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Thank you! There still is progress, good to know it is noticed. In the hands of an expert player, like Patrick Wibart or Nick Byrne to name a few, the Ophicleide is almost as versatile as a Euphonium. However, the lower range is limited as a Bb Ophi cannot go below A1 (ISO definition). Maybe expert players are able to produce somewhat good sounding pedal notes, but that is extremely difficult. My highest comfortable note is Bb4. For me, the biggest problem with versatility is the dexterity needed for faster passages, with 9 keys to operate in quick succession this remains a struggle. I have mad respect for woodwind players who do this all the time. I do eventually want to make a full video of the Ernst Sachse Concertino, which ranges from Bb1 to Bb4, but do not feel quite ready for it yet. Hopefully within a few months.

Well, according to several brass specialists and musical instrument museums, an Eb flugelhorn is called "soprano", so I will keep doing the same, as I am not Italian in which case it would indeed be "sopranino".

@@RetiredBrass I understand where you're coming from...BUT, regardless of the name an instrument has, it still has a core fundamental pitch. Those fundamental pitches have concrete names. Such as, Bb Bass Clarinet. It is Bb because it has a Bb fundamental pitch. It is Bb-2 or Bb Tenor/Bb Contralto. Same Bb Tenor fundamental pitch as a Bb Tenor Sax or Bb Tenor T-bone. There is no such thing as a Bb Bass fundamental pitch. But we don't call it a Bb Tenor Clarinet because it doesn't have a Tenor timbre, it had a Bass timbre. The Eb Sopranino Flugelhorn on the other hand, definitely has an Eb Sopranino fundamental pitch but it doesn't have a tinny Sopranino timbre, it has a Soprano timbre. See what I mean? Lol. Maybe we should call it the Eb Sopralto Flugelhorn? Or Eb Altino Flugelhorn? Lol

Just to be clear, the name "French Horn model Alto" is what Conn named it at the time. I know it is not a real French Horn.

@@RetiredBrass I know I read your description, I wrote that for the people commenting nonsense lol

It is. You can find it at jeromewiss.com/en/mouthpiece/ophicleide-mouthpiece/

Playing Ophicleide is a lot of fun! This may sound a little dramatic, but playing it feels like a drug: when it goes well it really gives a kind of dopamine rush. I don't want to stop and when I have to stop I can't wait until the next time I can play again (which unfortunately isn't often). Of course, sometimes it doesn't go well and that leaves a dark void filled with sadness, but also the desire to try again. I think playing a real old one like mine adds to the fun. Unfortunately, I do not know when my instrument was built or who built it, but judging by the build technique and details my guess is early to mid 19th century. I too have heard the rumours about the intonation quirks and dubious tonal qualities of the Ophicleide, but I guess I got lucky with mine. However, I can't deny they are there. Some notes require lipping, sometimes alternate fingerings are more useful (but not always...) and some notes just *don't* sound well (just pray 'n play). It takes a lot of trial and error to get acquainted with the instrument (every instrument has it's own different quirks) and I am still learning, so I really appreciate your comment! Sometimes I wonder how I would do on a modern instrument like Wessex makes, or maybe a fully restored period instrument, but at the moment I do not have the budget for that...

Thanks, I will definitely check it out!

Nocturne, Op. 35, No. 10 by Reinhold Glière

Thank you for your comment! That horn sounds interesting. Is it played with the right hand on the valves? It is probably not a true French Horn, though often mistaken for one, but could be either (I am not exactly sure what the difference is) a Mellophone or a circular Alto Horn, sometimes in Dutch called Corhoorn or Es-hoorn.

@@RetiredBrass The case says "Blasom" but on the instrument itself I see not directly a brand name. Yes, right handed. I think too that it could be a circular alto or perhaps this was custom made for somebody wanting a "very close" horn sound in a wind band since I have seen also a Courtois circular horn with normal valves (Perinet?) and also right handed. That latter instrument was smaller and sounded less noble. I had problems tuning it high enough to Es. I tried it only a week and gave it back because I got problems in my wrist joints. These instruments are hard to hold for long. For the moment I practice more on a plastic Hornet. I have no idea if I will ever play horn somewhere. I am normally a (frustrated and tired of it all) trumpet player.

@@jean-pierredevent970 Ah yes, Blasom, the late 80's - early 90's incarnation of Schenkelaars. Not very succesful. The Courtois most likely was a Tenor Cor, similar to a Mellophone, but with a smaller bell. It is possible that it came with separate tuning slides to play in different keys, depending on the era it was made. Maybe your instrument was fitter with a D- slide?

@@RetiredBrass I had already figured out that if I pulled several slides a bit out, I obtained an instrument in D which had a almost beautiful sound with that big conical mouthpiece of the Blasom. The original mpc was missing but had a smaller shank so I had to secure the big mpc with a lot of tape. I noticed again that I play easy everything in tune with a 100% conical mpc + these horn like instruments. There is something "advanced" here going on.

Thanks for the suggestion! I think I'll need to practice some more first 😉

It is fun, but be aware that it does have it quirks. The F, E (and Eb and D to a lesser extent) bottom of the staff are very hard to get to sound acceptable. I don't know if it is a general problem with all Wessex Quinticlaves or just mine...

