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Topic: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question (Read 8140 times) previous topic - next topic

Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

I'm a rising freshman about to join marching band. Recently I picked up the french horn, but it hasn't been going so well. I'm formerly a flautist, and the transition from two full hands of keys to just three keys to produce the same amount of notes (perhaps even more) is not going as well as I had hoped. On top of that, a french horn is much heavier to march with than a flute is!

Breaking the habit of flute-embouchure has been a challenge, and even harder has been training my ear to a Bb instrument. I went into the french horn a little too hastily, and now I wonder if I made the right choice. I still have enough time before band camp starts-- so can anyone tell me, which instruments are C instruments?

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #1 –
(The reason why I asked here is because I ran a search on my question and found an old post here from someone asking about why concert instruments are tuned to different keys...)

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #2 –
In a standard Marching band here are the instruments and keys
C instruments
-Piccolo, Flute
-Oboe
-Mallet Percussion

B flat
Trumpets
Tenor Sax
Clarinets

E flat
Alto Sax
Baritone Sax

Bass Clef, but still in C
-Trombones
-Euphonium(Baritone)
-Tuba
-Timpani

Thats basically it.  If you want a beginner friendly instrument try the Alto Sax.  Its quite easy to pick up, getting to be an expert at it is a different story.  Hope this helps.

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #3 –
Thanks! Are there any C instruments outside of the standard marching band-range? (Concert band is mandatory for all band students, and students are given the option to have different instruments for each band section-- jazz, marching, concert, etc.)

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #4 –
The oboe isnt in marching band really i dont think, so that up there was my bad, but that is the only other instrument thats a C instrument.  There is the bassoon but thats written in bass clef though its in C.  yup, i think thats it.

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #5 –
Stephanie, think about what you will be doing with music while you are in high school and after.  Let that help you decide on your second instrument.  Other factors include what type of music do you prefer playing (baroque, jazz, etc.) and what sounds you like in an instrument.

Don't worry too much about whether or not it's a transposing instrument.  You'll get used to it.

Your problem with French horn is that it's (considered to be) one of the more challenging instruments to play.  If you're going to learn it, or for that matter, learn to play any instrument well, you need private lessons.

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #6 –
Stephanie, you might want to consider bassoon.  You say one of your main problems is breaking you flute embouchure.  Well, the most similar embouchure to bassoon is flute!  (And not those nasty nasty clarinets and saxophone - bah humbug only two or three centuries old mutter mutter.)

You really do have two full hands of keys - including thumbs, and a range just as large as a flute.  The drawbacks are having to learn a new clef immediately, and then another one later, and the fingering is "opposite" - three fingers on the left hand is "C", not "G".

Vince R., I was wondering at first why you added oboe to marching band but not bassoon, until I saw your correction - but don't be too hasty:  I played bassoon on the march for a year - it was completely pointless, but a lot of fun.

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #7 –
Bassoon is not a good marching or concert band instrument.All you get to play is duck farts.(That's why it's called the "farting bedpost"). The bassoon is much better as an orchestral instrument, you get to play real music.

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #8 –
Most flutes, trombones, and tubas I know are keyed in Bb. Trumpets and clarinets are also Bb but transposed to C.

If you play a flute than that is the closest embochure to a brass insrument that a ww can have.

the transposition isn't really a factor for a player because you just play the note you see, you don't have to worry about what pitch you are actually playing, unless you are trying to read flute music and play Mellophone.

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #9 –
"Most flutes, trombones, and tubas I know are keyed in Bb. Trumpets and clarinets are also Bb but transposed to C." - please explain this, Lee.

As to "the transposition isn't really a factor for a player because you just play the note you see, you don't have to worry about what pitch you are actually playing,"  I think the concern is that a person who has a good sense of pitch reads a note and "hears" the pitch in her head.  Playing a transposed part means that until she gets used to it, she'll be constantly trying to adjust her embouchure to play in tune, because the played note will not be what she's expecting to hear.  I don't think it's a major concern, but then I grew up on a transposing instrument.

