Expert: Kenton Scott - 2/26/2009

Question
I have a mellophone from 1914 (A york)  There are 2 twist type adjusters that can open and close allowing more or less tubing to be used.  Do you know what these are for?  They seem to switch the key of the horn but I can't figure out any rhyme or reason to the pattern.  Does it switch from a F horn to a Bb horn or maybe an Eb horn.  There are definate note changes with the adjustments.  Thanks for your time.

Answer
Yes, there were a number of different ways that makers accomplished this, but a common plan for mellophones to be capable of playing in a variety of keys.  The most useful one were F, and Eb.  And, for playing off of piano music - C.  And, I guess they figured if they were going past D, they might as well make them play in D too.  So, the fully capable horns would play in F/Eb/D/C.  Some had enough adjustment in the valve slides to accommodate the pitch changes, but many also had different sets of tubing to allow playing in tune with the valves.  The most common tuning for the horn is Eb. Most concert band music of the time had music for Eb altos, which was played by alto horns or mellophones (or Eb French horns).  Only later did the F French horn get a food hold in concert band music.