Listening Project Chapter 7

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We continue the listening project with a flurry of Japanese artists.

Makoto Matsushita was an easy inclusion into the project for me, as his beautiful album First Light (1982) is my favorite city pop album. But he also made three more albums, so I checked them out. The Pressures and Pleasures (1982) and Quiet Skies (1983) were more of the same soft city pop style is First Light, but to me none of their songs reached the same level as most of the songs in First Light, which are pillars of the genre for good reason. In 2019, Matsushita-san released a very different album from his previous work. Called Visions, it is an ambient album. I do like some ambient, but this particular album wasn’t for me, except for the first track “M 31 Andromeda”.

Mariya Takeuchi is the artist behind the legendary “Plastic Love”, the most famous and iconic city pop song. That song is most peoples’ first exposure to the genre, and is a wonderful track. Takeuchi-san has quite a few albums, and while most of the songs therein lean more towards just pop rather than city pop, I found a few gorgeous songs that I love - 3 from Expressions and 2 from Request.

Miki Matsubara is another well-known city pop artist, thanks to her hit “Stay With Me”. But like Mariya Takeuchi and most city pop artists, she has an extensive discography besides. Sadly, she is no longer with us as cancer took her far too soon in 2004, but she left behind plenty of great music. Out of her songs that I’ve added to my library, the most unique is probably “Touhikou”, which has a very dark, almost Bond vibe in the choruses.

microstar is an interesting artist that I don’t really know how to describe, as every album/EP has a different sound. While most of it wasn’t my cup of tea, the album She Got The Blues is where all of the microstar tracks I like come from.

Satoshi Bandoh is a drummer and composer who has played with T-Square since 2004, maintains a solo career, and also played on the soundtracks to Gran Turismo and Mario Kart 8. So basically, everything that’s right up my alley. I’ve known and loved one of his songs as an artist (“Every Moment”) for years, so it was no surprise to me that I found several more to love in his 3-album discography. Funky, modern jazz fusion at its best!

It’s hard to think of an artist that I would be guaranteed to love more than Masahiro Andoh. In addition to being the founding guitarist/composer/leader of T-Square, Andoh-san also wrote some of the soundtracks to the early Gran Turismo games, which were the sound of my youth and one of my biggest musical inspirations. His discography is only two albums, but they are strong albums. Winter Songs is a precious little pearl of joy and warmth.

Akira Jimbo is a drummer who most notably played in the band Casiopea, but he also has an extensive library as a solo artist. For me, while I did really enjoy a few songs, most were tarnished by Akira’s overly-showoffy drumming. It often sounded like I was listening to a drummer performing at a drummer convention, showing off as many hip polyrhythmic fills as he could in order to impress his fellow drummers. Drummers might hear it differently, but to me these constant random fills ruined the groove and never felt like they were serving the music.

TRIX is a newer Japanese jazz fusion band in the same vein as Casiopea and T-Square, formed by former members of those two bands in 2004. After listening to the complete libraries of all three bands, if I had to compare their styles in general terms it would be as follows:

  • Casiopea: Gran Turismo

  • T-Square: Mario Kart

  • TRIX: Sonic the Hedgehog

Especially with the synth patch choices, TRIX got a heavy Sonic vibe going in quite a few tracks. Otherwise, it felt like their sound was somewhere in between Casiopea and T-Square.

Based on how much I love the music of those two bands, you’d think TRIX would be a slam dunk for me. But while the arrangements and playing were just as tight, there was something off about most of TRIX’s library to me. Most of the time it was the mix that felt lifeless to me…bass too quiet and everything above sounding empty and flat. Sometimes it was the melodies, which were often boring, even amateurish. Sometimes it just felt that the band was playing it very safe. Other times it was all of the above. I did find a few songs that had none of those problems and were great listens, and those are now saved in my library alongside the many Casiopea and T-Square songs. But I expected to love a lot more going in. Oh well! We move on.

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Listening Project Chapter 6

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As we move into fall 2024, I’ve listened to enough artists for this listening project that I’ve come across a few that I just didn’t like. These won’t receive a write-up, but will eventually be included in the final list of artists I listened to in this project. With that clarification out of the way, we move right along.

PROTODOME is the artist name of Dr. Blake Troise, a researcher and musician who makes funky chiptune fusion music. Protodome’s library was a refreshing change from…well, pretty much everything else in my listening project. Four tracks really stood out to me. “Hotline Coldcall” and “New York Cheesecake” are delightful, groovy chip fusion that just makes you smile. “Nostalgia Breaks Hearts…” is a little gem that’s surprisingly poignant. Finally, “4000ad” is a real triumph - an 8-minute epic made entirely with 1-bit synthesis.

Electro Deluxe is a French fusion band that isn’t as well known as they should be. I initially discovered them through their fabulous cover of “Staying Alive”, but their library has a lot more to discover. Most notable to me is the album “Live in Paris”, where they are joined by a full big band. To me the band really comes alive in this format, and this album is an absolute jewel - like the perfect cocktail of Tower of Power and European big band jazz. I gushed about it when I first heard about it and I’ll gush here again - in my mind this album is a must-listen.

Chappell Roan has been taking the world by storm, and has become something of a patron saint for lesbians everywhere. I had friends recommending Chappell’s work very highly, so I bumped her library up the list and listened to all of it twice. The word I would use to describe Chappell the most is refreshing. It is refreshing to hear pop music with a great voice, great songwriting, great lyrics, and heart. Most pop music nowadays all feels like the same bland, formulaic drivel designed specifically to print money and nothing else. Well-produced and engineered yes, but memorable? Absolutely not. Chappell’s music is fun to listen to, it is memorable, and (most importantly) it makes you feel things.

For me, the slow songs were really what drew me in, especially on the second listen. In fact, out of my 5 favorite songs, “Red Wine Supernova” is the only one that is up-tempo. The rest (“Bad for You”, “School Nights”, “Coffee”, and “Kaleidoscope”) are slow heartbreakers or sensual love letters. When you’re in a more melancholy mood, those four songs are enchanting. They draw you into your own emotions in the exact way that you want.

With a start like this, I can’t wait to heart what Chappell Roan will create going forward.

Sadly, Sabrina Carpenter to me is more of the usual bland pop that is the vast majority of the genre. However, I did find one song to love in her library with “In My Bed”.

Listening Project Chapter 5

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We continue the project with ABBA, an artist near and dear to my heart.

Like everyone, I knew ABBA for “Dancing Queen” since I was a kid. I had also heard “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme” several times and liked it. But I never explored further until one random day in 2022, as I was working the early morning shipment shift at Banana Republic and the default Spotify playlist we had going played “Lay All Your Love On Me”. Once I got off work I HAD to hear that song again, and began exploring ABBA’s library.

It turns out that “Lay All Your Love On Me” is one of the tracks on what instantly became one of my all-time favorite albums, Super Trouper. I absolutely adore that album and listen to it often. At the time I also listened to every album before it, comprising all of ABBA’s mega hits. I found other songs to fall in love with, including three from “Voulez-Vous” and three others (including “Dancing Queen”, of course).

But I stopped there, figuring I’d listen to the few albums after Super Trouper at some point. Well, with my listening project in full swing, “at some point” has come and gone and…I have to be honest, nothing in “The Visitors” or “Voyage” was worth saving to me. There were a couple of decent songs (“Head Over Heels”, “No Doubt About It”) but I wasn’t a fan of anything else.

A shame, but I have all I need with Super Trouper and all my other cherished ABBA songs.

After this short jaunt was complete I turned my attention to an artist brand new to me: Sophie Ellis-Bextor, an English pop artist. She was the lead vocalist for indie pop band Theaudience (whose music is majorly not my vibe) in the late-’90s before going solo.

Sophie’s music is all very well-made and refined with catchy vocals - the perfect pop formula. As with most pop music there was a lot that I didn’t care for, but I found quite a few songs that I really enjoy. She started out strong with the first track on her debut album “Read My Lips”, “Murder On The Dancefloor”. This song is ultra-catchy, has a great vibe, and sounds like it should be on GTA V’s Non-Stop Pop FM radio.

Chances are I’m going to keep a song around if I find myself randomly singing it, and since I went through Sophie’s library I’ve noticed that happening with “Murder On The Dancefloor” and “Me And My Imagination”, my two favorite songs from this library. Those two songs along would make this listen worth it, but there’s plenty of other songs to love. “Heartbreak - Make Me A Dancer”, “Love Is Here”, “Bittersweet”…as I write this I’ve been going back through all of my favorites and playing them on repeat.

If you like modern dance-y pop, I can heartily recommend giving Sophie’s entire library a listen.

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Listening Project Chapter 4

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After listening to 3 artists with massive libraries and similar styles, I wanted to take a left turn for the next few artists.

First up was Opolopo, a Hungarian/Swedish dance producer with a hefty library of funky, disco-y, house-y dance tracks. I ended up saving 15 tracks. If you like funk, disco, house, and dance music you’ll probably find something to like by Opolopo. My favorite track was definitely “In the Thick of It - Opolopo Dub Remix” by Joey Negro, The Sunburst Band, Angela Johnson, Dave Lee, and of course Opolopo.

Next up was the Spice Girls. I’d only ever heard the hits and figured there was more to the group than just the hits everyone knows from back in the day. The Spice Girls’ library is quite small, and I only ended up saving 3 songs: Too Much, Saturday Night Divas, and Holler. Most pop (no matter how good the group is) doesn’t do anything for me, so this is not a surprising result. With every artist in this listening project, if I find even one song I like enough to save and put in my library, it’s worth it…but this is especially true of pop artists and rock bands.

Speaking of rock bands, after the Spice Girls I took another turn and went to Van Halen. Also a fairly short discography, but plenty of hits throughout. I saved 7 songs, some hits but others not so well known.

After Van Halen I felt like continuing the rock kick, so I turned to Boston next. The first album (self-titled) turned out to be one of the best albums I’ve ever heard. It is genuinely a masterpiece, and in my opinion a truly perfect album. I was blown away. Sadly, not a single song after this first album did much for me, but the exceptional first album is more than enough.

The Tiffany Johns Listening Project

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Finding new music to love is hard.

In an era where an impossible amount of music is at your fingertips via Spotify and other streaming services, it feels harder than ever to find music that you really love. The weeds you must wade through to find a gem are thick and stretch beyond the horizon. I spend quite a lot of time and energy trying to wade through these weeds, but it’s slow going. It’s very rare that I find even one song that I really like, let alone an entire artist.

In January 2023, I began using Spotify’s fleet of discovery tools every day, in a much more dedicated effort to find new music to love. Over the course of that year I did indeed find some amazing music and artists that I never would have come across otherwise, and I added a lot to my library. However, I eventually got to the point where any of the discovery tools kept showing me the same songs they had already shown me before, so I moved on.

About a year later, in early 2024, I had the idea to dive more into artists I already know in a methodical manner, rather than attempting to discover new songs and artists by chance or via an algorithm. I realized that even my favorite artists have a lot of music I’ve never listened to; in fact, I can only think of two artists whose entire library I had listened to before I started this project: Moonchild and Dirty Loops. Along with this, I have massive holes in my knowledge of more popular music (in case you weren’t already aware, I was a turbo nerd in high school) and have intended to fix that for a long time.

So, with all that in mind, I decided to start an ambitious listening project that would take years to complete. I went to Spotify and added the entire discography of every artist I like or want to discover into a few colossal listening playlists sorted by genre. Each of these playlists has thousands of songs, and a couple of them reached the Spotify playlist limit (9,999 songs) so I had to start a second playlist for that genre. These playlists include my favorite artists, artists who have a few songs I really like but I never explored further, artists that I feel like I should know based on the genres I listen to, and artists that I feel like I should know as a Millennial.

I will make a post for each artist when I finish their library, giving general thoughts and my favorite albums. I will also be buying physical copies of the albums I really love - support artists directly! I will also be doing a summary post when I finish each genre, and years in the future maybe an overall summary of the project when I finish them all. All of these will be linked at the bottom of this post.

One final note: I’m writing this after having already finished one artist and nearly finished another. I’ll detail this more in the individual artist posts, but I feel that it’s important to also state here that I have already felt incredibly enriched from this project, and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone.

Here are my favorite albums from the artists I’ve discovered ( * = I knew the album beforehand):

  • ABBA - Super Trouper (1980)*

  • Boston - Boston (1976)

  • Casiopea - Make Up City (1980)*

  • Casiopea - Mint Jams (1982)*

  • Casiopea - The Party (1990)

  • Casiopea - Answers (1994)

  • Casiopea - 20th (2000)

  • Casiopea - Living on a Feeling ~ Casiopea Night Selection (2009)

  • Incognito - Tribes, Vibes + Scribes (1992)

  • Jimsaku - Dispensation (1996)

  • T-Square - 夏の惑星 (Natsu no wakusei) (1994)

  • T-Square w/Munich Symphony - 宝島 (Takarajima) (1995)

  • T-Square - Wordless Anthology II (1999)

  • T-Square - 33 (2007)

  • T-Square - Wings (2012)

  • T-Square - Crème de la Crème (2020)

Chapters:

Alto Flugelhorn

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There are alto trumpets, alto cornets, alto bugles, and of course alto horns, along with many other alto-voice brass instruments that have more interesting names. But what about an alto flugelhorn? This would be an instrument a 4th or 5th below the standard flugelhorn, still with a flugelhorn bore profile. This instrument does exist, but it’s not very common. It’s even rarer than alto trumpet or alto cornet, but it seems to bring more to the table than either of those do.

Here’s my alto flugelhorn - an “Elkhart”-stenciled Couesnon alto flugelhorn in F or E-flat:

This instrument has a gorgeous low flugelhorn sound that matches my Couesnon flugelhorn very well. In my opinion the sound is so purely flugelhorn that if someone heard an audio sample without knowing what instrument was playing, I’m guessing most brass players would immediately guess a 4-valve flugelhorn or maybe some other kind of flugelhorn. It does have a subtle hint of euphonium to the sound as well.

