Completely frivolous purchase: Baritone Horn, Tenor Horn or Bass Trumpet?

[bman94]

I am a middle school band director, and to better understand the instruments that I teach, I end up purchasing used or cheap instruments to practice on and to demonstrate with my kids. These include a Yamaha Alto Sax, a restored OLDS Bell Front Euphonium, Conn 52H Trombone, an old Conn Cornet, a Conn 14D Single F Horn and a few marching baritones and Mellophones. In addition to this my "serious" instruments for use in ensemble work and symphonic band rehearsals are my Mack Brass Euphonium and Mack Brass Tuba.

Because of this I think I'm beginning to become a mini collector 😀. I'm looking for a "just for fun" instrument just to toy around with at home or maybe show to my students. I have no problem with Chinese manufactured horns as long as they are of decent to good quality (like the Mack Brass horns I have). So I've decided on Wessex as the brand and I'm looking to one of the following horn:

Baritone Horn
Tenor Horn
Bass Trumpet
Piccolo Trumpet

I won't get any serious use out of any of these instruments but I would love to play any of them. A big plus would be if there is any etude/method material for any of these instruments that I can study with. So if you had $800 to spend on any of these which would you spend it on and why?

[highpitch]

Try this:

https://wessex-tubas.com/products/ro...osthorn-fh40-l

Dennis

[Sara Hood]

Go for something different (grin).

Since you are throwing it out there, asking for opinions and advice, I would say go for something different. I am a baritone/euphonium player, and much as I love those particular horns, it seems that you have that well covered. So I would leave the baritone and tenor horn alone. Go for the piccolo trumpet, bass trumpet, or the post horn Dennis suggested. If the idea behind this "collection" is to expose kids to the wide variety of instruments, use this as an opportunity to widen the selection (smile).

For your own playing and fingering comfort, you may want to stay with B flat pitched horns, but that all depends on how much challenge you are up for. Have fun with your "frivolous purchase" and make sure you come back here and show us what you got (grin).

- Sara

[Euphonium17]

https://wessex-tubas.com/collections...tary-valve-bt2

I'd go with the bass trumpet, solely for something unique. I think it would be a lot of fun and not many people get to see these, but if you're ever in an ensemble with some trumpets, then why not add some color to it? And also rotary valves... just because I love rotary valve trumpets.

[iiipopes]

If it is completely frivolous, why not one of each?

[Euphonium17]

If it is completely frivolous, why not one of each?

Agreed, a brilliant idea!

[ghmerrill]

I would say NOT the picc unless you want to spend the time to learn to play it decently. Rather than a tenor horn (the meaning of which is pretty much always unclear), why not an alto horn? That might also allow you to play some additional parts under certain conditions.

[iiipopes]

My bordering-on-sarcasm-comment aside, if you are a school band director and are wanting instruments to demonstrate to your students, then the next step is, according to the list of instruments you already possess, a flute and a clarinet.

[bman94]

Try this:

https://wessex-tubas.com/products/ro...osthorn-fh40-l

Dennis

That's a bit too odd for me lol. First I've even seen this horn.

Since you are throwing it out there, asking for opinions and advice, I would say go for something different. I am a baritone/euphonium player, and much as I love those particular horns, it seems that you have that well covered. So I would leave the baritone and tenor horn alone. Go for the piccolo trumpet, bass trumpet, or the post horn Dennis suggested. If the idea behind this "collection" is to expose kids to the wide variety of instruments, use this as an opportunity to widen the selection (smile).

For your own playing and fingering comfort, you may want to stay with B flat pitched horns, but that all depends on how much challenge you are up for. Have fun with your "frivolous purchase" and make sure you come back here and show us what you got (grin).

- Sara

I was learning more towards the Bass Trumpet initially but the lacquer model of the piston valve seems to be out of stock and I have no idea when they will be available again. I also a bit concerned with available literature for the Bass Trumpet (as in none) but I guess I could always just play Trombone/Baritone/Euphonium stuff on it or trumpet music on it just down an octave.