@@RetiredBrass What kind of MP are you using?

@@jomarluke In this video I used a Arnolds & Sons 15T-S

Thank you for providing the piano part!

Thank you for watching. I myself perceive the sound as a slightly brassy French Horn sound, but it could be very well possible that others perceive it differently.

Thank you! (It is Glière actually, not Glazunov)

Ноктюрн Глієра

Those were my exact thoughts at the time! 😉

Thanks! I wish I had the time and opportunity to actually practice... Reality is, I have always had a good tone and very good sight-reading abilities (one teacher once said "you read like a raven") and that actually made me lazy in practice. Today, it is more a matter of time and opportunity. So, while I do have a nice tone, I lack in technique and endurance.

@@RetiredBrass I get that, yeah.

Thank you for the kind words. There are actually two types of Ophicleide; one has a neck/mouthpipe, called 'bocal', that is only circular tubing, so that can only be adjusted by inserting it more or less deep into the instrument. The other type is like mine, where the bocal also has a tuning slide, so that can be finetuned by extending that. But then the placement of the tone holes does limit the overall tuning, so a lot of lipping is still necessary.

I am sorry I breathe this way.

I have one, Couesnon Monopole but it is very beat up and does play but not very well (as do I...)

Thanks! Maybe because this model trumpet has a similar airflow as a Flugelhorn, only more cylindrical bore.

A small shank trombone mouthpiece fits very good. Here I use a Denis Wick 10CS I don't know if they make small shank tuba mouthpieces.

@@RetiredBrass thank you

They did, especially the French and the British makers in the 19th and early 20th Century where known for these so-called "piston horns", before the German-style Rotary valves became the standard for Horns . Conn also made piston horns. However, this is not a true Horn but a Mellophone. I do have examples of true piston Horns in my collection.

​@@RetiredBrassaren't mellophones the trumpet style french horns used for marching?

@@BradleyUppercrustIII345 The modern Mellophone is, but that is a very different instrument than the original Mellophones of the late 19th and early 20th Century.

There's two types of Mellophones & two types of French Horns. Concert and Marching. Concert is bell down. Marching is bell front. Concert Mellophones have a wide 90 degree angle between the lead pipe and bell. Concert French Horns have a narrow 60 degree angle between the lead pipe and bell. Which is why it's hard to mute the Concert Mellophone with your hand. Draw a line through the leadpipe. Draw a line through the bell. You will see the angle at which they intersect. Once you see it you will never be able to unsee it. Also all Mellophones are played with the right hand vs French Horns are played with the left hand.

@@user-sk1eh3pg6j -- I played French horn, mellophone and trumpet in my high school band including marching band, switching instruments as needed for what the performance required. Played the flute as well, but there was almost never a need for me to step in, because we had a zillion other flute players available. My family was able to purchase a used flute and a used trumpet for me, but we never had enough money for a horn. Luckily there were always enough school-owned single horns as well as double horns available, because horn was a much less popular instrument. My district didn't invest in mellophones until toward the end of my high school career, and only ever had concert French horns, so this is my first time seeing piston valves on a horn instead of rotary, or a mellophone with a bell that does not face forward.

Yes, the previous owner probably wanted to show the Conn logo and cleared rhat area. There is indeed a lot of tarnish that is very hard to clean on the horn. I am in the process of cleaning it entirely, but it will take some time and effort.

@@RetiredBrass Good luck!

Hey buddy. Not to be “that guy” but as an American, Mellophones are not shaped like that. Mellophones are like cornets with a cartoonishly big bell. Edit: I was wrong. Those are mellophones I’m used to marching mellos, my bad, although that does look slightly different from the mellophones you’re talking about

@@Euphonium_boi Yes. Most major manufacturers stopped production of the Mellophone in the late 90s. Due to the instruments, versatility, projection, cost and love by DCI, the Marching Mellophone is being innovated upon and still being played today. I have played a Yamaha Marching Mellophone for 6 years and counting. And I own a Yamaha Concert Mellophone. The Mellophone is my favorite horn, a unique American solution to the Alto voice

Don’t sweat the mistakes lol. Research and awareness is how these old horns keep on getting played and enjoyed

@@QuietWyatt2005 thank uou

@@QuietWyatt2005 also why do people I’d least expect end up being the people I see in music videos like it’s insane you created a game and still have time to pick up an instrument

Thank you! I wish I had more stamina and endurance for the higher register, but I really do enjoy playing short songs like this.

Thank you for your accompaniments! :)

Finding the right mouthpiece is often problematic on these vintage instruments, if there is no original. This horn has a receiver that is 'slightly' bigger than a modern alto horn, though it is possible that there should have been a tuning bit used to put the mouthpiece in, but if that's the case than that is missing. Anyway, as it is it is not large enough for a trombone mouthpiece and just a little too wide for my modern Alto Horn mouthpieces. I have two older mouthpieces, I believe to be also for Alto Horn that come very close and with some plumbers tape do fit (kind of). The one I use here sounds the best of the two; it is a mouthpiece by GBH (Gebruder Hablowits).

It is not for sale.

@@RetiredBrass how can I get it ?

You can't, as it is NOT for sale!@@陳信丞-u1k