GuyW Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 (edited) The Kingsmen Alumni Corps is marching 18-20 french horns (in G, thank you)....which engendered the questions: when did french horns disappear from DCI, and why?? Edited September 2, 2006 by GuyW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancerlady Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 (edited) As a former French Horn major that just gave me chill bumps thinking about it. The excuses I heard was the demand of the drills caused it to be too hard for a French Horn to march in today's drum corps. I suppose it's possible with all the "jazz running" they do, but I think with the proper posture and marching technique (something Zingali taught me) you could play a French Horn in today's drum corps. I played a marching Bb F horn in college and it's not that different from the G Bugle, F Horn, I started out on in Memphis except for fingerings and such. I picked up mellophone because they started in 83 (in Memphis anyway) switching over then from French Horns to flugels and mellophones. Plus I had played mellophone in High School band as well, so I could do both. I don't know for sure though when they became non existent in today's corps. I thought Madison played on some and maybe Cavaliers did up to a few years ago, I could be wrong. Edited September 2, 2006 by Lancerlady Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A27Lancer Posted September 4, 2006 Share Posted September 4, 2006 Jim Wedge had me try French horn at the beginning of the '77 rehearsal season. I found it extremely difficult to control pitch-wise. The only thing I could play well on French horn was the "whoop whoop WHOOP" at the beginning of "Overture to Tommy" which I played incessantly until Wedge decided whoop whoop WHOOP did not belong in "Theme from Rocky" and took mercy on me and gave me my mellophone back. NOTE: 27th never played or learned the chart to "Overture to Tommy". I picked it up on my own. Figured I'd throw that in before some know-it-all mentioned it. B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apoch003 Posted September 4, 2006 Share Posted September 4, 2006 I was extremely proud to be a good french horn player that could march. It's a great skill. And had a beautiful sound. Our big thing in my corps was to not play so loud on them that we sounded like bleating goats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S. Pearson Posted September 4, 2006 Share Posted September 4, 2006 I was extremely proud to be a good french horn player that could march. It's a great skill. And had a beautiful sound.Our big thing in my corps was to not play so loud on them that we sounded like bleating goats. Actually, we ended up only using Mellophones due to costs and logistics in the MSARP... We had a number of french horn players end up using adapters so that they could continue using their own mouthpieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptr250 Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 GR loved to write for the French horn and mellophone. Maybe it was because he was a French horn player himself. Listen to SCV’s 74 opener. We were also blessed to have some great players in those sections. Phil Olds, Mel Canales, Jim Ott, Stanley Knaub, Scott Pierson, Dan Smith, Mike Hamlin, Steve Fisher and Eric Unruh were some of the guys I marched with, all great players. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leland Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 They stopped appearing in DCI in the early 90's. BD's last year with French horn bugles was '86, and I'm not even sure if Star marched any at all. The best that I can figure was that they were ditched because they were so difficult to play cleanly. Too bad, though -- that sound was just so cool. Listen to '96 Madison's version of Maleguena to hear how the mellos lacked the sizzle that made the '88 version so awesome for the midhorns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDANN Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Not all French Horns have disappeared. Scout House Alumni marches 12 French horns and 6 Flugels basically on 3rd soprano parts. Why? Because our music director, John Conrad, (a very experienced and talented writer) believes (and we all agree) that this combination produces the very best sound. Granted, we "alumni types" don't march anything like the DCI corps of today but since on average they are 40 years younger than us you might think they would welcome the challenge so they could produce the best music. By the way. Scout House play a full set of Yamaha Bb horns today just as they have since they were first formed in 1939. They never changed to G horns even in their prime competitive years. Why? Because Bb horns are "more musical" (not louder - more musical) than G horns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchromik Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 They stopped appearing in DCI in the early 90's. BD's last year with French horn bugles was '86, and I'm not even sure if Star marched any at all. Star never marched frenchies, in fact they had the same set of King K-50 mellos from 85' through 94' or 95's Brass Theater year. This has all been covered many times before in the Brass threads. The french horn bugle and marching french horns have a unique sound and can be used to add color to a line. I am all for using them if you have the players, but I totally understand the switch to the all mello line. Depending on approach, you can be dark and brassy, covering about 90% of the frenchies range, and with a minor change cut through the ensemble like an alto wail. It is all in the approach and writing. Plus you can use trumpet players. It is an easy doubler horn. The frenchie is far more specialized. I just wish more lines would approach the mello with a dark frenchie approach. Their are still far to many lazerphone lines out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHall Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 When a certain female horn player went crazy one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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