Band man

One word, plenty of meanings. BAND.

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

Things flute players hate

~Spit ~marching in the B direction ~brass

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

When people ask me if im ready for marching competition

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

When the section leaders decide to have the meetings during water break

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

Band in a nutshell

BD: Okay kids, who has the melody? Trumpets: *raises hands* BD: No, you guys are on a 12 measure rest. Flutes: *raises hands* BD: Yes! Flutes have melody! Trumpets: *Yelling across band room* WHY DO THEY HAVE THE MELODY?! ITS NOT LIKE ANYONE CAN HEAR THEM ANYWAYS!!! BD and entire band excluding trumpets:.......*shakes heads*

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

Hurricane Matthew

BD: HAY WE HAVE AN AWAY GAME TOMMOROW SO BE PREPARED! Band: YAYYYY!!! *next day* BD: We will not be going because of Hurricane Matthew. Band: *looks at trumpet player named Matthew* GOD DANGIT MATTHEW!! Matthew:.....

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

1st competion

*our band finishes the music of Queen and is off the field* Rival band: Damn you guys did really well *is shoked* Our band: Thank you *is confident* Rival band: *goes onto field and fucking shows us up and makes us look like crap* Our band: *all confidence is gone* Damn. They are good

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

Our band is about sass

*stomping onto the field waving my hat around with sass* YASSS I AM READY FOR THIS SHIT. Wait where am I. Fuck I'm on the wrong side of the field. *skips around angrily* Where am I shit, damnit fuck. *runs into drumline* damnit. I cant find my dot. Im screwed. NO. HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN TO MEEE. *finds dot* oh. There me go. *cant see drum major* FUCK MY LIFE

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

*cue the trumpets*

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

Run through during practice

Me:*marching with sheet music*

*music and set sheets flies away in the wind*

Me: Welp. There goes my will to live.

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

Flute transitioning to Baritone

Flute: *is practicing the baritone for hours* Brass player: *looks at flute* arnt you aftaid that you will lose your flute embouchure? Flute: Naw i will be fine, see! *picks up flute and tries to play but keeps buzzing lips and cant reach high notes*.......well damn.

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

Band Bus

Band Kid: *sitting on the wrong side of the bus* Chaperone: excuse me, you are in the wrong seat. You must move to the other side. Band Kid: OH MY GOD DID YOU JUST ASSUME MY GENDER?!

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

Reasons why i dont do my hair

1: Marching band 2:Marching Band hats 3: Marching band practice 4: And hey its easier to just not do my hair

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

the moment you walk into the band room and realize you have to fold ponchos....

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

Trying to pick a brass instrument to learn for dci like:

Trumpet: No. Just no. Trombone: BIG SLIDEY THING= nope Tuba:hmm...It might kill me... Baritone:...Cute...sounds like trombone....but what if I'm not strong enough... Mellophone:...Mouthpeice...Is it a trumpet...or a French horn.... me in the end: wtf. ~I need advice, what should I go with, I'm a flute just wanting to play a brass instrument. Please help me.~

[loveofmellophones]

Beginner Mellophone Post

What is a mellophone? According to google, it is a “brass instrument similar to the orchestral French horn, played mainly in military and concert bands.” Here’s a blurb from wikipedia because it is more clear than I am: The mellophone is a three-valved brass instrument in the key of F or Eb that is used in marching bands and drum and bugle corps in place of French horns. These instruments are used instead because their bells face forward instead of to the back (or to the side), as dissipation of the sound becomes a concern in the open-air environment of marching. Tuning is done solely by adjusting the piping, instead of adjusting both piping and hand position as on the horn. Fingering for the mellophone is the same as fingering for a non-trigger (single) french horn.

Here is a video by jdfuncorps that he made over the summer about the mellophone!

I just started playing mellophone, what are all these parts?!?

This is a labeled picture that I made of a yamaha mellophone, so there will be slight differences with other brands.

What are the fingerings for mellophone? Here’s a chart.

How do I hold the mellophone? Though different organizations will have different rules about what hands go where, here is a video of the Bluecoats mellophone section leader demonstrating their specific horn carriage which is a good starting point for anyone! They use double cover for their horns down, so that might look slightly different from what you’ve seen before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YmxwUlNYto

I play the *insert woodwind instrument here* and I don’t think I can march DCI. What do I do?

YES YOU CAN DO IT I BELIEVE IN YOU. I actually started as a woodwind (clarinet in middle school and then saxophone later) and it wasn’t too hard for me to learn mellophone! The biggest difference, which I think I’ve talked about on this blog before, is that I noticed I needed to use a LOT more air to play mellophone. HERE is an article that DCI recently posted about several of the few marchers that play woodwinds and ended up marching. 

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

SHUT UP

Clarinet:*complaining about how much their arms hurt after a drill* Every single brass instrument: JUST SHUT UP. NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR SQUIDWARD NOODLE ARMS.

[theextrovertedfluteplayer-blog]

JAM OUT