Mellophone anyone?

[Mike W]

I was just given an old mellophone. It is a bit rough (understatement) around the edges and a couple of valves are stuck. However, it blows really easily and with a nice tone with my cornet mouthpiece. Anyone playing a mellophone? If so, how does a mellophone compare in blowing characteristics to a flugelhorn? Thanks.

[stevesklar]

a mellophone. I haven't touched one of those since i played them in High School for certain marching band stuff - we're talking early 80's. It was easier to blow than a french horn though and a lot funner. I never played (nor touched) a fluegelhorn for that comparison.

[sskilton]

Well they say you learn something new everyday. I had never even heard of a Mellophone. Had to do a quick Google search. So now I know.

Can't give you a comparison though, sorry. I play Sax, Clarinet (badly) and piano (just).

:lol:

[stevesklar]

The mellophone was the poor schools marching french horn. Seems liike only Drum&Bugle corps got marching french horns (back then, don't know about today).

But the mellophone is small, light, and LOUD. It also has a larger mpc unlike the french horn which has the small mpc which you tend to bash against your teeth while marching. They either had the bell go straight up in the air or bend forward.

You would hold & play it with one hand and hold the music folder in the other w/o problems while marching.

A fun & easy instrument to play.

..... the good old days.

[stevesklar]

now that i think of it, the mellophone should be less resistant than a flueglehorn. I think the piping is shorter in the mellophone and with a good open mpc it would be fairly easy to play. Of course, now we get into the mpc scenario ... small bowl, large bowl .... small/large hole issue .....

[gary]

There are modern marching mellophones, some of whom have the bells facing forward, trumpet like. A "true" mellophone (harumph) is curved like a French horn and with piston valves and one does not play it with hand in bell, but open. IMO the sound (and the blow) is a bit more open than a flügelhorn, more baritone-like. If you get a good one, it will have a nice full round sound. I dig 'em.

If you get an adapter, you can use a french horn mouthpiece for a different sound than with your cornet mouthpiece. Watch it when using other mouithpieces, because if you don't use a proper adapter you could put the horn in an odd key. Of course, you could try using a mellophone mpc and see how that goes.

Intonation can be spotty. Listen to Kenton's albums with the mellophones and you'll know what I mean! Matter of fact, I had one that was pitched so screwy that I was usually having to transpose a tritone away from concert pitch! At least on older European ones there are crooks that can be put in the leader pipe to change the pitch, but, again, that effects the over all intonation of the horn. Nice instrument, though. Have fun.

[stevesklar]

Ours were like mini-Euphoniums.

I just looked at wwbw.com and all of their mellophones are like trumpets. Ours were vertical. it kept them close to the body and really easy to hold - all the weight was on a vertical plane not horizontal. And of course, no hand in the bell ... that would look really strrange.

times have changed.

[Mike W]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I'll drag it to SaxDaddy--who also does excellent work on brass instruments--one of these days and see if it is worth repairing.

[paulwl]

In the 1920s, these were sometimes doubled by trumpeters in dance bands. My grandpa had one for that reason, which he gave to my dad to learn to play on. The nickname was the "ballad horn," apparently for the buttery quality of the tone. Most were in Eb and had crooks to change to F, or very rarely Bb. Buescher made a lot of them, including most every one that appears on eBay.

Ted Weems' band had about the only jazz mellophonist back then, Dudley Fosdick. (what a name) He got almost all the solo spots that otherwise would have been given a trombonist. Weems got a distinctively "round sound" thanks to the addition of mellophone and bari sax to the usual 6-piece horn line.

http://redhotjazz.com/weems.html
(I know he plays on "Piccolo Pete")

[Dave Dolson]

I recall that deep in my Dixie 45's from the 1950's, I have a recording of Monk Hazel playing a mellophone in some obscure New Orleans' band. DAVE

[gary]

The mellophone player that sticks out most in my memory was a cat named Don Elliott. He was pretty popular in the 50's and won the miscellaneous instrument category in Down Beat for several years. He was pretty good as I remember. In addition to having his own group, I think he played with guys the calibre of Terry Gibbs, George Shearing, and Benny Goodman.

