Mellophonium anytwo?!

[soreliprick]

When I was looking for a French Horn I noticed the mellophones, but wanted the mindless complexibility of the double French Horn. Then, while looking through "Other items from the same seller", I noticed a mellophonium, which turns out to be a Stan Kenton invention{some say}that I can only describe as a trumpet on steroids. Well, I got mine for $60, dedented for another $15, and am wondering if anyone out there knows what mouthpiece works best.
It takes a cornet mouthpiece easily enough but I end up in E instead of Eb.
Perfect for my blues band......

[Martin Williams]

I dont know for sure, but try a flugel horn mouthiece. These are similar to cornet mpc, but not quite the same. Also, my bugle mpcs fit the flugel horn, so look into those. I hope this helps

Martin Williams

[gary]

Man, some of the albums with the mellophoniums had some serious tuning problems; that's what hit me first about them.

Sore Lip - go to http://home.comcast.net/~noel_wedder/wsb/mellophonium.htm for a really interesting article and some photos about the Kenton band with mellophoniums. Some really funny comments, like how Stan got drunk one night at a Kenton clinic band camp, stole a U of I marching mellophone, sawed on it and the mellophonium was born. Now that you've got the instrument I think you'll like the article.

Regarding mouthpieces, as you know the cornet will work, a french horn will work but you might need an adapter to make it fit, and, of course, there are mellophone mpouthpieces. I played a mellophonium in the past and used a french horn mpc. Regarding your tuning, some have been know to saw off some of the tubing to bring int into pitch. Some of these instruments were made in F but with an Eb crook. Mine was in F and played fairly well in tune.

[soreliprick]

I saw that article, which should have made me run the other way but....
I just got a Rudy Muck 17C for Cornet back from the re-platers and depending on how I embouche it, I can play in Eb, E, or F....
Talk about transposing on the fly....Its got a great tone and I can get a whole octave past high C, something I'm still trying to do on trumpet and cornet.
Double French Horn, on the other hand, just has too many alternate fingerings, and why did 'they' decide to play 'lefty' for the Horn?! Everything other horn is right handed fingering.

[gary]

...and why did 'they' decide to play 'lefty' for the Horn?! Everything other horn is right handed fingering.
Well, french horn players are not reputed to have the morons in any band. I guess they figured it out long before anyone else.

Since most people are right-handed, fingering with the left hand frees the right hand to light your cigarette, grab a quick swig of your beer during rests, and turn the pages of the your favorite magazine during long, boring passages. :twisted:

[soreliprick]

Wieviel bin ich Ihnen schuldig? Die Leitung is besetzt!

[gary]

Es tut mir sehr leid, aber ich verstehe nicht, LOL. :oops:

[SaxPlayer1004]

would an Eb alto horn mouthpiece work? seems to make sense. fairly similar to a cornet mouthpiece but with a little larger cup. worth a shot i guess. if your around a large brass shop ask if you can try Eb horn mouthpieces. if you are around an older school that has a history of military music, they may have an alto horn, if the directors nice he might let you try that. i know my old band director was able to do that trying different mouthpieces

[soreliprick]

Diesmal versuche ich etwas Exotisches. Ich will keine Schwierigkeiten beim Zoll haben.

[soreliprick]

Gary, oh most prolific of Sotw posters, I was just re-reading this, after having found the extra crook on my mellophonium that switches it from Eb to F, and I noticed your comment in German above. I believe it comes from the same Phrase book I have, as I have used it in the past. And no, I have no idea what any of the stuff means that I wrote either. I may have even written that in my previous post. Thanks for you help on this, and I'm still using my Rudy Muck and haven't sawed anything off yet. But I have decided to leave the Eb tubing off so I can have a high F horn to go with my double.
Now I'm off to start a new thread about that lowest octave on the double. Seems I can finally get down to the "High School" low note, the top of the lowest octave, 'as written' 2nd space bass clef B, 1st line below bass clef E,
but it barely audible. Now theres that whole octave left, half you can only get on the F side, the lowest half only on the Bb side, and the lowest note can be on either F or Bb. But my fingering charts on the web state that even a Pro would be happy just getting through the top half of the octave down to F (Bb concert). Wie gehts? uhhh, sorry....What's up with that?!

[gary]

Rick - are you referring to a mellophone(ium) or a double french horn?
If french horn, do you have The Art of French Horn Playing by Philip Farkas? If not, dare I be so dogmatic as to simply say "get it"? It's a great book and will tell you a great deal.

FWIW, I know many horn players who actually cheat a bit and use two embouchures not one, perfect embouchure for all ranges. (I played horn in university and professionally for two years so if you've got any more questions fire away. I'm falling short of 1000 posts this month. 8-)

[soreliprick]

I am referring to French horn and would just ask if you can get all the way down to that low C2, just to spell me until Farkas gets here....Thanks!