This alto flugelhorn plays just as well as my fabulous pre-WWI Couesnon flugelhorn, and in terms of pure objective ease of play it may be the best bell-front valved brass instrument in alto F that I’ve tried yet. It’s wonderful and addicting to play, and the sound is creamy smooth.

Couesnon alto flugelhorn (left), Couesnon flugelhorn (right)

These Couesnon alto flugels used to grow on trees on eBay, but in the past decade or so they sort of disappeared. I was surprised when this one showed up recently, and this time I didn’t let it pass me by.

Sadly, I don’t still own my DEG 1220 alto cornet to directly compare the two, but this alto flugelhorn sounds VERY different than the DEG ever did. It has that velvety flugelhorn darkness that the alto cornet just didn’t have, much more like the Dynasty III alto bugle in G (which is essentially an extra-large G flugelhorn).

Here’s a quick back-to-back comparison I did of the flugel and alto flugel. Hopefully, despite the phone microphone, you can hear the subtleties in each instrument’s sound.

Lastly, here are some photos of other types of alto flugelhorn out there. Most are in E-flat, which makes sense as the even rarer soprano flugelhorn is also in E-flat.

Taylor “Phatter Boy” in E-flat, referred to by the maker as a tenor flugelhorn

1937 Selmer Paris alto flugelhorn, key unknown (probably E-flat as pictured, with an alternate F slide)

Jules de Vere & Co. alto flugelhorn in E-flat

Henry Distin rotary alto flugelhorn in F, restored and photographed by Robb Stewart

Leo Mitsching rotary alto flugelhorn in E-flat

B-flat Tenor Brass: What's the Difference?

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Bass trumpets. Flugabones. Trombones in various bore sizes. Baritones in various shapes and sizes. Euphoniums. There are so many different kinds of 9-foot B-flat brass instruments that broadly function in the tenor register, so how do you justify them all?

Easy: they all sound different! Admittedly sometimes the differences are small, but the differences ARE there. Each was designed for a different purpose, but how do they compare when you put them head to head? Time to find out!

What follows is a cornucopia of audio files from various 9-foot instruments that I owned or had access to long enough to sit down and record for a while. This is by no means complete yet; I have a bunch more instruments and instrument/mouthpiece combinations to record, and I will continue adding to this as I gain access to different instruments. It is a forever work in progress, but hopefully before long it will be a comprehensive archive of most of the B-flat low brass out there. I may add tenor brass in other keys as well, but I’ll have to rework the excerpts to accommodate their ranges.

For now, let’s take a brief look at the instruments I’ll be demoing.

1973 King 3B tenor trombone (.508” bore)

This is my main gigging commercial tenor trombone. It is extremely versatile, equally at home knocking down buildings on a funk or salsa gig or playing in a brass quintet. I use two mouthpieces with this instrument - a Warburton 8S/4* (very shallow lead mouthpiece) and a Hammond 11M (normal-depth V-cup general purpose mouthpiece).

1979 Conn 5H tenor trombone (.500” bore)

This is an Abilene Conn 5H, which is a lightened 6H. It tends to have a bright sound with lots of core, great for pop work. It doesn’t like my Hammond 11M, so I use it only with my shallow Warburton 8S/4* (which it likes very much).

1984 King 1130 flugabone (.500” bore)

The source of the word “flugabone”, and a very good player. I’ve gigged on this a ton and its shouty sound is a great asset to have. Gotta be careful with mouthpiece choice though!

1973 Olds O-21 flugabone (.515” bore)

Another flugabone (or “marching trombone” in Olds-speak) that feels more refined and restrained than the King 1130. The better choice for classical flugabone playing (???) and jazz combo work.

Josef Lidl rotary Bb bass trumpet (~.440” bore)

An old-school bass trumpet with a very small bore, that makes up for its difficulty with its piercing trumpet sound.

Blessing Artist M-300 marching baritone (.562” bore)

An older model of marching baritone that plays very well with a nice, colorful sound. I used this model baritone in high school marching band! This model also has a Bauerfiend valve set for some reason???

The Excerpts

I’ve prepared five contrasting excerpts to showcase the differences in all the instruments that will be playing them. (And by “prepared”, I mean “improvised on the spot when recording the first instrument”.) They are all very short, but give some good information. All instruments were recorded close-mic’d into my Cascade Fat Head ribbon microphone. I generally left intonation foibles in rather than re-taking until it was perfect, as tricky intonation is an important part of playing each instrument.

First up is a short marcato excerpt with 3 parts. I divided up the takes into 1 part solo, 3 parts (1 on a part), and 3 parts tripled (3 on a part).

Solo first:

3 parts (1 on a part, no doublings):

3 parts tripled (3 on a part) and panned to simulate a large section:

The next excerpt is a very short, softer triadic statement that starts high and ends low. As with the last excerpt, this one has 3 parts and was recorded the same 3 ways.

Solo first:

3 parts (1 on a part, no doublings):

3 parts tripled (3 on a part) and panned to simulate a large section:

The next excerpt is quick, high, and loud. 3 parts, nothing else. Very simple.

This one is a brief jazz excerpt in a typical 4-part big band trombone section style.

The last excerpt is a short 4-part chorale on the softer side. Starting with just the 4 parts, we’ll go through some fun variations later.

4 parts, no doubling:

The same stems as above, but this time drenched in some nice reverb:

This time each of the 4 parts is doubled, making for 8 total players.

Now we take the doubled parts and bring the reverb back.

Just for fun, after I finished recording the first 6 instruments, I unmuted all tracks on the chorale and exported that result too. This makes 48 players on 4 parts - 12 on a part, 2 per instrument. Just in case you ever wanted to know what a massed choir of bass trumpets, trombones, flugabones, and marching baritones sounded like.

Finally, I thought the massed chorale sounded so good that I decided to try pitch shifting the whole thing to see how it would sound in different ranges. I started by pitching down, but I was not prepared for the heavenly trumpet sound I got when I pitched up!

That’s all for now. As mentioned at the top of the post, there are still more instruments to record. At the very least, I have 4 trombones, possibly a bass trombone or 3, British baritone horn, and euphonium to add to the pile. In time!

In the mean time, if you’re interested in more comparisons, I uploaded some quick phone mic comparisons of some of these instruments on YouTube a few days ago.

Brass Instruments That Don't Exist (But Should)

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It goes without saying (especially on this particular website) that there are a lot of brass instruments out there. Some probably shouldn’t exist, and others are probably not distinct enough to really deserve their own name. But they exist nonetheless, and going down the rabbit hole to discover and make sense of all of them is an endeavor that takes years.

But even though the concept of a mouthpiece attached to a metal cone has been tried hundreds or even thousands of ways, I believe we have not explored all that is possible in the brasswind medium. More to the point, I believe there are some brass instruments that should exist…but don’t. That’s what I’m going to discuss here, and hopefully inspire intrepid makers to make them a reality. (I can dream, ok?) Naturally, these are just my personal opinions, and if you have a different idea of a non-existent brass instrument that you wish was less non-existent, I’d love to hear about it.

Alto Euphonium

This might be the instrument I wish existed the most - a true F or E-flat alto tuba in the British euphonium style, with 3+1 compensating valves, a much larger bore and bell throat than an alto horn, and a small trombone mouthpiece shank. Technically, an alto euphonium does exist: the Yamaha YEH-901ST, which was made in a very limited (14 or 15) run in 1984-85 for Yamaha artists. It only had 3 valves, none of them have ever been for sale, and Yamaha no longer has the tooling to make any more. So although it technically does exist, practically speaking it might as well not. But this is the idea.

Yamaha YEH-901ST alto euphonium in E-flat (picture from Hidekazu Okayama’s website)

I plan to get an alto euphonium custom made for me from parts, as I really believe in its potential. Hopefully that project might inspire makers to give the concept a try. If my alto euphonium project is successful, I may then think about trying a soprano euphonium as well.

(Compensating) Euphonium in C

A similar (but less radical) instrument I’d like to see more of is a professional compensating euphonium in C. This did exist as the Besson BE765C, a special order instrument available until the company moved to Germany in 2006. That tooling is also likely long gone, and the picture below is the only evidence I have ever seen of the model. I can’t imagine more than a handful were ever made.

Besson BE765C-2 euphonium in C (left), Besson BE765-2 euphonium in B-flat (right). Picture from Hidekazu Okayama’s website.

C euphoniums do exist and are used in some parts of the world, but apart from the Besson above there are none that I know of that are British-style professional instruments. C tubas are a standard for orchestral tubists…I see no reason why a British-style compensating euphonium in C couldn’t also have merit, especially as a doubling instrument for tubists used to C fingerings.

6/4 American-Style Tenor Tuba

There have been some extra-large compensating euphoniums in the past, but what I’m proposing goes a step further. Massive 6/4 York-style C tubas are very much in vogue…why not try that same blueprint an octave up? Give it 4 front-action pistons with a 5th rotor and orchestral tuba players will flock to it as a doubling instrument even more than the C compensating euphonium mentioned above.

Bass Euphonium

I know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t a bass euphonium just an F tuba?” And I don’t blame you for thinking that, especially when small bell British F and Eb tubas that look and sound like big euphoniums exist. But my thought for an instrument called “bass euphonium” would be to take the dimensions of a modern compensating euphonium (.590” starting bore size) and use them to build an instrument in low G. The goal is an instrument somewhere in between a euphonium and bass tuba in sound. I will admit, this one isn’t that important to me, but I think it would be an interesting experiment. I have seen a few very small bass tubas for sale that have seemed like really good candidates to cut down into a bass euphonium. I’ve even seen a piston F tuba with a 12-inch bell!

Soprano Mellophone/Mellophonium

A custom Holton Bb soprano mellophonium, made from parts

A soprano mellophone in high B-flat is something I’ve wanted for a long time. A couple have been cobbled together from parts using trombone bells (see the above picture), but that’s not really the real deal. I’m talking new mandrels and tapers that match a modern mellophone, just a scaled down for an instrument a 4th higher. I would suggest still using a trumpet shank and the same bore size as an F mellophone, as you still want it to feel like a mellophone. Truthfully, I would love a soprano mellophonium with a .500” bore, the same as the Conn 16E mellophonium. But as no maker makes a bell-front mellophone that large anymore, you’d have to do that first and then make the high Bb version. Which…I would also welcome with open arms. I love my 16E, but that design leaves a ton of room for improvement by a modern maker.

Lower Mellophones

If the mellophone formula can be expanded upwards, why not downwards as well? I used to own a Conn 8E ballad horn from 1930, which is essentially a tenor mellophone in C or B-flat. But (to my knowledge) a modern bell-front tenor mellophone is not something that anyone has ever attempted. I even think a bass mellophone in F (an octave below the standard mellophone) would have a lot of potential.

I have been fascinated by the idea of a complete mellophone or mellophonium family for a long time, and even drew freehand sketches of what I would imagine some of the non-existent members could look like.

An old sketch of mine for a bass mellophonium in low F. I figured for an instrument of this length, an upright design was much more practical as a normal mellophonium is already an ergonomic challenge.

An old sketch of mine for a soprano mellophonium in high Bb.

I even sketched a little sopranino!

A Real Bass Horn

I’m not talking about the “bass horns” out there that are basically just rewrapped tubas. I’m talking about a proper double horn a 4th or 5th below a normal double horn, with a small bore proportionate to that of a normal horn, playable by a horn player or trombone/euphonium player, with a dedicated mouthpiece that’s a deep horn mouthpiece scaled up to around big alto horn (~19mm) to small trombone size. Much like modern descant horns usually use the same bells as double horns, the bass horn could use standard XL-throat double horn bells, like those from a Conn 8D or King Eroica.

Endangered Instruments

This category is for instruments that do exist, and you can even order them in some cases, but they are FAR too rare - often nearly impossible to find and/or prohibitively expensive. These are instruments that I would like to see someone step up and make more widely available. I think rare, odd instruments like these are the perfect specimens for Jinbao/Wessex/etc. to take on. They’ll be playable enough, but also affordable enough that many players can try them out, and maybe get a boutique maker to make them a better one if they like it enough. If you start with the ultra-expensive handmade custom horns, nobody will ever buy one and the market won’t materialize. But if you start cheap, it just might. Certainly, these instruments would make more sense and have more merit than some of the odd instruments Jinbao has chosen to clone.

