while marching

Bb Sops - C right below the staff - C above staff.... range can be increases as high as a E above staff for solid leads.

F Mellos - a low C is kinda risky but comfortably to me, an E bottom line - no higher than a A above staff. From experience if you get a mello section too high... it could overbalance the hornline.. now if it's like a solo or a feature... F mellos can get up to a high C above the staff pretty comfortable

Bb Baris(T.C) - Low C right below staff - A right above the staff.

(B.C) - Bb on the staff - G above staff

Bb Contra - Low Bb below staff(maybe a little bit lower) - D on the staff. I would keep it in this range to keep a solid bottom.

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For the arrangements I've been doing, here's the ranges I try and work within for the most part(to play relatively comfortably):

Sopranos - F5 - C7ish (below F5 can end up being a pretty fat sound and unless that's what you want is pretty gross sounding)

Mellos - F4 - D or E6(mello parts transpose up the fifth, not down)

Baris - Bb3 - G/A4(there's usually no need for a bari to go below a Bb in the bass clef

Contras - Bb2 - Eb3

This may seem pretty limited, I know, but it has worked pretty well for me . . . so far.

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