Mellophone - History

History

A distinction must be made between:

1. Traditional mellophones with a rear facing bell.
2. The marching mellophone.

The traditional instrument was visually modeled on the French horn and has a rear facing bell. Unlike French horns, the bell points to the left of the player instead of on the right. It was used as an alto voice both outdoors and indoors by community and school bands in place of the French horn. These instruments are still made today, but are generally lacking in quality as there is not a professional market for them. They are more closely related to the alto horns used commonly in brass bands.

Mellophone bugles were manufactured for American drum and bugle corps from approximately the 1950s until around 2000 when Drum Corps International Drum Corps International changed the rules to allow brass instruments in any key. Because of rule changes over the years, bugles have undergone a lot of change. In the seventies, bugles had one horizontal piston valve (1 step) and one (half-step) rotary valve operated by the thumbs. When the rules prohibiting vertical pistons were lifted, bugles received two vertical piston valves. In 1989, rules passed to include a third vertical piston to make corps horns fully chromatic for the first time. Mellophone Bugles keyed in G were primarily used until 2000 when rules passed allowing instruments in any key.

Modern marching mellophones are more directly related to bugle-horns such as the flugelhorn, euphonium, and tuba. Their design is more radically conical than horns, producing a sound generally considered more suitable for martial music; a mellophone tends to be easier to articulate sharply as is required by martial music.