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Re: Mellophones

Hi Bill,

FWIW, I play in a couple of brass quintets here in the US
and we are forever having a hard time finding a French horn
player who wants to participate on the level at which we
perform.  I don't want to start a flame war by saying that
they are prima donas, but they ARE harder to get volunteer
effort out of than, for instance, most low brass players.

Enter the mellophone -- one day I was browsing some web
sites with used instruments looking for a euph for a friend
and, lo and behold, there was a mellophone!  Since the
shop happened to be in my own town, I drove down to the
store to look at it and play it.  It is, as you say, a weird
spin-off on a French horn.  You play it with the right hand,
instead of the left, and the valves are piston, rather than
rotary.  The mouthpiece is about half-way between a trumpet
and a baritone size and, with just a few minutes of playing,
my embouchure adjusted easily to it (I am a baritone/euph
player in my normal life).  It has several "bits" -- slides of
different length that take the place of the main tuning slide
and first and second valve slides and, between the use and
proper positioning of all of these bits, it can play in F, Eb,
D, C and Bb, making it one of the most versatile horns
I've ever played.  I bought it and, suddenly, my quintets had
a player that could take all of those pesky "Horn in F" parts
and I didn't have to constantly recruit someone who has
spent their whole lives learning to play left-handed and with
an embouchure appropriate to a mouthpiece the size of
a soda straw!

At most of the gigs I have played with this mellophone,
almost no one in audience has noticed that it is NOT a
French horn, and the other players in my quintets say it
fits the voicing of the quintet just fine, so it's really fitting
the bill quite well.  Now, I'll never pass myself off as a French
horn soloist, or audition for a symphony with that horn, but
it has been a fun and fulfilling addition to my amateur
musical life, allowing me to stretch myself into new rep
and keep my quintets running along.

So, where did it come from?  The manufacturer is
Buescher, of Chicago, and I believe the horn spent most
of its life in a Shriner Band.  I don't know if you have Shriners
in England (or, for that matter, if you are in England), but,
in the US we have several male fraternal orders (Elk, Moose,
Rotary Club, Exchange Club, Shriners, etc.) whose primary
purpose is community service.  Depending on the club,
they have different levels of costume, mysticism, etc.
associated with their operations.  The Shriners draw their
influence from some kind of Egyptian or Zoroastrian
background and wear very showy costumes with harem
pants, vests, fez and so forth.  And they have bands;
some of the ones I've heard are very good.  Presumably they
must, at some point, have used mellophones in these bands.
The case of my mellophone (which is quite old, but still
servicable) has "Sudan Temple Band" on the side, and one
owner of it had the initials "B D W."  I don't know where this
Sudan Temple group is, or who B D W is/was, but his horn
is now safe in my hands and being used, which is, of course,
what the destiny of a horn should be.

Would it be wonderful in other modern ensemble settings?
I'm not sure.  It certainly shouldn't be used in a brass band --
it doesn't fit the voicing the way the tenorhorn does.  And I
guess French horns have established their place in the
symphonies and symphonic bands of the world.  But there's
nothing "wrong" with the instrument for what it is, and I hope
other mellophones like mine are being used in all the ways
their extreme flexibility allows.

Regards,

Connie Varner

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