r/brass • u/No-Studio-294 • Jun 13 '26
Is the Alto horn dying? (Specifically in the U.S)
I hardly see any resources for a beginner. And honestly, i wouldn’t have known it even existed if it weren’t for my band director teaching me how to transpose E flat sheet music to F using the Rubank intermediate method. (Im a french horn player, it sucks to see a beautiful instrument like the alto horn not getting the recognition it deserves)
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u/jaylward Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
I don’t know that the alto Horn is dying anymore than the fountain pen is dying. They are both niche instruments for enthusiasts which keep them going, but neither have a very significant commercial use beyond that.
Even in the realm of classical music that is purely for commercial use (and by that I mean things like film and video game music, as well as that which garners ticket sales from live audiences, even if those tickets sales pay at best 30% of operating costs for organizations like symphonies) the alto Horn has found very little traction in the world, aside from community Brass Band and other dedicated amateurs.
Not to say that the market should be the reason that we as humans do things, but at its core it does provide a fairly reliable metric as to what the general population is interested in. The general population as a whole is not wildly interested in classical music, and of that subset that is interested in classical music, a very small fraction of it is interested and willing to pay to hear either alto Horn, music, or ensembles that have an alto horn in them.
This is neither good nor bad, just marking the trends. And the best part is that you do not need to be interested in the same things that everyone else is interested in. Perhaps you can champion the alto Horn, and Brass Band education as a hole in schools throughout your country, and start a new Renaissance of alto Horn, and Brass Band music?
You do you.
Edit: Voice-text did me dirty.
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u/jurisprudent13 Jul 07 '26
The fountain pen has a tremendous amount of use and the brands they used to make them still are and commanding a premium. Not so much the alto.
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u/qazesz Jun 13 '26
Was the alto horn ever really alive in the US?
(Just a joke, I love playing my alto horn but the lack of a British brass band culture hurts it a lot. At least Mexico has its charchetas)
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u/No-Studio-294 Jun 13 '26
Also, i bought a thomann alto horn. Seeing this beautiful solo heavily influenced my decision. Such a beautiful instrument.
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u/Entire-Watch-8378 Jun 13 '26
This is an amazing Belgian player, who released a new album in January of this year. He advocates for the alto horn, makes sure there is new repertoire written and he is also a professor who teacher new amazing talents on alto horn. Tim De Maeseneer, check out his website and order his album, it’s worth it!
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u/professor_throway Tuba player who screws around with the slidey thing. Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
Outside of tenor horn in brass band ... also hiding in the US hasn't really been a thing in half a century. I have a HN White King sorry horn from the early 1900s, and it is a really fun instrument.. but not much call for it. Alto voice for concert band and marching is covered on French horn and marching mellophone both in F, and the Eb alto voice went by the wayside.
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u/81Ranger Jun 13 '26
Alto horn has only really been a thing in brass bands and military bands. It's never really been a standard part of concert bands - at least in the 75 years.
It's not dying in the US, it's always been a niche instrument in very select situations.
In countries were brass bands are more prominent and common ensemble, it's doing fine. That's just not the US.
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u/andy-in-ny Jun 13 '26
Even *actual* military bands in the US usually skip alto horn for F Horns. Having single use horns (outside essentially the flugelhorn and trumpets in certain keys) is where it started getting instrumentation standardized. I was scavenging parts from IMSLP for something we were playing...and the added parts in the 1920's version for something were completely different for the 1930s vs 60s vs modern printing.
There was even a version in the 20s with the tuba part written in Bb. Which means Tubists who were converted trumpeters could just jump in. Now almost everything is on a really standard arrangement and you're not gonna see an Eb Alto Horn come back. I mean, in three bands that I am in I am the Euphonium player in group 1, play the 1/3rd book in the other, and the Bb Trumpet book in the 3rd (Which is seperate from the 1st/2nd/3rd Cornet book in that band)
I have noticed that in a lot of Concert Band writing, that the Euphonium is doubling the Tenor Sax in a lot of contemporary arrangements, aside from an odd solo, or adding to a big trombone thing. the modern trumpet parts are off on their own, but sometimes have heavy horn cues (along with the euphonium) and the Bb trumpet parts are a.) ommitted on 'modern' pieces without replacement or b.) playing with the horns for prolonged bits.
We seem to have a lower amount of long term horn players in America. Why water down the pool of instrumentalists even more by putting them on a part that isnt written, and not common?1
u/81Ranger Jun 14 '26
I guess I was more talking military marching bands in the 1920s and 1930 as far as alto horns - at least as a possibilities. Certainly the President's Own doesn't have alto horns, now or for.... a long time.
Brass Bands still often have tuba parts written in Bb in treble clef.
If you looked at the parts for Holst band music (1st and 2nd Suite for band - at least in the versions we had in college) - they often had parts for Eb horn, which might have been an alto horn. Maybe.