  • Soprano flugelhorn (they are always in Eb, but I would love one in F as well)

  • Flugelhorn in C (with pistons and a 3rd slide trigger, just like a normal flugelhorn)

  • Martin-style jazz flugelhorn (the Miles Davis horn)

  • Alto flugelhorn (G, F, or Eb, a la the Couesnon)

  • Alto cornet (G, F, or Eb, a la the DEG model 1220)

  • Alto trumpet (G, F, or Eb)

  • Bass cornet (C or Bb)

  • Double trumpets (Bb/low F, Bb/high Eb, C/high F)

  • High F and G trumpets, especially with 4 valves

  • 4-valve C and Bb trumpets

  • 3-valve Bach-style piston bass trumpet in C (with main tuning trigger)

  • Contrabass trumpet (F or Eb)

  • British-style alto horn with 4 valves (most recent example: Kanstul ZAT-1540)

  • British-style 3+1 compensating baritone horn

  • Double bell alto horns, baritone horns, and tubas

  • British-style 3+2 non-compensating euphonium

  • Large bore (.500") soprano trombone (with valve and tuning-in-slide)

  • Large bore (.547”) alto trombone (with Bb valve, possibly tuning-in-slide)

  • Alto trombone in F

  • Alto valve trombone (F or Eb)

  • Large bore, bell-up trombonium (a la Conn 90G)

  • Bass trombonium (3 valves, in low F or E-flat)

  • Sopranino trombone in Eb

  • Tenor trombone in C

  • Tenor or bass trombone in Bb/F/ascending C

  • Double valve (Bb/F/Gb) tenor trombone (in .508”, .525”, and .547”)

  • Modern bass trombones in low G or F (hey pBone, please make a straight F bass. I’d love you forever)

  • G contrabass trombone (a la Jeff Reynolds)

  • Tuba-shaped F cimbasso (a la Kalison)

  • Tubas in G and D (G = shortened small F, D = shortened 4/4 rotary C)

  • Valved ophicleide (I would LOVE to try an F bass valved ophicleide in a brass quintet)

  • French ascending piston double horn (a la Selmer Thevet Ascendant)

  • Ascending double horns in general

  • Bass Vienna horn (F/C)

Other Pie-in-the-Sky Ideas (that I’m not actively hoping for, but would be fun)

  • Alto superbone

  • A superbone with 2 valves and a 4-position handslide, requiring you to use both in tandem constantly to play chromatically

  • New sizes of corno da tirarsi (slide horn), and corni da tirarsi with a valve or two

  • New sizes of Wagner tuba (alto in Eb, contrabass in C, high double in Eb/Bb, low double in F/C)

  • French ascending piston triple horn and double descant horn

  • Soprano trombones in G and C

  • Soprano valve trombone (in a shape and taper that distinguishes it from a trumpet)

  • 3 and 4 valve trumpets (not alto trumpets, or soprano bugles) in G

  • Contrabass cornet in F or G

  • 4-valve compensating flugelhorn

  • Tubas/euphs/baritones/tenor horns/cimbassos with echo bells (like an echo cornet)

  • A Bb contrabass trombone that doesn’t suck (the most unrealistic idea here)

G Bugles

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If you’ve been wandering around my website and have noticed a fair bit of content regarding a bunch of weird bugles in G and want to know what that’s about, if you’re interested in G bugles and want to know which ones could be the most useful, or if you’re deep into the G bugle game and you just want to consume as much G bugle content as possible, this article is for you.

I’ll start with a very brief history lesson and a definition of what exactly a G “bugle” really is.

Civilian drum and bugle corps in the United States began after World War I, initially using actual valveless military bugles for the brass line. Eventually they started adding valves to the bugles, which were only allowed to be in the key of G. First came a single horizontal piston, then 1 piston and 1 rotor, 2 pistons, and finally 3 pistons. Each change came after a long and laborious process of arguing for and against The Tradition™, a drum corps pastime that continues to this day.

Along with valves, new brass voices were gradually added to the allowed instrumentation, and while many of them were not at all bugles, they were still called bugles. (For this reason I like referring to the “family” as a whole as competition bugles, rather than just bugles.) This resulted in fun names like “French horn bugle” and “trombonium bugle” that sound like they came from a Dr. Seuss book. Weird naming scheme aside, drum corps instrumentation was rife with experimentation until the year 2000, when the rules were changed to allow brass instruments in any key, instead of just G.

Drum corps is a pretty insular activity, and as a result most brass players who aren’t into drum corps don’t know much (if at all) about the G bugles. I myself never marched, and so my main interest in G bugles has always been “which of these instruments is useful outside of drum corps?”, and that’s mainly what this article is about. I have been fortunate to own a smattering of ultra-cool, ultra-rare G bugles in the past few years, and have used a few of them in very not-drum-corps environments, so I feel like I can answer that question pretty well at this point. If you are a G bugle collector, this information and advice probably does not apply to you. Let’s dive in!

Soprano Bugle

King K-20 soprano bugle

The soprano bugle was the top voice of the G hornline. These are essentially trumpets in G with an extra large bore and bell throat, and they are SCREAMERS. If that sounds appealing, you would probably enjoy a 2-valve soprano. The 2 valve horns are extremely light and extremely free-blowing, and if you’re playing screamer parts you don’t need the 3rd valve. Look for a King K-20 or Dynasty II.

However, I believe the soprano bugle’s real niche outside of drum corps is the LOW notes. Put an extra-large mouthpiece into a 3-valve soprano and you have an excellent G alto trumpet. With the huge scarcity of real alto trumpets in F or E-flat, a 3-valve G soprano bugle (which you can easily pick up online for around $200) is a legitimately useful tool for a trumpet player, or an interesting left-field choice for someone looking to add a high brass instrument to their stable.

Dynasty G350B soprano bugle

While I would definitely recommend holding out for a 3-valve for the reasons above, an ultra-cheap 2-valve soprano is not a bad pickup either. It is fully chromatic at sounding E4 and above, which can still be useful (especially if you already have a trumpet). Just don’t spend very much!

Piccolo Soprano Bugle

These are an octave above the G soprano bugle, and are very rare. Almost all of them have two valves, making them chromatic only down to sounding E5. An interesting curiosity yet ultimately not worth looking for, especially as if one does show up for sale it will not be cheap.

Flugelhorn Bugle

Dynasty II flugelhorn bugle

Flugel bugles are not a common type of bugle, but they did see quite a bit of use in the 2-valve era. As the flugelhorn’s strength is the middle register and not the high register, I tend to think 2-valve flugel bugles are not very useful. That said, if you really want a flugelhorn and can’t find a dirt cheap one in Bb, a 2-valve G flugel bugle might be your cheapest way into a playable, nice-sounding flugelhorn. Do not show up to any kind of gig with one, but for home use and multitracking it can be a great option for the right price (no more than $200). You get the same lowest note (sounding E3) as a Bb flugel and just have 4 missing notes (Ab3-Bb3, Eb4) above that, but if you have any other mellow alto instruments that’s easy to write around. For 2-valve flugel bugles, look for the King K-30 or Dynasty II.

As for 3-valve flugelhorn bugles, they barely exist. Dynasty had one model, but it’s just a Signature 2000 Bb flugel with tubing added, which is not a good recipe. Kanstul did make at least one, but it was not a standard part of their catalog. Yamaha made a full set for the Blue Devils in 1992, but they were just modified Bb flugels. If you want a 3-valve flugel-like instrument, look to the alto bugle instead.

Alto Bugle

Kanstul KAB-175 alto bugle

The alto bugle is usually a mellophone with a smaller bell, but the older ones (particularly the 2-valve Dynasty II Alto/Symphonic or the impossibly rare Dynasty III 3-valve version) are essentially big flugelhorns in G. A bit more horn-like when pushed, but otherwise all flugel. However, as the 2-valve is missing the same notes as a 2-valve flugel bugle (and is very rare), and the 3-valve I used to own is the only example I’ve seen of that model ever existing, these older (1970s) Dynasty alto bugles are not something to bet on.

The more common smaller bell mellophone type (King K-40 2-valve, Kanstul 175, later Dynasty II, later mellophone-wrap Dynasty III), is an interesting beast. With an alto horn mouthpiece, they sound like an even sweeter flugelhorn. However, they were usually designed around a marching mellophone mouthpiece, which means they can play far too flat to be usable when you use an alto horn mouthpiece. My early-pattern Kanstul KAB-175 was this way. I could only use a marching mellophone mouthpiece like it was designed for, and it played exceptionally well with that, but no longer sounded anything like a flugelhorn. Instead, the sound you get with that combination is more like a cross between mellophone and trumpet. It is certainly a unique and interesting sound, but not one that I would call useful. I’d love to hear it in a jazz combo or pop horn section, though.

Mellophone Bugle

King K-50 mellophone bugle

The G mellophone bugle was originally inspired by the Conn 16E mellophoniums used in the Stan Kenton band, and the modern F marching mellophone was developed from the G mellophone bugle. With great F mellophones like the Yamaha YMP-204M readily available, is the G mellophone useful?

In my opinion, a G is useful only if you play a lot of screamer mellophone parts. I used to own a King K-50 2-valve G mellophone, the screamiest of all mellophones, and it was great fun to play screamer parts on. It is the sports car of the mellophone world. I eventually sold it because it didn’t offer enough of a difference from my other mellophones, but I had a ton of fun with it. If you can find a K-50 for a great price and want to give it a shot, I can guarantee you’ll have a great time with a K-50 or a 3-valve G mellophone (Dynasty or Kanstul) if you like playing very high on mellophone.

What I would not recommend is buying a G mellophone as your only mellophone. Get a good F marching mellophone, like a cheap King 1120 from eBay, so that you can have a workhorse that you can read existing mellophone or horn parts with. Then, if you want, pick up a G mellophone (2 or 3 valve) to add some more brightness and high note security to your mello arsenal.

Meehaphone

Kanstul MFL meehaphone

The meehaphone is the most famous of the weird and ultra-rare G bugles. Made for Kanstul for the Blue Devils in 1987, the meehaphone is essentially a bell-front descant horn in G with 2 valves. I was fortunate enough to own the only known meehaphone not in a museum for a while, and while it was very cool it was not very useful. The instrument’s forte is its middle register, with the high register being weak and unstable. But since it only has 2 valves, that middle register is only fully chromatic for less than an octave! A 3-valve meehaphone built from parts would be interesting, but if you’re doing that you’re in pretty deep.

French Horn Bugle

Dynasty II French horn bugle

The French horn bugle was one of the standards of the DCI hornline in the 2-valve era, partly because it unlocked a lot of the missing pitches the mellophones had. Because it was built an octave lower than other mid-voice bugles, it was the only kind of bugle that really never needed 3 valves on the field. The lowest chromatic pitch (sounding E3) on a 2-valve “Frenchie” is far below what you would see in a typical drum corps French horn book.

However, because the French horn bugles were nearly as long as a single F horn, they were very easy to crack notes on while running across a football field. But are they useful off the field?

If you’re playing a live gig on multiple brass instruments where you are playing into a mic and need to cover some French horn parts, a marching horn is exactly what you need as the bell points the right way for the mic. But Bb marching horns exist and are plentiful, so why go for the G? Most of the time I would say you don’t need to, especially as 2-valve Gs don’t typically go for any cheaper than 3-valve King Bbs on eBay. However, the G really does sound very close to a concert horn, and the Bb is not as close. So if you want a really convincing horn sound for a mic placed in front of you, the G French horn bugle (King K-60, Dynasty II) could be your best bet.

While 2 valves is more than enough for field use, if you happen to come across one of the enormously rare 3-valve G French horn bugles (Kanstul KHB-185, Dynasty III) at a good price, that 3rd valve is obviously nice to have. That said, on the only gig I’ve had where I would have used my G French horn bugle if I had it at the time, I actually would have only needed 2 valves.

Low Alto Bugle

Kanstul low alto bugle

The low alto bugle is one of the oddest and rarest G bugles out there. It was made by Kanstul at the start of the short 3-valve era, and so few were made (6 total) that it didn’t even get a model number. It is essentially a Kanstul KHB-185 3-valve G French horn bugle with a trumpet shank, which sounds like it would just be a 185 but worse. However, the truth is much more interesting. Many kinds of mouthpieces will fit (trumpet, mellophone, alto horn, small trombone, French horn w/adapter), and the horn works very well with ALL of them. Each mouthpiece gives it a unique sound, like a cross between a French horn and whatever type of mouthpiece it is. Out of all the G bugles I’ve owned, the low alto might have the most potential. But since only 6 were made and at least 3 are spoken for, you’re very unlikely to come across one. If you want something like this, you might look into a Holton MH-100/101 Bb marching horn, which also has a trumpet leadpipe for some reason.

Trombonium Bugle

Dynasty II trombonium bugle

The award for the silliest name easily goes to the trombonium bugle, and it is also one of the silliest looking. It was made by Dynasty in 2 and 3 valve versions and small and large bells, and I can’t find any reason to recommend one over a normal Bb valve trombone or flugabone. They are also extremely rare, so you probably won’t have that choice to make anyway.

Cellophone

Dynasty II cellophone (catalog ad)

The cellophone is another impossibly rare G bugle. Essentially a Dynasty flugabone in G, only 4 2-valve models were made, all for the Phantom Regiment. However, 3-valve Dynasty III models were also made for the European market, but only 4 of those are known to exist. You’d have much better luck taking a Bb flugabone from King or Dynasty and lengthening it to G, or just playing a Bb flugabone.

Baritone Bugle

Olds Ultratone II baritone bugle

This is the low brass G bugle that you want. Originally called a “bass baritone” to distinguish it from the older and smaller type of baritone bugle, this kind of baritone bugle was the standard type of low brass in DCI hornlines from its inception until the end of the G bugles (at which point it was just replaced by the same thing in Bb). Most of them have 2 valves, and in my opinion they are not worth it for someone looking to use it in non-drum corps situations. You can get used Bb marching baritones very easily, and they will be much more useful. However, if you can find one of the much less common 3-valve G baritone bugles (Kanstul KBB-190, Dynasty III, Dynasty M371) for an affordable price, it can be an interesting purchase.

BAC (Kanstul 191) baritone bugle

As your only low brass instrument for home use, the 3-valve G bari would be a nice option as it can play as high as a Bb instrument but can also play chromatically down to Db2. However, I would usually only recommend purchasing a G baritone as a second instrument to a Bb instrument (regardless of type), and it doesn’t bring THAT much new to the table. It has a nice fat sound that is different enough to a Bb marching baritone that it could be interesting to own both, but between baritone and euphonium I don’t think there’s much of a need for that G baritone sound. I think the most sensible use would be if you don’t want to put down the money for a 4-valve euphonium (and/or no $500 Yamaha YEP-321s are for sale at the time), but want something that can play lower than your 3-valve Bb instruments. But it would have to be a very good price on the G baritone, like $300 or less.

Euphonium Bugle

Dynasty M376 euphonium bugle

The G euphonium bugle is the baritone bugle’s big brother, and is one heavy beast. Pretty much everything I said about the baritone bugle above also applies to the G euph. I will say that Bb marching euphoniums are not nearly as common to find used for cheap as Bb marching baritones, so if you need a bell-front euphonium to play into a mic and happen to find a G euph bugle for cheap it could be a good solution. That said, G euphs are also not as common as G baritones (ESPECIALLY the rare 3-valve models by Kanstul or Dynasty), so it would have to be a lucky situation.