[SaxPlayer1004]

you might be talking about an alto horn. i have never seen mellophones shaped like a mini euph, just like a funky cross between a flugelhorn and a trumpet. tried mello for a while and it was messing with my sax embouchure (overdevloped some of the wrong muscles) so i stopped but we were using horn mothpieces not cornet. i wouldnt exactly call them "cheap schools marching horns" but they are a helluva lot easier to march than a true french horn or a true mellophone. just my

[stevesklar]

Saxplayer,

considering that was 20 years ago i could have been playing a brass plated watermelon and wouldn't be able to remember the difference. But i do recall the name alto horn too ... the band used it interchangeable with mellophone.

[SaxPlayer1004]

same kinda idea, except the mello is in f and the alto horn is in Eb but now there are adapters for the mellophone and single F French horn to transpose them to Eb so they can read alto music and make conductors lives easier if the part for the alto horn wasnt written.

[stevesklar]

I came across a ton of marching music this morning (we always used photocopies and not the originals ... seems like most ppl didn't return it; me excluded of course !!).

Anyways ... at the top of most of them is written Alto Horn in F, some say French Horn in F.

more confusion .....

[SaxPlayer1004]

they should only read alto horn in Eb. there are exceptions however. if there was an alto horn player that played the alto sax parts, they might put a single horn in F tuning slide int he place of the Eb tuning slide on the horn. these two are interchangeable for this use only. to cover other parts.

[homesweethome]

The mellophone is pretty versatile. Itcan replace the bugle or french horn in a band. Here's a great guide to mellophones (http://pickyguide.com/musical_instruments/mellophones_guide.html) i found on the net. Enjoy your new instrument!

[And7barton]

The mellophone was the poor schools marching french horn. Seems liike only Drum&Bugle corps got marching french horns (back then, don't know about today).

But the mellophone is small, light, and LOUD. It also has a larger mpc unlike the french horn which has the small mpc which you tend to bash against your teeth while marching. They either had the bell go straight up in the air or bend forward.

You would hold & play it with one hand and hold the music folder in the other w/o problems while marching.

A fun & easy instrument to play.

..... the good old days.

I believe the straight-forward-facing one was called a Mellophonium.
I had one of those for a while... a fearsome blast they give out.
Richard

[hakukani]

Ours were like mini-Euphoniums.

I just looked at wwbw.com and all of their mellophones are like trumpets. Ours were vertical. it kept them close to the body and really easy to hold - all the weight was on a vertical plane not horizontal. And of course, no hand in the bell ... that would look really strrange.

times have changed.

We had the mini-euphoniums in our marching band at university. They were played with a french horn mouthpiece.

I think they called them altoniums. It was a long time ago...

[schnautza]

in response to the actual topic question, I would say that if you can play one, you should be just fine on the other.
the size and shape of the mouthpieces are very similar.
I think the biggest difference is that the flugel flares out more conically so it has a much fuller sound.
I play mello in pep band at school...and one thing is for sure, they are far inferior to flugels when it comes to intonation.
I think it is easier to tune a chainsaw than a mello.
The hardest transition though for you will be getting used to hearing the pitches in F and in Bb. fingerings are all the same.

[riojazz]

To Mike, the original poster, can you describe the shape of your horn?

I'm a flugelhorn player, but I've played all the brass. The mellophone I played was pitched in F with Eb slides and was curved like a French horn but fingered right-handed. It took a French horn mouthpiece, which has narrow shank and a deep funnel-shaped cup.

The straight-shaped horn was a mellophonium made by Conn. Also in F, it had Eb slides although we never used them. More importantly, it had a bigger mouthpiece close to that of an alto horn. This mouthpiece had a 'C' cup shape (giving it more precise articulation and a brighter sound), and was in between the size of a trumpet and trombone mouthpiece. The Conn mellophonium is the instrument used on the Kenton recordings, and it had a huge powerful sound.

[Martin Williams]

The 'mini euphoniums' aka alto horns aka altoniums are made in both Eb and F. I have one in F, and have used one in Eb. They seem to be rather hard to find new these days.

Mellophones are all built like large tpts these days. as far as I know.

[Perry]

I have a Yamaha mellophone (YMP-something), looks like a right-handed french horn with piston valves instead of rotor. It can switch from an Eb to an F instrument by moving a piece of tubing from one place to another.

I have never been able to get a decent sound from the horn, it just sounds like a thin alto horn. I've managed to play many brass instruments including unusual ones like rotor valve trombone and Eb cornet, but something about this mellophone is hard to control.

However I've heard an "American" mellophone (marching style, bell front) played sounding really beatiful. Good luck with your instrument.