4 valve flugelhorns

[tubeast]

I started my musical career on flugelhorn. The first partial slotted really well (unlike on trumpet). The strange thing: lipping down from that, I managed to play a glissando (!) down another octave.
Maybe that would be possible on tuba as well, if it weren´t so air-consuming.

I always wondered why ALL trumpets had triggers and MOST flugels didn´t.

I should think you´d have to seriously practise to cope with the mouthpiece. I can´t really play on those after a few years on the tuba.

[imperialbari]

The Czech/German tradition has a few 4RV flugelhorns, often in C, which can only have had one of two purposes:

Reading over the shoulder of a pianist at dance parties.

Reading over the shoulder of the organ player the next morning. (The organist very well could have been the pianist of the night before).

From 1970 and the next many years the Getzen Eterna 4 piston flugelhorn was considered the optimal flugelhorn. Not so much because of its extended range, but because the low notes could be played in tune substituting 4 for 1+3.

Very few flugelhorns have the horizontal slides. Second line models from Getzen and Yamaha are known, and they simply use trumpet valve blocks with a larger bore, than most flugelhorns. Thereby changing the conical properties and hence the sound.

I bought a Getzen 4P flugelhorn for the music school ensemble I lead, but I find that model slightly obsolete today, partially because it is heavy and hard to hold.

I have several flugelhorns, mostly rotary ones. My Bb piston flugelhorn is a YFL-631 with no trigger. But then I was inspired by the 3rd slide trigger maybe pioneered by V. Bach. On the YFL-631 it is possible to place ones left thumb on the knob of the 3rd slide. That way one retains full control over the low range intonation.

If you are interested in flugelhorns or any other brass instrument, then my galleries hold quite a bit of photo documentation.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

[windshieldbug]

I'm with you... so much so, that years ago I added a 4th to the 3 valve Couesnon that I had (I know, heresy!). But, since I had graduated "down" to tuba, I was able to use a few conical tricks I'd picked up, like dual Bore. My tuba playing actually helped my flugelhorn chops get a lot better!



Mouthpieces are deep, but still a lot smaller than tuba. If you can't hack a trumpet size rim, try something like an older altohorn size (NOT an ersatz horn 'piece). The shank should fit, and, as you observe, the characteristic mellow, dark flugelhorn sound is really down around a alto range, anyway!

[windshieldbug]

Right hand. My "improvement" makes it fall directly under the right little finger. Notice the first valve saddle I adapted to be a thumb rest ON the first valve which keeps the right hand anchored.

[windshieldbug]

Low range is great. That's what I was looking to improve. The valve is from a horn, slightly larger bore, so it ended up as a 'dual bore' horn. I had to increase the bell tail flair size to account for it, too. You can see the first couple of inches out of the valve were changed. But like a dual-bore tuba, it makes the low range just jump out, and gives the horn a darker, fuller sound.