Contrabass Bugle

BAC (Kanstul 201) contrabass bugle

Generally, contrabass bugles are just Bb tubas that point forward and are crooked down to G. A 3 or 4-valve G contra is a cool beast, but not a cheap or useful one. In my opinion the only reason to buy a G contra would be if it was an older piston/rotor or 2 piston model being sold for nearly nothing, that you could get converted to a concert tuba with a front-action valve set in the same bore that you happen to have lying around. Otherwise, a normal tuba is a much better purchase.

Closing Thoughts

Sadly, the door is nearly shut on the G competition bugle. G bugles were quickly phased out of DCI competition after the any-key rule change in 2000, and the list of groups that still use G bugles is not a long one. The most notable is the United States Marine Band Commandant’s Own Drum & Bugle Corps, which very recently moved from 2-valve Kanstuls to 3-valve BACs. Other than that, there are some alumni and lower-level junior corps that are still on G, as well as a handful of small G-faithful corps in Japan, such as the Yokohama Scouts.

The only place to buy a new G bugle is from BAC in Kansas City. BAC acquired the Kanstul G bugle tooling when Kanstul shut its doors in 2019, which is why they made the new bugles for the Commandant’s Own. They do advertise the G bugles on their website catalog, but they price them at nearly twice what Kanstul did, making them far out of reach for most people who might be interested in one. Additionally, they only offer 4 out of Kanstul’s 10 bugle models, so if you want anything other than a soprano, mellophone, large baritone, or contra, you are probably out of luck.

Fortunately, the common types of G bugle were made in large quantities to outfit all the corps’ hornlines, so there is no shortage of used soprano, mellophone, French horn, baritone, and contrabass bugles to be found. Additionally, as they are all essentially obsolete and only desirable by DCI alumni and G bugle collectors, they usually go for very affordable prices. The 3-valve horns and less common types (alto, flugelhorn, euphonium) are harder to find, but if you are patient it is still doable. If you are diligent, you may even come across one of the ultra-rare models for a very low price. There are still unaccounted-for examples of nearly every kind of bugle ever made out there waiting to be found.

Alto Trumpet (and other low-ish trumpets)

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Without a doubt, the alto trumpet is the black sheep of the trumpet family.

Built in low F or E-flat, this instrument was allegedly invented by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov…at least, that’s what he claims in his treatise on orchestration. Regardless, he wrote for it often and his Russian contemporaries followed suit. But what is it really, and why is it essentially extinct?

The first and most important thing to note is that the alto trumpet is NOT the same instrument as the older orchestral trumpets in low F or Eb, which are direct descendants of the long natural trumpets that came before and were written for by many popular orchestral composers (Mahler, Strauss, etc.). Those are true trumpets, rather than the mostly-cornet instruments we call “trumpets” today.

Thein low orchestral rotary trumpet in F

Although both the low orchestral trumpet and the alto trumpet are the same length and you might think the distinction is unnecessary, they are completely different instruments. I have experience with both types, and they could not be any more different in sound, feel, and function if they tried. The difference is as large as a modern tuba compared to an ophicleide.

As if two instruments in the same family that are the same length but are completely different was not confusing enough, there is actually a third instrument to throw into the mix: the F or E-flat bass trumpet.

J. Melich bass trumpet in E-flat, with manual change rotor to D

These instruments have a larger bore and bell than alto trumpets and take a trombone mouthpiece, and function essentially the same as the more common C and Bb bass trumpets. Once again, these instruments are entirely removed from either the low orchestral trumpet or alto trumpet in sound, feel, and function. Eb bass trumpets are most often seen nowadays in German folk music, for example as the middle voice between a rotary flugelhorn and a large Bb bass trumpet or bass flugelhorn. Here is a great example:

These three instruments are all trumpets in low F or E-flat, but they are completely different. To summarize:

  • F/Eb low orchestral trumpet: meant to be played in the same register as a Bb or C trumpet. It’s a natural trumpet with valves, and it plays and sounds as such. Uses a small mouthpiece.

  • F/Eb alto trumpet: meant to be played a 4th or 5th below the Bb trumpet. Designed from that instrument, rather than from the natural trumpet. Does what the name implies. Uses a mouthpiece in between trumpet and trombone in size (~19mm).

  • F/Eb bass trumpet: meant to be played roughly an octave below the Bb trumpet, like a C or Bb bass trumpet. Plays and sounds like any other bass trumpet. Uses a trombone mouthpiece.

While none of these instruments are particularly common, low orchestral trumpets are still made by Kuhnl & Hoyer and a few boutique makers (Thein, Egger, Dotzauer), and F/Eb bass trumpets still have a market (Thein, Meinl Weston, Helmut Voigt, Lars Gerdt, likely many more small German and Austrian makers).

This is not the case for the alto trumpet, which is currently made (to my knowledge) by nobody. Why is that?

The easiest explanation is the repertoire.

Eb bass trumpet does have a few important parts in the orchestra such as the Rite of Spring, but the bass trumpet in C is the orchestral standard for all bass trumpet parts so you’re not likely to see an F or Eb bass trumpet in the orchestra. However, it has an established role in German folk music, and thus will always have a use and thus a market.

While the low orchestral trumpet is sadly totally extinct in the world of modern orchestral trumpeting, a massive portion of the standard orchestral canon was written for it, so there will always be a small interest in them for players that value authenticity or regularly engage in historically-informed orchestral performance.

The alto trumpet doesn’t have any existing use like that to rely on. There is some Russian repertoire for it, but all of those parts were deliberately written within the range of the Bb trumpet so that the part could still be covered if no alto trumpet was available. This is a logical move, but the unfortunate result is that there is zero incentive to get an alto trumpet for those parts. Mahler-style low orchestral trumpets suffer from the same issue; with a few notable exceptions, everything is well within the range of a Bb or C trumpet.

Scythian Suite (Prokofiev) - Movement 2, Trumpet 4 (F alto)

But suppose an intrepid player wanted to honor Rimsky-Korsakov’s intentions and get an F alto trumpet. The player might also point out that there is some research to indicate Wagner’s 3rd trumpet parts might have been intended for a similar instrument, in order to further justify their purchase. Where can they buy one?

Unfortunately, alto trumpet buying options are nearly nonexistent. As previously mentioned, nobody (to my knowledge) makes a new one. The closest thing is the Carol Brass CTR-5000L-YLT-Bb/G-L, which is just a normal Bb trumpet with alternate slides to put it in G. You’d also have to find a dealer that would be willing to get one for you, as I haven’t found any online store that stocks the model.

Carol Brass CTR-5000L-YLT-Bb/G-L trumpet in B-flat or G (G slides equipped)

You might find some luck with Italian brass makers, as Italian military and police bands are the only place I know of where the alto trumpet has seen regular use, with the 3rd trumpet part often played on F altos instead of Bbs. Those bands are anomalous in other ways too, though - cimbasso, bass trumpets, and Eb soprano flugelhorns are standard features of those bands (though the Eb flugelhorn isn’t so common anymore, usually being substituted by Eb cornet).

The 3 alto trumpeters of the Banda dell’Arma dei Carabinieri, from their 2016 performance at the Kennedy Center. This ensemble also had 2 bass trumpets and a plethora of other uncommon instruments.

As an aside, alto trumpet does have some further history with concert bands. In the spectacular 1923-1924 roster for the University of Illinois Concert Band, one alto trumpet player is listed:

Okay, so what about buying an alto trumpet used? Well, here is a summary of the used alto trumpet market, from my experience:

Bach “contralto” trumpets (made in either F or Eb): enormously rare, and when they do show up for sale they have the Collectible Bach Tax™ and are very expensive. Not that they were cheap when they were new, mind you. That said, I have played one of these and it was an excellent instrument.

Bach 351 “contralto” trumpet in F

Bach “contralto” trumpet in E-flat

Holton 56 (Eb only): also enormously rare, also typically expensive.

Holton 56 alto trumpet in E-flat

Olds Custom F-10 (F only): I have only ever seen one single listing for one of these. Not expensive like the Bach, but you’re better off waiting for Half-Life 3.

Olds Custom F-10 alto trumpet in F (catalog picture)

Conn 34B, 40B, 50B (all Eb only): very rarely show up for sale. If you do manage to find one, beware: everything I have read about them says that they are very stuffy and generally bad to play.

Conn 34B alto trumpet in E-flat (picture from the Conn Loyalist)

Conn 40B alto trumpet in E-flat (picture from the Conn Loyalist)

Conn 50B alto trumpet in E-flat (picture from the Conn Loyalist)

Getzen 389 (F with Eb slide): By far the most common used alto trumpet to show up, but still not common at all. Plus, it’s a student-level instrument that by all accounts is not that great. Make sure to not mistake a Getzen frumpet for one, as they look similar.

Getzen 389 alto trumpet in F

A page from a Getzen catalog showing the frumpet, alto trumpet, and bass trumpet

Kuhnl & Hoyer low Ebs (model 599//599K): I include these only to warn you that these are not actually alto trumpets. They look like they should be as they have piston valves and a very normal wrap (in either the short (599K) or long (599) variety), but they are actually low orchestral trumpets like the old rotaries in terrible condition that live on eBay. I believe the Chinese low Eb trumpets on eBay are clones of the K&H 599K, but I’m not completely sure.

Kuhnl & Hoyer 599K ("kurz") short model low ”fanfare” trumpet in E-flat

3-valve G soprano bugle: The old drum corps G soprano bugles were basically trumpets in low G with an extra-large bore and bell throat. This means that with a suitably large mouthpiece, they actually work very well as a G alto trumpet. As a bonus, the Dynasty 3-valve sopranos show up on eBay quite frequently at very affordable prices (usually $150-250). While these are not in F or Eb and you would thus have to transpose (or get slide extensions made), they can play down to concert Db3, which covers every extra low note in the repertoire except for the low C in Mozart 41 (which is not an important note anyway). Used Kanstul sopranos are less common and more expensive, but generally regarded as the better instrument. You could also buy a brand new Kanstul-pattern one from BAC if you really wanted to.

Dynasty 3-valve soprano bugle in G

My conclusion is simple: every orchestral trumpeter should own a 3-valve G soprano bugle. It costs nearly nothing, plays well, and covers all your extra-low needs. Use it on parts intended for alto trumpet (Rimsky-Korsakov 3rd trumpet parts) even if they don’t go below the range of a Bb. Use it for Carmen, use it for Heldenleben, use it for trumpets 4/5/6 in Mahler 6. Use it for all those old 2nd parts written for natural trumpet that throw in a random 2nd partial note or two (Don Giovanni and Manfred Overture for example).

Do I wish alto trumpets in F or E-flat were easier to get? Very much so. I would really love to have an F alto, and I’d also really love to be able to write for F alto. But until somebody decides to make a new one (hello, Wessex? ACB?), at least there is a readily-available alternative in the 3-valve soprano bugle.

The Lineage of the King 1120 Mellophone

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The King 1120 is a marching mellophone that has been one of the most popular since its introduction. While the Yamaha YMP-204M is the current standard of the mellophone world, the 1120 still sees a lot of use in marching bands, most notably HBCUs. The current version of this model is the 1121, which has an angled leadpipe, re-wrapped 3rd valve slide, and other small changes.

But the 1120 was not designed in a vacuum. In fact, the design has direct ancestry back to the bad old days of the drum corps G bugle.

All three of these instruments have the same wrap, and all three were designed by the same person: Zig Kanstul.

The instrument on the left is the genesis of this mellophone design, the King K-50 mellophone bugle in G. This was the best of the 2-valve mellophones, and it is an absolute screamer.

When three valves were legalized in DCI in 1990, Zig Kanstul came back to the K-50’s basic design and updated it for the 3rd valve, but this time under his own brand. Pictured in the middle is an early pattern Kanstul KAB-175 alto bugle in G. Sadly I have never seen an early pattern KMB-180 mellophone bugle for sale, or else I would have used that in this photo comparison. But the KAB-175’s noticeably smaller bell diameter is the only difference between it and the KMB-180.

You’ll notice that the 175 deviated slightly from the K-50 design by having the leadpipe enter the 1st valve from the other side, rather than angling to get around the 1st valve slide and entering the valve from that side. The leadpipe is also shorter than the K-50’s, with that length moved to the taper after the valves. The two instruments do not play the same (impossible when adding a 3rd valve), but they do have a similar feel and great slotting all the way up into the highest register.

On the right in the pictures above is the King 1120. This was also designed for King by Zig Kanstul, after the Kanstul company had moved on to a different design for their mellophones and alto bugles. The older design clearly still had life left though, as Zig stuck very closely to the K-50/early Kanstul design. It is most similar to the K-50, sharing its longer leadpipe and leadpipe routing. But it also copies the 3rd valve design of the KMB-180/KAB-175, with that unmistakable 3rd valve slide wrap.

KAB-175 (top) and 1120 (bottom) 3rd valve slides

The King 1120, then, is essentially an updated version of both the K-50 and KMB-180 designs, lengthened to play in F. It plays great, as a Kanstul should.

P.S. As an interesting final note, the Yamaha line of marching mellophones was based on the preceding Olds marching mellophone wrap (which was stenciled by quite a few makers including Bach, Blessing, and Reynolds). The Olds marching mellophone was the first F marching mellophone, derived from the G mellophone bugle and designed by…you guessed it…Zig Kanstul!

So, the two mellophones that have dominated the marching arts for years are either an actual Zig design or a derivative of one. In fact, as the Jupiter mellophone is also essentially the same design as the Yamaha, the only current marching mellophone that isn’t a Kanstul derivative is the Adams MM-1, which bears a closer resemblance to the Dynasty mellophones.

Marching French Horn

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The marching French horn is an enigma. Sure, it’s been used by high school marching bands and drum and bugle corps, but there are very few recordings of them on the Internet. They also carry a bad reputation with them…they’re impossible to march with, they sound worse and not as loud as a mellophone, and are generally pointless. Or so people say.