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #10 –
Well those instruments are Concert Pitch instruments, meaning the note you play is the Note you hear.  Unlike transposed instruments,  like a trumpet, where if you play a written C, you actually make a written Bb.

In the Band world, Home Base is Bb, most Concert pitched instruments are keyed in Bb, though you can get them in others.

Hope that makes sense

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #11 –
David, I think what Lee Nuckols is saying is that most of the music he plays is in Bb, so flutes trombones and tubas are playing in Bb and trumpets and clarinets are playing in C.  The way he puts it sounds like he's just started learning about the wonderful wide world of transposition.  Let's hope he soon plays in many other keys - a life-time centred around Bb major/minor could get pretty boring!

llucyy, llongg have I held the same opinion as you that bassoons are pointless in marching bands (and here I admit I didn't notice Stephanie's "about to join marching band".)  But it's rather fun listening to people say "look at the oboe", and some marches - especially Sousa played as written - work quite well for bassoon.

In concert band, either you're playing kindergarten music, or you have a clod for a conductor.  Have a look at the Duthoit orchestral transcriptions, or most serious music for concert band written in the last half century, or perhaps some of the old standards - Holst, Grainger etc.  After those Duthoit arrangements, you'll be glad to have some duck farts, just for a bit of a rest.

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #12 –
The concertina is a great "marching" instrument.
The "anglo" concertina comes in C and G, or D and G or Bflat and F.

Uses all fingers (and one thumb), requires no breath control (so you can talk/sing/dance while playing).

No good for orchestral stuff, though.

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #13 –
Try percussion- particularly mallets- glock, vibes etc. give you keyboard knowledge. Also plenty of chimes etc to play in marching band.

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #14 –
The problem with that, Gene, is that everybody and their mother wants to be in pit. Among the marching bands in our region, from what I've seen at my sister's competition (my sister joined marching band last year, and this year she's tried out to be field commander) our pit is ENORMOUS compared to other school's bands like Kennesaw Mtn. and Wilson and so on. I'm hoping to take Percussion Studies sophomore year as a class, as my freshman schedule is WAY too busy, and there I want to at least try vibes or drums. I know I can't play either of those in band since they're extremely popular. I've been playing piano for nearly 9 years now, but our marching band needs only one, and they've got one that's here to stay.

And...What in the name of all that is good is a concertina?!

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #15 –
Hey Stephanie, what do you mean by pit?  I'm guessing it's the term for the percussion section of a marching band?  I'm also guessing it's a standard term in your part of the world?  I think it's good (for me) to be aware of what other people call things musical.

I haven't heard pit used like that before:  to me, it's the place where musicians play for a staged performance (opera, ballet, musicals).  Physically, it's a large, deep hole in front of the stage, but notionally it's a location that could also be back-stage, on-stage or even raised above the stage.  It's the place where we have our very valuable instruments, and where singers, dancers, actors and crew only go if they have a death-wish!

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #16 –
For the last part of your question, Stephanie, a concertina is a small instrument that is played by squeezing - the same idea as an accordion, but smaller.

There are some nice pictures of restored old ones here: http://www.concertinaconnection.com/concertinas.htm  If you explore that site, I think there might be some sound recordings too.

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #17 –
Ohhh, THAT's a concertina. I saw one of those at Riverdance... I see now.

Yeah, pit refers to percussion and marimbas and so on in our marching band, i.e., it's all the instruments you can't physically march with. That includes a bass guitar and a very amusing gong.

I'm in the South (not FROM the South, but that's as it is...) and I guess that's just what Southern band-geeks call it.

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #18 –
Some of those non-marchable instruments can be toted on carts or by other means if your band wants to get really fancy - I saw tympani on horseback in Sweden a few years ago, for instance.

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #19 –
Just stick to the flute...ya'll are making this way more complicated than it is...

Re: Hoping to start a new instrument - Question

Reply #20 –
"Quotes from Grade School Essays on Classical Music
Source: a Missouri music teachers' newsletter:

For some reason, they always put a treble clef in front of every line of flute music. You just watch. "