World of Pageantry

I'm wondering what all you experts out there think about the differences between the marching horn (Bb?) & mellophone(F?)? Why one or the other??

Thanks

wasnt there a thread on this? mayb it was baritone or euphonium
i forget

I'm in a section with both right now. I think the mellos have a brighter sound but are able to manuever through the music easier and get into the higher register smoother. The horns have the dark rich sounds of an actual french horn, but have issues with range and pure note accuracy. Its hard to play a french horn while marching. Either way, i think they're both awesome!

I've always preferred a mixed section, assuming your band is big enough to do so. I like to mix F altos (smaller bell, imagine a flugelhorn in F) with mells. I also like the sound of flugelhorn with horns. The problem is always finding the pitch center throughout the range of the instrument and matching pitch in the section. That's why I love horns with the universal tuning slides (like Kanstul and the new Dynastys).

we also have a mixed section.

I play the mello, I like it way better then just the horn... a lot easier to play, way better sound... but then again it could just be the person that plays it haha...

in our band it seems almost as if the "1st horns" play the mello and the "2nd and 3rd" play the horn... it works out pretty well.

We have a two-man mello section. I've never tried a Marching Horn, but if it's as hard to get a pitch on as the concert horn, I think I like mellophone better.