So you play mellophone? Do you have any tips for someone who is just starting?
Anonymous

Yep, and sure! The biggest thing to get used to first of all is buzzing on a mouthpiece (that’s the instrument after all, the rest is just a hunk of metal with pipes and valves). Work on playing basic long tones on the mouthpiece, then sirens (going as low as you can go to as high as you can go, back and forth). Also work on hitting certain notes on the mouthpiece, buzzing along to the radio helped me a lot. When you start playing on the horn, the fingerings are the same as trumpet (you can google them, also I’m assuming you’ve played something else before haha :P). Start out with easy major scales (low C to middle C is easiest) as well as chromatic to get your fingers used to the feeling. Eventually you can work your way up to lip slurs (these took me a while to get used to). The biggest things regarding those are steady stream of air and placing the notes (not scooping up or falling/glissing down). Work on easy tunes and etudes if you can (beginner trumpet/horn stuff would work). And as of now, that’s all I can think of but I hope this helps! Feel free to message me if you have more questions and have fun!

  1. longandmeaningfulhipstername said: You learned beginner trumpet stuff on a mellophone? I was forced to use like the beginning section of an old French horn book that you get for learning in elementary school music classes.
  2. paranoid-android92 posted this