Some of these claims do have some truth to them. Picking out pitches on a Bb or low G single horn with a narrow horn rim while running around a football field is certainly not easy, and the drum corps “Frenchie” lines earned notoriety for lots of cracked notes. The marching horn (regardless of key) also does fall short of the mellophone in terms of raw decibel output. Additionally, band directors often don’t know what to do with them. Do they read Bb parts or F? (The correct answer is F. Always F.) Are they worth the additional expense over a mellophone? Why do some have bent leadpipes and some don’t?

Despite all this, I think the marching horn is unfairly maligned. A good marching horn with the right player and mouthpiece behind it really does sound pretty close to a “real” horn, and you certainly can’t get that sound with a mellophone.

It is also important to understand the marching horn’s integral role in drum corps G bugle hornlines before the legalization of 3 valves. While mid-voice instrumentation in drum corps back then was full of experimentation, French horns were a common choice. Why? Because being twice as long as the G mellophones (or flugelhorns, alto bugles, or meehaphones) meant that they could access many crucial notes in the mid-register that simply did not exist on the other 2-valve alto instruments. This was huge for the arrangers of the time, and a good French horn line added a huge amount of depth and flexibility to a hornline.

A 2-valve piston/rotor Olds Ultratone French horn bugle in G

However, the top corps had begun to streamline their mid-voice to just mellophones even before 3 valves were legalized in 1990. While the tonal colors of a varied mid-voice line were great, unifying to one type of instrument meant tuning and blend was much easier. That said, a few small French horn lines did survive briefly into the 3 valve era, most notably in the Cavaliers and Santa Clara Vanguard. Both lines used the Kanstul KHB-185 3-valve G French horn bugle, with 8 made for SCV and 6 made for the Cavaliers. It is likely that no other examples of the model were made (despite it remaining in the Kanstul catalog for most of the company’s life), which would mean there are only 14 in the world.

Here’s one!

This is the Kanstul KHB-185 I used to own, which was one of the Santa Clara Vanguard horns (it is even stamped as such on the bell!). SCV used these only through the 1992 season, after which they moved to all mellophones.

This horn is a great player. It is certainly not point-and-shoot like a mellophone; you have to work for the right notes just like on a single F horn (which is only a whole step lower). But the reward for your efforts is a bell-front instrument that really does sound like a French horn.

But don’t just take my word for it. Here’s a quick 8-part demo I recorded all on this Kanstul:

While the register of drum corps French horn parts meant that they really did not need a third valve, I certainly enjoyed getting to use the full range of the instrument in this bite-sized piece.

Being fully chromatic also means that an instrument like this could really be the solution for playing French horn into a mic that’s placed in front of you. I have played many gigs where I doubled on French horn, and the only solution with a normal horn is to physically turn 90 degrees to the left and hold the bell up the mic like you’re playing Mahler. It is awkward at best. This Kanstul (which sounds like a horn, but points forward) is the perfect solution for a gigging brass doubler. I do feel that more typical a Kanstul 285 Bb marching horn is a better compromise just for the fingerings - I (along with most brass improvisers) am much more comfortable improvising in Bb than G - and this is the reason why I ended up selling the the KHB-185. I have also played a session here in LA where everyone was on marching instruments and one of the mellophone players also played a Kanstul 285 on some cues, presumably to fatten up the section sound.

The only other non-marching band use of a marching horn I’ve seen is by the fabulous Solo Hornist of the Munich Philharmonic, Matias Piñeira. He has a custom-made small bell Bb marching horn that he uses for salsa playing in addition to his normal Alexander 103. He uses both instruments in this video:

Here’s a brief trip through some other interesting types of marching French horns.

First up is the previously-mentioned Kanstul 285 marching horn in B-flat. While you could be forgiven for thinking that the Kanstul 185 marching horn in G above was based on this, it’s actually the other way around. Zig Kanstul started his company making G bugles only, so this Bb horn is actually a derivative of the G. It has the same up-turned leadpipe to allow for a typical downstream horn embouchure while holding the horn above parallel. Other brands’ marching horns do not have this feature. The B-flat marching horn is the most common type of marching horn, and a few manufacturers (Yamaha, King, Adams) each have a model in their current lineup.

Kanstul 285 B-flat marching horn

Next up is the Kanstul 284 marching horn in high F. High F marching horns are not commonly known, but they have been produced by Kanstul, Dynasty, and Blessing. Since Kanstul closed up shop in 2019, I don’t believe there are any high F marching horns currently being produced.

Kanstul 284 high F marching horn

There have been some very odd-looking marching horns throughout history as well, such as the Holton MH-100, 101, and 102. These Dr. Seuss horns play as oddly as they look, but at the same time they play concerningly well. They have a trumpet mouthpiece shank for some reason, which allows you to put lots of different kinds of mouthpieces in it. Most inexplicably, they have been copied by Jinbao. Every aspect of this instrument’s existence seems like it came out of a fever dream!

Holton MH-101 B-flat marching horn (MH-100 = screw bell, MH-101 = fixed bell, MH-102 = fixed bell, slide kickers)

The Low Alto Bugle

Speaking of marching horns with trumpet shanks, Kanstul also made a very odd variant of the KHB-185 3-valve G French horn bugle presented at the beginning of the article. They called it a “Low Alto”, and it is the same as the KHB-185 except for a different leadpipe (trumpet shank) and main tuning slide arrangement. As weird as it is, 6 were built and it did see some drum corps use with the Marauders and later the Kingsmen Alumni.

Top: Kanstul KHB-185 French horn bugle in G
Bottom: Kanstul low alto bugle in G (no model number)

Because it has a trumpet shank, the low alto bugle can accept many different mouthpiece types. As I have adapters for both trumpet to horn and trumpet to cornet, I was able to see how it sounds with mouthpieces that use all 3 shanks. As it is a Kanstul G marching horn at heart, if you use a horn mouthpiece with an adapter it plays and sounds pretty much like the KHB-185 French horn bugle. It’s a little harder to play accurately and a little more work to get a centered horn sound (I suspect mostly due to the adapter), but it’s there if you work for it. And unlike the 185, the low alto has a whole toy chest of other sounds to explore by using different mouthpieces.

From my time with the low alto, I found that horn, tenor horn, alto trumpet, and very small trombone mouthpieces worked the best. I do think that a mouthpiece that truly matched the instrument well would have to be custom made. But rather than talking about it any longer, I’ll just let you listen. I recorded a small collection of short, improvised excerpts on 11 different mouthpieces (and adapters when required), each meant for a different instrument.

Lastly, here’s a back-to-back comparison of the 2 marching horns with trumpet shanks: the G low alto bugle with horn mouthpiece (via adapter) and the Holton MH-101 with horn mouthpiece (via adapter).

The One Ring of Trombones

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In many ways, most common brass instruments could be pared down to one model of instrument and no harm would be done. For example, if the only kind of trumpet in the world was a Bach 37, very little would change. Orchestral players would have to get used to not using C trumpets and/or rotaries, and high baroque and solo repertoire would be more difficult. But overall, business would pretty much continue as usual. The Bach 37 is played by many players in every style where a trumpet exists, and it works perfectly well in all of them. I personally have never played a Bach 37 I’ve liked, but it would still be my immediate suggestion for the only model of trumpet in the world.

Horns are even more flexible; you could pick an Alexander 103 or a Yamaha YHR-671D or any number of other popular double horns as the world’s only kind of horn and no harm would be done (apart from in historically-informed performance, but that’s a casualty in any of these “one instrument” scenarios).

A Besson Sovereign would be my pick for the only euphonium, but it could just as easily be a Yamaha YEP-642. Tuba is a little more difficult, but you can just pick one that’s pretty good at everything. For my money that would be a British compensating E-flat, such as a 19” bell Besson.

Trombones seem to be the most difficult; you need to find a trombone that can do everything, from alto to contrabass. That means screaming 4-hour salsa gigs, stratospheric Bill Watrous or Dave Steinmeyer jazz ballads, delicate Mozart alto trombone parts, heavy Mahler or Wagner orchestral parts from 1st to 4th, wild Broadway pit books, earth-shaking low blasts in modern film scores, and more. You don’t get to have one alto trombone, one small tenor trombone, one bass trombone, and so on. You can only have one kind of trombone, total.

Of course, there is no answer to this question that doesn’t compromise in some way. No single trombone can play alto and contrabass parts equally well. We need to find a trombone that can do everything decently enough that trombone players would be able to make it work. To me, that means it needs to be a medium-sized tenor trombone with F attachment that isn’t picky about what mouthpieces work in it, has an unusually beefy low register, an easy high register, the volume to project over a salsa or rock band, and a very “vanilla” trombone sound that is easily colored.

What trombone does all of that? Easy: the King 3BF.

For my money, the 3BF (along with its slightly larger stablemates, the King 3B+F and King 607) is the most versatile trombone of all time. I have used mine to play every tenor chair in a big band, lots of salsa gigs, New Orleans jazz, bebop combo work, principal trombone in an orchestra, brass quintet, Broadway books that go well into the bass trombone register, entire classical trombone sections top to bottom in recording sessions, and more. No, it doesn’t have as beefy of a low register as a bass trombone, but you’d be surprised at how much sound you can put through those low notes on the 3BF. The F valve has an E pull as well, so even if we don’t get to have 2-valve 3BFs in this hypothetical one-trombone world, we’d still do just fine on the low stuff.

Now the 3BF is certainly a bit biased towards the brighter, higher commercial side of the trombone’s oeuvre. The 607, being just a bit larger but otherwise the same, sits more right down the middle between the orchestral and commercial sides of the spectrum. The very high register (D5 and above) is just a bit more work than the 3BF, but in exchange you get an absurdly beefy low register (better than most large bore tenors in my opinion!), and a sound that more easily fits into the darker classical mold while still easily being able to play as bright and punchy as you need for any other genre you might find yourself playing in. But the 3BF and 607 play very similarly, with only a small difference that is mostly noticed when playing them back to back. On their own, you pick either up and it just works immediately, in any style. As an additional plus, these trombones are very easy to play and can handle lots of abuse, so it wouldn’t be a bad situation for beginners either.

It’s an easy conclusion for me. If the only kind of trombone in the world was the King 3BF (or 607), we would be just fine.

Ascending Valves

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If you are curious about brass instruments, you may have come across something called an ascending valve in your Internet travels. If you’re not sure what that is, or you do but would like to read about all the different kinds of ascending valves out there, this article is for you.

The concept of an ascending valve is pretty simple. A normal valve is inactive when it is not pressed down (via piston finger button, rotor paddle, etc.), so the air goes straight through and doesn’t detour through the additional valve tubing. When you press down the valve mechanism, the valve activates, redirecting the air through the valve tubing and lowering the instrument’s pitch. An ascending valve is set up the opposite way - the valve is active when it is not pressed, so its default state is using the additional valve tubing. Then when you press down the valve, it becomes inactive, raising the pitch.

In fact, there is an ascending valve that is completely standard in the modern brass world: the change valve on a double horn. The instrument stands in F, and then when you depress the change valve with your thumb it shortens to B-flat. (That said, some players will modify the change valve to stand in B-flat, especially in Europe.)

Yamaha YHR-671, a typical Geyer wrap double horn in F and B-flat.

The most complicated part of an ascending valve is really from a tuning perspective. Let’s say you have a tenor trombone with a normal descending F attachment. The trombone is in B-flat, and then the valve lowers it to F. Easy enough; you tune the whole horn with the main tuning slide (logical) and then tune the valve with the valve tuning slide. Now let’s say you that trombone has an ascending C valve rather than a descending F valve. The trombone’s open length (no active valves) is now C, but it still stands in B-flat. So to properly tune it you need to depress the valve and tune the open C horn via the main tuning slide first, and then lift off the valve so you can tune in B-flat via the valve’s tuning slide.

You may have noticed that even though this hypothetical trombone with an ascending valve is technically pitched in C, we still think of it in B-flat as that’s where it stands without depressing the valve, and how it is meant to be played. Thus we refer to it as a B-flat tenor trombone with an ascending C valve.

Ascending valves have a long history and have been used on various brass instruments in many different ways. They had the most widespread use in French piston-valve horns (that can properly be called French horns!) from the late 19th century until the middle of the 20th. Probably the most interesting type is the Chaussier horn, an instrument developed in the 1880s.

The valved horn was still unpopular in France at the time, and the Chaussier horn was intended to be played essentially as a natural horn with built-in crook changes. The Chaussier horn had a valve system completely alien to modern brass players:

  • Stands in F

  • 1st valve is a normal 1st valve (descending whole step, resulting in Eb)

  • 2nd valve is an ascending half step (resulting in F#)

  • 3rd valve is an ascending major 3rd (resulting in A)

  • Thumb (4th) valve is a normal 4th valve (descending perfect 4th, resulting in C basso)

The use of all these valves allows you to set the horn in any key from B basso to B-flat alto. As the highest possible standing pitch is achieved with both ascending valves (2 and 3) deactivated, B-flat alto is the true length of the open horn. But as it stands in F, it is thought of as an F horn with 2 ascending valves.

When the French fully adopted valve horns, they continued with the ascending valve idea, but in a more conventional way. On many French single and double horns, the 3rd valve is an ascending whole step, while all the other valves are in the typical configuration we are used to today. The result is an instrument that actually retains almost all standard fingerings, but with the added bonus of easier high notes using the (ascending) 3rd valve. It is still a compromise though; because you lose the descending minor 3rd of a typical 3rd valve, you lose a few notes in the low register.

A normal single F horn with descending 3rd valve can play chromatically down to sounding B1, while a single F horn with ascending 3rd valve cannot play lower than D2 (excluding pedal notes) and also can’t play Ab2. Because of these compromises (easier high notes in exchange for worse low notes in the ascending horn, and vice versa for the descending horn), it was common in France for high horn players (1st and 3rd) to play horns with ascending 3rd valves, while low horn players (2nd and 4th) to play horns with descending 3rd valves.