I've been listening to some Brass Bands with Baritone Horn solos and the sound is growing on to me. I've never really experienced a tenor horn before just messed around with one for a very short period of time. So that is slightly more interesting to me. I might play the waiting game on the Bass Trumpet until they restock on the lacquer.

https://wessex-tubas.com/collections...tary-valve-bt2

I'd go with the bass trumpet, solely for something unique. I think it would be a lot of fun and not many people get to see these, but if you're ever in an ensemble with some trumpets, then why not add some color to it? And also rotary valves... just because I love rotary valve trumpets.

I was leaning towards bass trumpet as I mentioned above but I take a liking to their lacquer piston model which is currently out of stock. And I get enough rotary valve work with my Tuba lol.

If it is completely frivolous, why not one of each?

I did say I'm a teacher lol, it'll be hard to justify all of them.

I would say NOT the picc unless you want to spend the time to learn to play it decently. Rather than a tenor horn (the meaning of which is pretty much always unclear), why not an alto horn? That might also allow you to play some additional parts under certain conditions.

I probably wouldn't have the time to put some serious practice on it. Over the summer is my serious practice time and I'd rather use that time for Tuba/Euphonium. Tenor Horn and Alto horn are the same thing just a convoluted naming scheme.

My bordering-on-sarcasm-comment aside, if you are a school band director and are wanting instruments to demonstrate to your students, then the next step is, according to the list of instruments you already possess, a flute and a clarinet.

I do have a Flute which I use to play the flute parts for my students, but that was simply given to me about 3 years ago, I never purchased it. As for clarinet, I do not own one, I just use one of my schools Yamahas for demonstration purposes.

[opus37]

I would suggest you consider a British Baritone (Wessex BR140). They are a very nice playing horn. You can play any euphonium part with it (depending on 3 valve range) and you can demonstrate the difference in sound between the euphonium and the baritone. Since it is basically a valve trombone all coiled up, you can bring in the cylindrical versus conical discussion. There are some specific uses and compositions for the baritone which you can use as part of your teaching. I applaud you for doing this and taking the time to broaden the scope of education for your students.

[bbocaner]

I think the Wessex 3-valve compensating baritone is a better baritone than their bass trumpet is bass trumpet or tenorhorn is tenorhorn.

[howrdhodge]

I think the Wessex 3-valve compensating baritone is a better baritone than their bass trumpet is bass trumpet or tenorhorn is tenorhorn.

Totally agree on the baritone (great) and bass trumpet (meh). Haven't played the tenorhorn, though I have played another JinBao tenorhorn for a few minutes that I thought was pretty good. The Wessex baritone is a particularly good instrument, and likely to be generally more useful than the other two, though that may fly in the face of frivolity.

[Sara Hood]

Go with the bass trumpet.

It sounds like the bass trumpet has a special place in your heart/mind/art. In my opinion, that makes it perfect for what you are doing. Go ahead and get it. You will find music as you go. You can contact Johnathantuba via PM and he can probably find out how long until the lacquer model will be restocked. Since it is a "frivolous purchase," what does it matter if you have to wait 3 or 4 months (tease)? Once you have it and get to play with it a bit, it will be well worth the wait for you.

When you first posted, I thought that you meant the baritone's close cousin when you said "tenor horn". Not the slightly smaller Eb "alto" horn (sometimes also called a tenor horn). And you seem to be well stocked in the baritone/euphonium neighborhood. So that is why I suggested branching further out.

- Sara

[MikeS]

I think my bass trumpet paid for itself faster than any other instrument I’ve owned. 90%+ of the playing I do on it is as a last-minute sub for a French horn in brass quintets. Learn to read “F” parts on it and you are golden. Sorry if this diminishes the frivolous nature of your purchase.

Do not waste time and effort trying to make a bass trumpet sound good below the bass staff; it just won’t. They also tend to really like smaller mouthpieces. I use a Laskey 42C. I would start with an 11C or 12C size. Your mileage may differ, but I don’t think anything larger than a 7C will ever really get you the best sound. If you have an ancient 15E hanging around your band room you might be pleasantly surprised. Have fun!

[hornbag]

Alto/tenor/Eb horn, then when you want something unusual later on, an alto trombone as the open notes are the same as also in Eb. Look up Trent Hamilton NZ on YouTube he does lots of fun brass reviews,
- Lee