Instrumentation

[VKCanosUSMCContra]

Now that we've switched to any key option which hornlines are actually using F mellophones rather than Bb?

[Tristan]

I would say most if not all Bb hornlines use F mellos. In all truth, I don't think I've ever seen a Bb mello.

[Dave]

Same here, I don't know if Bb mellophones are even manufactured, at least by the primary brands used today.

[Lukehart]

sure they do. many top brands make Bb marching french horns and are used by many marching bands. not my key of choice though.

do a search on google for "Bb marching french horns" and youll see that most have one available

Edited March 14, 2006 by Lukehart

[BMBob]

I don't know of any that use a Bb middle voice. It would go against what some people count as an advantage of multi-key hornlines. With G bugles, the mellos were actually in the same key, same octave as sopranos, so they were in the same range as sopranos, but favored the low-middle register due to the bore, bell, and other design issues. Using a Bb horn would provide the same situation, only being the same key and octave as the baris. The F horns are actually pitched in the middle, so provide a true middle voice.

[Dave]

sure they do. many top brands make Bb marching french horns and are used by many marching bands. not my key of choice though.

do a search on google for "Bb marching french horns" and youll see that most have one available

But we're not talking about marching French horns, the question was mellophones.

[drewbugler]

Western Michigan University had Bb horns when I was hanging around up there...Yamahas I believe.

[randomnoise]

There are no Bb Mellophones.

But you could do quite nicely with all Bb horns - use Flugels and/or French Horns for your alto voice.

[Lukehart]

But we're not talking about marching French horns, the question was mellophones.

a mellophone is actually pitched in Eb and not a bell front instrument, so if we want to get technical on names...

In our niche activity, if a "mellophone" is in Bb, it becomes generally known as a "marching french horn." It is essentially a bass trumpet and has a hard time making it out of the brass mix. Most prefer the more alto sounding voice of the F horns, though I have encountered a few guys that like the Bb’s (trumpet players who want to be better able to teach their kids or having the students on a french horn mouthpiece w/o an adapter so they don’t loose horn chops for other ensembles)

[Dave]

a mellophone is actually pitched in Eb and not a bell front instrument, so if we want to get technical on names...

You're thinking of a mellophonium, a completely different instrument. Mellophones and marching French horns are totally different instruments, though they often share the same range; marching horns are more commonly found in F, but they can also be found in Bb. You can see the differences in design in these images. Most importantly, marching FHs use horn mouthpieces, while mellophones use mouthpieces more like trumpet mouthpieces, though not exactly the same; they need adapter to use horn mouthpieces.