A standard F/Bb double horn with descending 3rd valve is entirely chromatic all the way down. If you exclude the F-side pedals (which most horn players can’t reach), it can play chromatically down to E1. If you do include the F-side pedals, the lowest real note is B0. (With false tones you could play even lower, into the double pedals.) Meanwhile, an F/Bb double horn with ascending 3rd valve cannot play Db2 (or Db1, a pedal), and without F-side pedals bottoms out at G1. Thus, French horn makers continued to make both ascending and descending models when double horns became standard.

Selmer Thevet Ascendant double horn, with ascending 3rd valve

Ascending 3rd valves didn’t catch on outside of France, but there are a few horns with ascending valves that you can buy today. The only double I know of is the Alexander 203ST, which also has a half step/stop valve (meaning you can play that missing Db2!). It is a full double as well, unlike the French piston horns which were all compensating doubles. There are also a few Bb single horns with an ascending C 5th valve in addition to the standard 3 descending valves and a stop valve, such as the Ricco Kühn W125/C.

Personally, I think there is untapped potential with combining the ascending and descending 3rd valves into one instrument. If you can make a double horn where the 3rd valve is ascending on the Bb side but descending on the F side, you would get the best of both worlds. The only disadvantage would be that the only possible fingering for sounding Gb2 would be 123 (not ideal), and Gb1 (a note which is not present in any standard repertoire) would not be possible.

Outside of horns, the primary place for ascending valve use and experimentation has been in trombones. Today, one of Yamaha’s more unique products is the Yamaha YSL-350C, a student-level tenor trombone with a .500-.525” dual bore slide with 6 positions and an ascending C valve.

Yamaha YSL-350C Bb/C trombone

The YSL-350C was originally meant for young players whose arms can’t reach 7th position and can’t hold up a heavy F-attachment trombone, but a few advanced players (Doug Yeo for instance) use it as a travel instrument as it is significantly smaller than a normal tenor trombone. Interestingly, this instrument has also been cloned by Jinbao and is sold by John Packer, Schiller, Thomann, and others for a much cheaper price than the Yamaha.

But while the YSL-350C (and clones) is the only mass-produced ascending valve trombone in history that I know of, it is not the only ascending valve trombone.

Günter Frost was a bass trombonist for the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and pioneered the ascending C valve on trombones. In 1981, he patented the idea of a trombone for young beginners with an ascending C valve. Starting in 2001, he worked with a few master German makers (M&H Thein, Joachim Pfretzschner, Helmut Voigt, Jürgen Voigt) to make six models of professional trombone in various sizes, all with ascending C valves. (Herr Frost’s website is long defunct, but is still accessible via the Wayback Machine.)

All Günter Frost’s ascending C valve trombones

Günter Frost Weite 3 trombone with ascending C valve

Günter Frost Weite 5 bass trombone with dependent F and ascending C valves

Jürgen Voigt orchestral tenor trombone with dependent F and ascending C valves

In Günter Frost’s dependent designs, the F valve is inset in the ascending C valve’s tubing, which interestingly means that you can use either valve on their own, but not both together (as when you press down the C valve, it closes, leaving the F valve unconnected to the airflow). Personally, I think this is a genius configuration for a large tenor trombone. You get a standard trombone with F-attachment, plus low C and B as pedal notes and a turbo button for high notes. Imagine the 1st trombone excerpt from Symphonie Fantastique with the fortissimo high Eb, or the one from Also Sprach Zarathustra with the octave jump to fortissimo high D - much more secure on the C valve! But when playing solo rep, pit work, or contemporary classical music that is much more liberal with the tenor trombone’s low register, you also have easy access to low C and B.

Many years later, Pete Edwards took the concept a step further and built a bass trombone with independent F and ascending C valves:

Pete Edward’s ascending C bass trombone, with a Bach 36 tenor trombone for comparison.

This instrument was also given a screw bell, making it incredibly convenient for travel. With the two valves independent, you also have access to flat G positions with both valves pressed, so it has a ton of slide position choices. (Thread with more information and pictures here.)

Finally, there are a few trumpets and cornets with ascending valves, including the Blackburn Hickman 5-valve C trumpet (with ascending D valve), Jaeger Brass Bb/C and C/D trumpets, and this Richardson circular cornet from 1855. For a brief period in the mid-20th century, the C trumpet with ascending D valve was used by a few important orchestral trumpet players; the complete history of that is detailed in this article by Robb Stewart.

I think there is more to be done with ascending valves. It would certainly benefit the Conn 16E mellophonium, whose main tuning slide has room to be cut to G to then have an ascending whole step valve added. It could also be useful for tuba doublers (typically trombonists) who are used to Bb fingerings but need a real pedal C for the Lion King musical.

NAMM Show Report 2023

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The NAMM Show is an annual music industry trade show that brings together hundreds of manufacturers of musical instruments, equipment, and other gear under one massive roof. Its real purpose is for industry people, but lots of musicians come from around the country every year to spend a day (or 3) trying all the instruments and making connections, as well as seeing one of the many live bands performing throughout the event (or performing in one themselves).

For a musician, especially a gearhead multi-instrumentalist like me, walking into the NAMM Show is pretty much the ultimate weapons-grade “kid in a candy store” feeling. I try to go every year, and I usually always collect some thoughts in a write-up of sorts. Here’s my 2023 NAMM brass instrument report!

WARNING: This is full of ultra brass nerd nonsense, but if you’re on this website you were probably expecting that.

Buffet Crampon

This was where I started after walking in the second the show floor opened, and would come back to a couple more times later in the day. Buffet Crampon owns an umbrella of instrument manufacturers, including brass makers Courtois, B&S, and Besson.

Besson Sovereign BE967-2 euphonium: The best euphonium at NAMM this year in my opinion. An excellent instrument that was very responsive and fun to play.

Besson Prestige BE2052 euphonium (gold plated, Steven Mead spec): In the past the Prestige at NAMM has been so spectacular that it felt like magic - definitely a star of the show. This year though, the Prestige didn’t do it for me. Still a very high quality instrument of course, but that colorful Besson magic was missing.

Besson Prestige BE2028-2G-0 British cornet: Playing this lovely cornet opened my eyes to just how amazing a real top of the line brass band-spec cornet can be…and just how NOT amazing the two cornets I have are! The only negative was that the 2 tuning triggers were not very comfortable to use for my hands.

B&S: The trumpets (a few Bbs, one C, all Bach-like) were alright - solid high-quality instruments that played well but didn’t leave a lasting impression. I didn’t play the 2 CC tubas there, as contrabass tubas are not my forte or interest.

Courtois Creation AC421-BHRA-1-0 New York .547” tenor trombone: This trombone was the star of the show for me. I have a strained relationship with large bore tenors, as they feel like the hardest size of trombone to really feel great to play. I’ve tried very few large tenors in my life that I really loved, but this 421 was one of them. It was absolutely effortless to play in all registers and dynamics, had a gorgeous sound, and was very forgiving. In my experience most large tenors have only one of these qualities at a time, and they don’t feel like a complete instrument you can love and rely on. This had everything and it was hard to put down…but with a retail price of $6k I’ll only own one in my dreams!

Other Courtois trombones: There was a Creation AC551BHA-1-0 New York bass trombone and some basic Bach 42BO-style trombone. They played very well, but nothing special or anything I would want to live with (let alone drop serious cash on), which is more in line with my normal Courtois experience (402 Xtreme excluded, which sadly was not at NAMM this time).

Hans Hoyer 8D-style nickel Kruspe double horn: I didn’t check what model this was (and Hoyer makes two different Kruspe models with a ton of different options), but it was a lovely horn with a lovely sound. I would absolutely play one of these as my main horn!

Eastman Shires

Shires TBDR David Rejano Artist Model .547” tenor trombone: This was my favorite Shires tenor, and my second favorite large tenor after the Courtois AC421. It played extremely well and was very easy with a nice sound, but the Courtois did everything it did better. It also had extremely tight slots like all the Shires tenors, meaning you had to play every note EXACTLY right or it wouldn’t work. The Courtois was very forgiving…this, not so much. Very nice horn overall though.

Other Shires large tenor trombones: For me, they were all different flavors of “fine”. Easy to play (besides the tight slots), but with a boring sound. Not lifeless…just not super interesting. And an uninteresting large tenor sound makes me walk away REAL quick. Out of these though, the dual bore Ralph Sauer model was my favorite. But the Rejano did everything it did a lot better! An interesting sidenote is that I liked the Q-series tenors at least as much as the custom ones.

Shires bass trombones: There were two Q36 basses (one with rotors, one with axials) that played very nicely. I generally like Shires basses, and these were no exception. I didn’t LOVE them, but for a solid, reliable bass trombone they’re a great option. There was also a TBGC George Curran Artist Model bass, which I didn’t like at all.

Shires TBQ35 alto trombone: This was probably my favorite Shires instrument there alongside the Rejano. It had a nice vibrant sound and was very easy to play. I’m currently borrowing a custom Shires tuning-in-slide alto with a rose brass bell for a gig, and the Q35 here played and sounded MUCH better in my opinion. The custom TIS alto feels like it has exactly one sound that it likes to play and you can’t get it away from that…and that sound isn’t very colorful. Plus it’s way more expensive than a Q35, which retails for about $2,200. Save money AND sound better! What’s not to love? There was also a TBQAlessi alto, which felt…pretty much exactly the same. I slightly preferred the standard Q35 though.

Shires TBMG Marshall Gilkes Artist Model .500” trombone: I expected to like this model, and I was right. It played very well, the way you would expect an expensive custom small bore (retail is about $3,700) to. But…it didn’t play better than my old 3B, nor did any small bore trombone at the show.

Shires TBQ33 .508” trombone: Also a very good, competent small bore in all ways. Fun to play and very nearly as good as the Marshall Gilkes model for $1,300 less, but again…not as good as my 3B!

Shires EUQ41S euphonium: This Q-series euphonium was one of the best in the show in my opinion. It was extremely easy to play all over the range and sounded excellent. It also had the best left hand ergonomics. Definitely a solid euphonium for any player…it just works.

Willson euphoniums: I really like Willson euphoniums and the dark Willson sound. In the past I’ve always preferred the larger 2950/2960 over the 2900, but this time the 2900TA was my preference over the 2950TA. But the Shires Q41 euph was right in between them and played better than either.

Willson 3400S FA-5 Eb tuba: There were two of these, both labelled with very slightly different model designations (I believe one was a 3400 FA-5S and the other was a 3400S FA-5). And they were very different! The second one I tried was smaller in bore and size than the other, and was not as good. The bigger one (3400S FA-5 I believe) was a fabulous tuba. Big sound, good intonation, easy to play. Most tubas I’ve tried feel like you get a very underwhelming return for your efforts, but this one felt as easy and natural to play as anything smaller. Loved it!

Marching mellophones: There were quite a few Yamaha 204 clones at NAMM. Eastman (EMP304S) and BAC both had one, as did a few of the Chinese manufacturer booths. The BAC even had “Made by Jin Bao” stamped in big block lettering on the valve block…I got a good chuckle out of that. I tried a few of these clones and they all played about the same. Pretty good, but not as easy to play as the real deal. There was also one King 1120 clone at one of the Chinese booths, which was decent. Sadly there were no original mellophones, only the clones.

Marching baritones: Only Yamaha clones. Again Eastman (EMB411S) and BAC both had one, as did a few of the Chinese manufacturer booths. The Eastman was the best I tried, and was lots of fun to play. Reportedly it plays pretty much the same as the real thing.

Eastman EME421S marching euphonium: This is apparently an original design, and not totally thought out as the 2nd valve slide was too long, making it still noticeably flat when pushed all the way in. Additionally, the mouthpiece receiver was forward enough that the bottom bow pushed against my body when I was in playing position. But it sounded nice!

Eastman Geyer double horn (model unknown): Meh.

Conn-Selmer

Conn 88HNV: I was very excited to try this as I play an Elkhart 88H myself. It was…fine. Adequate. Acceptable. Is trombone.

Bach A47BO: Pretty good player but not really my style of trombone, so I didn’t gel with it.

Bach A47XPS: This was nice to play, but the Rejano, Courtois, and Y-Fort trombones did everything it did better.

Bach Bb trumpets: There were around 10 of them, all various flavors of Bach commonly seen, plus a couple of new ones. My favorite was the 190S37X (I think), which played very nicely. The brand new Apollo was good as well, and was probably my 2nd favorite of the bunch. The rest of the Bachs didn’t really work well for me, and they never do!

Conn 8D double horn: I’ve played plenty of 8Ds from all eras. This one was not a great example of the model.

Conn 6D double horn: This is the brand new 6D, which now has a Kruspe wrap like the 8D, but with the small throat and leadpipe of the classic 6D. I liked it!

Conn 10DY double horn: Noooooooooo thanks.

BAC (Best American Craftsmen)

BAC small tenor trombones: Played pretty well overall. A couple were very good (my favorite was one in .508” bore with a nickel bell stem but screw bell copper bell flare, and a carbon fiber slide).

BAC large tenor trombone with F attachment: Pretty alright!

BAC 2-valve bass trombone: Trash!

BAC Apprentice student trombone: Difficult high register, but otherwise a decent little horn.

Yamaha

YBL-835 bass trombone: A brand new Yamaha bass! …Except it looks exactly the same as the outgoing 830. It’s a very noticeable improvement, but is still not an instrument I would ever willingly play or buy. I liked pretty much every other bass there (BAC being the exception) more.

YSL-882OD .547” tenor trombone: Has screw bell. Is otherwise just an 882O. The 882O is fine. Nothing more, nothing less.

YSL-691Z small bore tenor trombone: Hated it immediately lol.

YHR-871D double horn: Sadly Yamaha only brought Geyer horns this time (the 668 Kruspe horn was my favorite horn last time!), but the 871 was still a fabulous instrument. So easy in all registers, especially slurring. Would happily play this as my main horn, even though Geyers aren’t usually my thing.

