tstryk wrote:bort wrote:What is the "cornet = baritone" connection? Aren't cornets conical?
I took it to mean the timbre not the physical properties of the horn.
Indeed!!!
WARNING: ARCHAIC COMMENT FOLLOWS
I am one of the few people left in the world that prefers "American" cornet tone (King Master Model/Silvertone, Reynolds Contempora, Olds Ambassador, Holton Collegiate, Conn Connstellation, etc.) and the "American" baritone-horn tone (same makers - the "classic" hybrid American instrument that lay between the British-style brass band baritone and euphonium, with the forward bell) in concert band. The cornets blend better as a section and with the rest of the brass, and the American baritone has a tonality that is not as cutting as a British baritone, nor as dark as a euphonium, so with a mixed ensemble can blend with either brass or woodwinds, and still come through on countermelodies of marches and other concert pieces when necessary.
I personally believe it is a tragedy that trumpets reign. My uncle, being the older sibling, played a King Silvertone cornet, having started school band @ the end of WWII when there was still a distinction, and trumpets were only played in jazz bands (oversimplified, but you get my point). My dad, being younger, and influenced by all the jazz players of the early to mid '50's, especially Harry James, had a King Super 20 trumpet (which I would love to recover, as it was stolen from me - see my signature). So for awhile I had both, and played both, in both concert band and jazz band, through high school and college, when I wasn't marching with a sousaphone, or finally resigning myself to tuba in college and grad school.
Likewise, the "horny" tonality of a good American baritone horn, with a mouthpiece that is not too large or too deep, like a Schilke 50 or equivalent, is just better tonally. When more trumpets showed up than Carter has pills at a summer band camp, but no baritone players, I volunteered to play baritone, and I was outfitted by the college with a really good King front-bell instrument. Here's the funny part: (remember - this is as a high school student between sophomore and junior years) they asked if I read treble or bass clef. Having had piano, trumpet, and tuba, I answered both. They looked dumbfounded. They asked, yes, but which one. I finally had to tell them to send back a folder of each, because the parts can differ. They were amazed. Between that and playing co-lead trumpet in the jazz band section, I earned camper-of-the-year.
Conversely, there is a gentleman who plays principal trumpet in a community concert band who has a Bach shepard's crook cornet. His musicality is stellar. But his tone is too dark to carry properly, and his solos seem to never have the presence they could have.
And don't get me started on flugelhorns, from the dark, smoky, inimitable tone of a real Couesnon (the standard by which all others are judged), through the lyrical tones of Courtois horns, to some of the modern horns that have too large a bore, and well, never mind. A friend of mine has a '50's Couesnon, and another mutual acquaintence, upon playing it, asked if he would trade it. Our acquaintence said that all he had to trade for the flugel was his car, his house, his business, his wife, etc....
The point being: I've played them all. I have family history to go with it. My preferences are based in real-time experience, with my high school band director being Navy trained.
American cornets and American baritone-horns for mixed winds concert bands.
Trumpets for jazz bands.
Sax-horn style baritones and Besson-style euphoniums for British-style brass bands.
Shepards crook cornets for British-style brass bands (as they tend to have slightly larger bores and a larger bell throat than American "straight" cornets).