Yamaha euphoniums: Both the YEP-642SII and YEP-842TS were there, and both were wonderful. My favorite euphs in the show just after the Besson Sovereign.

Yamaha trumpets: They’re all awesome. I particularly loved the YTR-8310Z, but it’s also the one most similar to the older Yamaha trumpet I play on (YTR-737) so it’s not surprising. There were only a few Bbs and one C this year.

V.F. Cerveny

Cerveny VFC-CR 801CQBNPL British-style cornet: I didn’t know what to expect with a Cerveny piston-valved instrument, but this cornet was very good! Not quite as good as the Besson Prestige cornet, but pretty close and for half the price (about $2k vs. $4k). Additionally, the two tuning triggers were much more comfortable for my hands than the Besson’s. They had a red brass model and a nickel-plated yellow brass model, and the red brass was the clear winner (but both were good).

Cerveny VFC-EP7566 II Emperor euphonium: Actually one of the better euphoniums at the show, probably the coolest looking, and the best value for money (less than $5k, vs. $6.3k for the Shires Q41 and much more for a Besson, Willson, or Yamaha). Huge sound, easy to play, good intonation. All good!

Cerveny CCB 603-4R rotary C tuba: I guess this is the famous “Piggy” model of small 4/4 contrabass tuba. It was very easy to and hold play, with a high register easier than the Willson Ebs! Would be a great pit tuba for musicals like Lion King, though I was wishing for a 5th valve.

Cannonball

Cannonball TB16 bass trombone: Looked very Jin Bao, but was a perfectly decent instrument. Not something I would ever choose to play, but I’d definitely take it over the BAC bass or Yamaha 835 (which played a little better to me, but is way more expensive).

Cannonball TB18 small bore tenor trombone: Meh.

ZO

ZO was the second most interesting Chinese maker there. They had a ton of interesting instruments, and most were great players. If I could pick a Chinese company to be an artist for, ZO would 100% be it. While many of their standard models are available elsewhere under different brand names (most commonly Thomann’s house brand), ZO also has unique models such as the Little Dragon travel tubas.

ZO plastic trombone (small bore, King style): This was a new model of plastic trombone to me, and even had the King curved bell brace. It also played circles around every other plastic trombone I’ve played…it really played well! I’ve played pBones and Trombas and they were awful compared to this. I would gladly use one of these on a street gig or something, and definitely for practice and travel. While this model is not on the ZO website, it is available at Thomann as the Startone PTB-10.

ZO plastic trombone (large bore, F attachment): This design has been around for a while, and has never been good. It still isn’t…sounds and feels like you’re playing with a sock in the bell.

ZO plastic British-style cornet: Not bad! I probably wouldn’t play a gig on one, but it would be a great car horn, desk horn, travel horn, etc.

ZO plastic trumpet: Played ok, but intonation was all over the place. Can’t recommend…get the cornet instead.

ZO plastic flugelhorn: I used the plastic flugelhorn mouthpiece they had there as I forgot to bring my own flugel piece (which is why I didn’t try all the flugels at NAMM), and it played ok but didn’t sound like a flugel at all. Pretty much sounded the same as the cornet!

ZO plastic double horn (Kruspe wrap): It played and sounded…like a brass horn? Apart from sluggish valves it was honestly a solid horn. I can definitely recommend it for horn players wanting a travel/practice instrument. This is another instrument missing from the ZO website, but the same model is available in a few different colors at Thomann.

ZO plastic euphonium: I was not a fan. It was hard to play, and intonation was not good…and in the opposite way from how it is on normal euphs!

ZO plastic 3/4 piston Bb tuba (brass valves): Pretty solid player, but the sound was nothing I could think of a use for.

ZO plastic 4/4 rotary Bb tuba (all plastic): Meh.

ZO 4-valve British baritone (ZBH-5000): I guess this is the Jin Bao copy of the Yamaha YBH-621 that’s been around for a long time. I own the Jin Bao 3-valve compensating Besson clone which is a fabulous instrument (I’d honestly take one over the Bessons and Yamaha Neos I’ve tried, especially when price is considered), but always assumed the other non-compensating models wouldn’t be as good. I was wrong! This 4-valve model was awesome. Really fun to play, nice colorful sound, and no issues I could find. It was hard to put down! Thomann currently sells this model as the BR 604.

ZO 3-valve British baritone (ZBH-3000): I played this one briefly. I guess it’s a copy of the student model Yamaha YBH-301, and it was alright but definitely a step below the 4-valve model. Still, if you REALLY need a dirt cheap British-style baritone, it wouldn’t be a bad choice.

ZO Kruspe double horn: I wasn’t a huge fan of this one, it felt very covered to play. Definitely one of the worst Kruspe clones at the show.

ZO Alexander 103 clone double horn (ZFH-BF6500): This one was a surprise. I’ve never played a real Alexander 103 or any clones before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I absolutely LOVED it. It was one of my favorite horns at the show and I played it for a long time. Beautiful bright sound that seemed to do exactly what I wanted to. And it was easy to play too! Knowing that I like the 103 style is dangerous for my wallet…

ZO Bb kinderhorn (ZFH-CB3000): This was a small 3-valve single Bb horn meant for children. The reps there asked me to try it and tell them if I noticed any intonation problems. I did not! It actually played and sounded very nice in all registers, and was very comfortable to hold. I’d happily own one of these too, though I don’t know what I would use it for.

ZO Little Dragon travel tubas: I was really excited that these were here, as I really loved them the last time I tried them. They are very compact rotary travel tubas (about the size of a euphonium) with 4 or 5 valves that look like radiators, but have bore and taper dimensions like a full-size tuba (just ending in a very small diameter flare). Well, I loved them just as much as I did last time. Really easy to play in all registers, with a beefy tuba sound that really doesn’t sound any smaller than a 4/4 tuba to my ears. I would absolutely love to own one of these for recording and pit work. They are so much fun, sound awesome, and are so much more convenient size-wise than a normal tuba.

The four ZO Little Dragon travel tubas at NAMM 2023 (this is the only picture I took at the whole event!)

ZO had 4 examples of the travel tuba there. An F, 2 Cs, and one even smaller F. The tiny F was about half the size of the already-tiny normal models! Alas, this one did not play nearly as well because they had to make lots of compromises with the bore and taper (the bell flare in particular looked really odd) to make it that small. There was also no way to hold it even slightly comfortably, and it was hilariously heavy for its size. But I’m glad it it exists, because a 5-valve F tuba that is the size of a flugelhorn (and still sounds more tuba-like than other brands of F travel tuba) is hilarious. Meanwhile, the “normal” models seem to have no compromises at all. They come in F, Eb, C, and Bb with 4 or 5 valves, and the different keys are just different tubing lengths on top of the same bell and chassis. The F is the clear winner to me, not just because I like F the most but because it is the lightest. I tried holding up one of the C models in playing position to try and I physically couldn’t more than a few seconds, while the F was totally manageable.

I’d really love to own one of these travel tubas, but at at least $2,500 retail they still aren’t cheap, especially for a Chinese instrument. Maybe one day!

ZO piston F tuba: After playing on the travel tubas for a while, I thought it would be interesting to try one of ZO’s full-size tubas to compare the feel and sound. I picked the large front-action 5-valve piston F, which seems like a copy of a real model (Miraphone? Meinl Weston? I don’t know tuba models too well). To my tuba doubler ears, it played pretty much just as well as the Willson Eb. It had amazing valves, was comfortable to hold, and sounded very nice. A broader sound than the travel tubas of course, but honestly not by that much. It had me fantasizing about owning a ZO travel F for recording and pit work, and this ZO piston F for ensemble work. There were several other ZO tubas there as well (including the massive ZO Thunderbird 6/4 C Yorkaphone), but I only tried the piston F. Sadly, this model is missing from the ZO website, so I don’t know the model number.

ZO trumpet mutes: They had a red-tipped practice mute and blue-tipped straight mute, both of which I tried with the plastic cornet. The practice mute was VERY soft! Straight mute was fine.

Y-Fort

For all the love I just showed ZO, it seems odd that I listed it as the second most interesting Chinese brand at the show. That’s because right next to the ZO booth was a tiny space for a company I’ve never heard of with a weird name, Y-Fort. Most of their booth was a row of 7 or 8 large bore F-attachment trombones. It was obviously a Chinese company, but at first glance the trombones looked very high quality, with a unique rotor valve, nice bell engravings, and a couple of screw bells and removable leadpipes. I ended up spending a very long time at this tiny booth, because ALL of their trombones were some of the best large bore tenor trombones I’ve ever played from any brand. They were amazing! Really easy to play in all registers with none of the work I normally associate with .547” trombones, beautiful orchestral sound, and quality craftsmanship. I was stunned, and then even more stunned to learn the prices. The top of the range model with the screw bell and removable pipes (YSL-763) is $1,900, while the basic model with fixed bell and pipe (YSL-563) is $1,200.

The most amazing thing is that all of the models played pretty much exactly the same, with very small differences in feel in sound depending on the bell (yellow or gold brass) and whether or not it was screw bell. Even the cheapest 563 model played just as well as the fanciest 763. They were SO consistent and every one was a winner, which means one being really good wasn’t a fluke - they all play like that. Even the student model YSL-260GL student model with a closed wrap and .525” bore on the end was excellent. While I did go back and play the fabulous Courtois 421 tenor again to confirm that the $6,000 trombone does indeed play better than the $1,200 trombone, it really wasn’t by a huge margin. They are so good, in fact, that I put down a deposit for one at the end of the show!

Y-Fort also had a range of trumpets to try, and I tried them all with one of their 3C trumpet mouthpieces. They (both the trumpets and the mouthpiece, actually) were all very good as well, especially the top of the line YTR-740 (Bb) and YTR-741 (C). I honestly thought they were some of the best trumpets at the show.

Victory Musical Instruments

This was a company I had only recently discovered, and they had a very large booth with a ton of different trumpets and trombones to try. I was pleasantly surprised!

Victory Crown .508” trombone: They had a few of these, with one in a striking orange and black lacquer. They played very well! I would take one over many of the other small bores at the show, especially when price is considered. With a retail price at under $1,500, I would 100% buy one over a Shires or BAC small bore. They also had one in yellow brass with a Yamaha-style F-attachment and screw bell, which felt much worse in every way. Not sure why, but it just felt dead. The straight horns were great though.

Victory Crown bass trombone: I don’t remember much other than thinking it was pretty good. Would definitely take over the Yamaha 835, BAC, or Cannonball, but not over a Shires Q36 (which is also actually slightly cheaper).

Victory Trumpet of Jesus: Yes, that is it’s real name. It’s hilarious. But, it didn’t play that well to me. :(

Victory Apex Bb trumpet: This was one of the most striking trumpets at the show, with double Shepherd’s crooks and a black and gold finish. It also might have been my favorite-playing trumpet at the show, with the possible exception of the Bach 190S37X. It was excellent, and I really enjoyed playing it. I also have no idea what bore it actually is, because both the label at the show and the website (linked above) say it has a .539” bore, which would be absurdly massive. It certainly didn’t look anywhere near that big, but it did play very open…

Paxman

I didn’t spend a ton of time here, just made sure to give most of the horns a decent shakedown. They all played great, of course. Out of the four double horns I played, I would rank them as follows: 20 > 27 > 23 > Academy. The 20 was an absolute joy to play, though still not my favorite horn at the show.

Other Chinese Brands

There were a ton of Chinese booths, most with Chinese factory names. There are a couple whose names I remember, such as Hunter (decent King 1120 mellophone clone, ok nickel Kruspe double horn), but many names didn’t stick into my brain.

The Tianjin Master Import & Export Co., Ltd. booth had a double bell trumpet, which was very fun to try (but would have been much more fun if I had had a mute to put in one of the bells) and played well. Most of the rest of the instruments there were not great, but weirdly they had a compensating euphonium which was excellent, up there with the Cerveny. It didn’t seem like a clone either.

The Opus Musical Instruments (also labelled Valkyrie Band Instruments sometimes?) booth had a couple of British-style Eb tenor horns which played nicely, as well as a valve trombone in C (like those used in Mexican banda) which was honestly fantastic. It had a very nice bright sound that almost sounded closer to an alto valve trombone, and was very fun to play. I definitely need to get one of those at some point! (Later I tried another C valve trombone by a banda-oriented brand called Garibaldi, which wasn’t as good.)

Things I Didn’t Try

Because they weren’t there (but were at previous NAMM Shows): Courtois 402 Xtreme, Getzen/Edwards, Adams, Schilke, Stomvi, Schagerl, Briz, any Conn-Selmer bass trombone, any King trombones

Because they weren’t there (and I wish they had been): Conn-Selmer/Patterson Hornette, Wessex, King marching brass, BAC G bugles, any descant horn

Because they were there but I didn’t get to them: John Packer, Garibaldi tenor horns

Closing Thoughts

Overall I had a good time and learned a lot, so it was a successful NAMM for brass. This whole NAMM was noticeably smaller than the ones pre-COVID, but still had plenty to sink your teeth into. Can’t wait for January 2024!

Soprano Trombone

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Do you want to buy a soprano trombone? Do you want to know why the soprano trombone exists? Do you want to explore the weird world of comically small trombones? If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, this article is for you.

The soprano trombone isn’t as endangered as most of the other instruments I write about on this site, and there is a good amount of information about it online. But I’ll start with a brief summary of what it is in case you’ve discovered it first through this article.

Thein soprano trombone

The soprano trombone is a trombone pitched one octave above the standard tenor trombone; in other words, it is pitched the same as a standard B-flat trumpet. It usually has a trumpet shank and can be played with a variety of mouthpieces. Nowadays you can buy extremely affordable Chinese soprano trombones from quite a few vendors, but almost nothing has ever been written for the instrument and professional-quality soprano trombones are very rare. Soprano trombones are sometimes referred to and marketed as slide trumpets; it’s easy to understand why, as the cheap ones are usually made with trumpet parts and they sound like trumpets when played with a trumpet mouthpiece. But the name “slide trumpet” was already taken by an interesting Renaissance trumpet variant centuries before anybody ever applied it to the soprano trombone, so it is better to avoid. Interestingly, in the early 20th century manufacturers sold both “slide trumpets” and “slide cornets”, the only difference being the mouthpiece shank.

Despite being a logical member of a very well-established instrument family, the soprano trombone has almost never been explicitly written for. There are good reasons for this, and good articles and academic publications have written at length about the subject (especially regarding early music). The only place where the soprano trombone gained a permanent foothold was in Moravian trombone choirs, whose core instrumentation was a large mass of trombones from soprano to B-flat contrabass. Even the German Posaunenchor ditches the soprano trombones for Kühlohorns (a variety of rotary flugelhorn) on the top parts, and most trombone choirs do not use anything above alto trombone at all. More recently, the soprano trombone has garnered some attention from its use in jazz by Wycliffe Gordon, but apart from this and the efforts of contemporary classical soloist Torbjörn Hultmark and avant-garde jazz soloist Steven Bernstein, the instrument remains essentially unused in any notable capacity.

In my opinion, there is a simple reason for this: nobody knows what mouthpiece to use for it.

Cheap Chinese soprano trombones always come with a generic 7C trumpet mouthpiece. This makes it sound like an out of tune trumpet and is not desirable. Wycliffe Gordon uses his own custom hybrid mouthpiece with a trombone rim and cup on a trumpet shank, but while you can order these from Chasons, they are very expensive. Someone interested in dipping their toes in the soprano trombone is not likely to want to spend $300 on a mouthpiece for it, especially if its only documented use is by Wycliffe Gordon, who is hardly a normal player like us mere mortals! As a result, the few who do buy soprano trombones typically don’t venture very far off the trumpet mouthpiece path.

I have long held my own theories about what the ideal soprano trombone mouthpiece would be, and I have been able to test some of these theories to favorable results. I used to own an extremely cool soprano trombone, which I have to share here:

This is a handmade German soprano trombone, with a rotor that has slides to put it in A, Ab, G, or F. The rotor is activated by an old-school leather strap rather than a modern paddle, and the bell has a kranz. There is no maker’s mark to be found, and it is likely an exam instrument made by a journeyman apprentice. It is impossibly cool, and I am so thrilled to have owned and played it. It’s gone now, in the hands of someone who will use it more than I did.

Now, on to the mouthpieces. I tried a fleet of mouthpieces on that soprano, to varying degrees of success. These are my findings:

  • Trumpet mouthpieces: it sounds like a trumpet. Very fun to play this way, and there are certainly musical uses for a trumpet that can do true glissandos and other slidey things, but the goal here is to get a proper trombone sound that fits perfectly on top of alto and tenor trombones. For that, trumpet mouthpieces are not the way.

  • Bach 9AT alto trumpet mouthpiece: I always thought this would be the solution, but thanks to its oversized shank (it is not just a normal trumpet shank!), it does not work very well in the soprano. It does get an amazing beefy trombone sound, but it is very difficult to play high on, so much so that it offers no real improvement in range over an alto trombone.

  • Schilke 24 trumpet mouthpiece: This is a massive trumpet mouthpiece, somewhere in between any normal-sized trumpet mouthpiece and the Bach 9AT above (inner diameter 18.29mm). I thought it might do well, but it ended up being nearly as hard to play as the 9AT but with a thinner sound. Not the move.

  • Denis Wick 2 alto horn mouthpiece: even harder to play on than the 9AT, which is not surprising as the DW 2 is the biggest alto horn mouthpiece Denis Wick makes. It is BEEFY.

  • Kelly 3W alto horn mouthpiece: the Kelly is a deeper British-style alto horn mouthpiece like the Wick 2, but it is significantly lighter (being plastic) and is not as large or deep. The result works well in the soprano. The tone is nice and dark, with a trombone-like broadness. Range is good too, with a comfortable range up to Bb5. It still feels too deep both from a sound and effort perspective, but it doesn’t feel too far off the mark for a broad classical soprano trombone sound. The alto horn-sized rim also feels right for instrument, and my bass trombonist face certainly appreciates the additional room.

  • Marching mellophone mouthpieces: I tried 3 of my marching mellophone mouthpieces (Hammond 5MP, Benge Mello 6V, CKB Mello 6) and they all worked about as well. These get a bright sound that is definitely not the right move for classical playing, but for playing jazz on top of small tenor trombones the sound feels just about perfect. There is lots of snap and sizzle to the sound, but it is still much fatter and noticeably more trombone-like than with a trumpet mouthpiece. Articulations also sound like a trombone rather than a trumpet, and the range is unaffected with an easy C6.

  • Holton 55 alto horn mouthpiece: after my experiences with all of the above, I had postulated that an American alto horn mouthpiece with a shallower bowl cup might be the perfect solution. So far, I think my hypothesis was on the money. It has a nice fat tromboney sound like the bigger options above, but I can still play comfortably up to around high Bb and it works nicely all over the horn without too much effort (unlike any of those others).

Although I still have not tried every possible kind of mouthpiece yet, I feel that I’ve found a solid formula for both sound and playability that gives the instrument a unique trombone voice: American alto horn mouthpiece for classical, marching mellophone mouthpiece for jazz. That said, there are a few more options I still have to explore the next time I own a soprano:

  • German flugelhorn mouthpiece - German flugelhorns use a shank essentially identical to a trumpet shank, so you can use them on anything with a trumpet shank (like soprano trombone). German flugelhorn mouthpieces are also generally not quite as deep as the dark, rich Denis Wick-style flugelhorn mouthpieces, nor are they as shallow and thin as Bach-style bowl cup flugelhorn mouthpieces. It could be a really nice middle ground that would mesh well with the soprano trombone, and given the history of rotary flugelhorns being used in their place, it seems like it would be a good fit.

  • Curry TF/ACB FX - these hybrid trumpet mouthpieces with deep flugel-like cups are an interesting option. I’m not very confident that they would be the right move, but considering how well the marching mellophone mouthpieces work I could be wrong.

  • Chasons hybrid trombone/trumpet mouthpiece - this is the kind of mouthpiece Wycliffe uses on soprano trombone. While I would love to try one of these, they are very expensive and I’m not motivated to spend that kind of money on a possible soprano trombone mouthpiece!

As you can see, I didn’t quite complete my soprano trombone mouthpiece safari. But I did get some excellent results that gave the instrument a proper soprano trombone voice, and I would encourage other soprano trombone owners to expand your horizons beyond trumpet mouthpieces to get the most out of your instrument.

Of course, there is also the question of what soprano trombone to buy if you don’t already have one. Fortunately, there are not too many choices to be confused by and I’ll give you a quick summary of each.

  • Cheap Chinese sopranos - if you just want a soprano to mess around with for fun or to see if you have any interest in pursuing the instrument further, this is the tier you should be looking at. There are a million different brands, but you should ignore them all and buy the Thomann SL-5. Why? Because they are all the exact same instrument, and the Thomann is the cheapest by a significant margin. It’s VERY cheap, so if you really want a soprano and don’t want to budget very much for it your search ends here. Even used Chinese sopranos cost more than this.

  • Jupiter 314 - this was the most popular entry-level soprano when it was in production, as it came before all the cheap Chinese ones. They are no longer made, but you can find them used occasionally for around the same price as most new Chinese sopranos ($200-300). The Thomann is still much cheaper, but you probably won’t get a bad example with a Jupiter and it will hold its value better.

  • Carol Brass CTB-2005 - The “2” is important here. Carol Brass also makes a CTB-1005 which is the same basic instrument as the Chinese sopranos, but likely a better instrument as Carol Brass is a company with actual quality control like Jupiter. However, the CTB-2005 is truly a cut above. All the Chinese sopranos, the CTB-1005, and the Jupiter 314 are tuned via the tenon attaching the bell to the slide, which is the cheapest and worst method. The CTB-2005, on the other hand, has proper leadpipe tuning like a flugelhorn. As far as affordable sopranos go, it is far and away the best option. However, while Thomann used to sell the CTB-2005 for just over $200, they no longer do. The only place I can find that still apparently sells it is this Russian website, which says the CTB-2005 is available “on request”. So unfortunately, there is no easy way to buy one now (if at all). I’ve never seen one used, and it can’t have sold very well if Thomann dropped it. But if one does show up, grab it!

  • Carol Brass CTB-2005-GLS-GL - Carol’s mind-numbing alphanumeric naming scheme makes it seem like this should be a simple variation of the above soprano trombone, but this is actually a completely new model, recently introduced. Notably, it is pitched in G rather than B-flat! It uses the bell (including that big shepherd’s crook) from the maker’s Phat Puppy flugelhorn, and does sound much more flugel-like than most soprano trombones. A very interesting new development for the soprano!

Carol Brass CTB-2005-GLS-GL soprano trombone in G - see the full product page here

  • Miraphone 63 - this is the only factory professional-level soprano trombone on sale today. I haven’t played one so I don’t know how well it plays, but at $2300 this is really only an option to the most dedicated players.

  • Thein - this is probably a soprano that is really worth the money, but it is a LOT of money. If you absolutely must have the very best soprano money can buy, this is your ticket.

  • Custom - honestly, if you have a tech you trust and access to a cornet bell and a small bore trombone slide, I would rather get one custom made than buy a cheap factory instrument. You can make it whatever bore you want, whatever mouthpiece shank you want, add a valve if you want, and so on. It will probably play at least as well as a new Chinese instrument and be infinitely cooler.

  • Vintage Used - Occasionally, used sopranos from the early 20th century will turn up for sale online, often for prices in the new Chinese range. If they are in decent shape and going for the right price, they could be a good option. The one model I would avoid is the DEG/Getzen with the ultra-narrow handslide.

  • Minick - The famed brass maker Larry Minick made a few sopranos, including a few with valves for studio players. They are extremely rare today.

Minick soprano trombone

Minick soprano trombone with F attachment

Wessex Tubas also once briefly offered a large bore (.500”) soprano with F attachment on their website, model PB455. However, it was removed almost immediately due to quality issues. They sadly never fixed the issues and relaunched the product, though the owner of Wessex did tell me a few years ago that you could still custom order one if you wanted.

the stillborn Wessex PB455 soprano trombone with F attachment

Torbjörn Hultmark’s Thein soprano trombone that the Wessex was likely based on

Here is a final curiosity for you - a soprano valve trombone!

Sadly only have this photo, so I have no idea who the maker is. But it looks to be a genuine soprano not made from trumpet parts, so while you can be forgiven for thinking “isn’t soprano valve trombone just a trumpet”, in this case I think the answer is no. Much like a tenor valve trombone isn’t the same thing as a bass trumpet, I think that a real soprano valve trombone (not just trumpet parts arranged into a trombone shape) wouldn’t play or sound the same as a trumpet.

I always wondered if such a thing existed, and now that I have proof I need to have a valve section made the next time I own a soprano trombone. Because why not?

Brazilian Slide Bugles

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In low brass circles, the topic of “slide euphonium” is occasionally brought up. Do they exist? Is it even physically possible?

The answer is usually “no” to both counts, and to be fair that’s technically correct if you’re trying to preserve the euphonium’s conical bore throughout. You could try a variation of E.A. Couturier’s conical trombone slides I suppose, but that would be unlikely to even be functional on a wide-bore cone like a euphonium.

The real, better answer is “kind of.”

A euphonium with a full-length 7-position slide is impossible. However, you could easily make a “slide euphonium” by putting an appropriately-sized cylindrical handslide with 1-3 positions early in the tubing. It would physically work, but the euphonium would be drastically less conical than a valved one. This would likely result in an intonation nightmare and a sound noticeably different from a normal euphonium, not to mention understandable debates on whether it still qualifies as a euphonium at all.

What’s more interesting than all that is that the instrument just described not only exists but is performed with regularly. Welcome to the wacky world of the Brazilian cornetão gatilho, or slide bugle.

These instruments are used in Brazilian carnival music in sizes from soprano to bass. The two largest members of the family are slide euphoniums!

There is almost nothing about these instruments on the English-speaking Internet, which is the main reason I wrote this article. What I have been able to find from Brazilian websites are the following instruments:

Corneta Gatilho Soprano (B-flat)

Corneta Gatilho Soprano

Pictured is a Weril B-flat model, but these come in B-flat, F, and E-flat. Whole step handslides seem to be universal.

Corneta Afinação Soprano

These instruments have both a short handslide and a whole-step piston valve. Unlike the slide-only sopranos, these seem to only be in B-flat.

Cornetão Gatilho Contralto

The least common ones out of those I could find online. This one (by Weril) is in E-flat.

Cornetão Gatilho Tenor

These are mostly in B-flat, but I have seen them in alto F as well, still taking a trombone mouthpiece. They are often furnished with only half-step slides, though this Weril model seems to have a whole-step slide.

Cornetão Gatilho Eufônico

Slide euphonium!

Bombardino De Marcha Sem Pistos

Literally “marching euphonium without pistons”, this is the bass of the slide bugle family. Although it sounds like a euphonium and plays in the same range, it is pitched in bass F or E-flat.

There are also cornetão with just one whole-step piston valve and no handslide (including in odd keys like G), and others with no handslide OR piston. However, it seems that the cornetão gatilho with just the slide is the standard.

Far be it from me to just talk about these instruments. Here is a Facebook video of them in action. This band looks like it includes sopranos, tenors, and the bass euphoniums (which seem to be in E-flat based on the slide positions). Although it presents more intonation challenges, I think the short handslide is an intriguing solution to the “make bugles be able to play more notes” problem that North American drum and bugle corps tackled in a different way.

This is the extent of what I’ve been able to find online (as a non-Portuguese speaker) about this family of instruments. If you are Brazilian and know more about them or have experience playing them yourself, please feel free to reach out to me! I would love to learn more about the history and common practice of these instruments.