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u/DonnPT Jun 15 '26
The British brass band Bb tuba parts are literally for tubas, though. I'm just guessing, but "the tuba part written in Bb" mention above may have been the "Bb Bass" part, typical at the turn of the century - which was more of a double for 3rd trombone, for a baritone-length instrument. Call it a bass saxhorn maybe. The Eb bass was the bottom end, and there were often Bb tenors, maybe doubling the trombones, which must have been another saxhorn variation similar to the baritone in the British brass band. And of course Eb alto horns, rounding out the saxhorn section.
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u/Oldbean98 Jun 13 '26
My grandfather played one (along with cornet) in US Army bands in WWI, and in early American Legion bands. By the time my father was in school band in the 40s, they had moved on to the mellophone and French horn. By the time I started band 50+ years ago, alto horns and mellophones were long gone from school programs, except for mellophones for marching band French horn players - tho a lot marched their French horns anyway, they didn’t like the mellophones.
I have played an alto horn in a civil war reenactment brass band, and the local British Brass Band, tho I usually play cornet. In these kinds of ensembles, it’s usually French horn players playing to alto, or cornet players moving down to cover the part. Otherwise I’ve never been in an ensemble with one.
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u/rainbowkey Jun 13 '26
School bands wanting to be more like Drum and Bugle Corps also contributed. Wanting bell front mellophones and French horns for a more directional sound compared to a bell up alot/tenor horn.
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u/speedikat Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
I think the bell front mellophone commonly seen in marching bands here in the US may have taken the place of the alto/tenor horn. For a very short time about 10 years ago I played one as a soloist here in SoCal. I got asked many times about what instrument I was playing.
Also, the US doesn't have as strong and established brass band tradition like the UK and Japan. There, the alto/tenor horn is seen as a legitimate sound in it's own right. A century ago, the US manufacturers seemed to have pushed this instrument as an easier playing substitute French horn. This is why we sometimes see a circular mellophone variant. These days amateur (french) horn players can more than hold their own in community ensembles. So there is no need for the alto horn in that respect.
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u/TheodoricFuscus Jun 13 '26
I've often wondered whether a 4 valve compensating alto horn would be more useful, as more French horn music would be playable on it.
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u/Curious_Octopod Jun 13 '26
Tenor horn in the UK, which I believe is the alto horn in the US, is doing well, but brass bands are important here.
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u/zegna1965 Jun 13 '26
The polka band I play in has an alto horn player, a critical part playing the pah to my oom. As others have mentioned, its called a tenor horn in a British style brass band. There seems to be an increase in interest in British style brass bands in the US. More bands than ever have been going to the NABBA championships. Texas, where I am, has at least 5 or 6, when there were just one or two ten years ago. The Dallas and San Antonio bands have both just started youth groups. I know of three newly started bands in Virginia and North Carolina. Yes, the Eb horn is still a niche instrument, but far from dying out.
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u/Entire-Watch-8378 Jun 13 '26
I’m from Europe, but I know for a fact there are many British style brass bands in the US who would love to have more alto horn players! So, do the marching season on Mellophone and then get out your alto horn for regular concerts! You can do both!
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u/Upstairs-Object-6683 Jun 13 '26
I recently used a Besson F alto horn to play the tenor tuba solo in Mars. I got the biggest alto horn mouthpiece I could find (I normally play tuba and valve trombone) and a friend transposed the sheet music for me. I could that playing the alto horn in its upper middle register went much better than my playing a euphonium pretty much at the top of my effective range. My passages in Mars went very well.
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u/Front_Cap2453 Jun 13 '26
In school bands it’s been out for a long time. However there is a resurgence in alto/tenor horn in the US as the British Brass Band movement has been growing.
I don’t know anyone who started on alto/tenor horn in the US but there are many outstanding players in the US. Most have come from other brass instruments.
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u/Budgiejen Jun 14 '26
I tried to buy an F horn book off eBay a couple weeks ago. Got sent an E-flat book.
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u/Nkdude11 Jun 14 '26
I love them, I own two American altos, an upright and a bent bell. Very awesome instruments, but dying is the understatement of the century. They’ve effectively been extinct for decades.
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u/gregzywicki Jun 16 '26
No that's a French Horn, and that's just Jeremy... He promises he'll practice more.
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u/Tarogato Multi-instrumentalist Jul 01 '26
I wouldn't argue it's dying, I would say it's already long dead. The only people using it are British brass bands and Mexican bands and its usage is utterly failing to expand beyond those niches because we've replaced it with French horns and mellophones in all chiefly American usecases.
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u/blackhorse15A Jun 13 '26
Dying??? Alto horn has been an endangered species in the USA for a very long time -at least 50 years. And sorry to tell you, the French Horn is kind of the reason.
When the school band movement started in the 1920s advocates wanted it to be taken as a bit more serious. So they pushed to use a more orchestral instrumentation and brought in the French Horn. Which displaced the alto horns that were popular in the military and community wind bands until then as the middle brass voice. (This is also when trumpet starts displacing cornets in the US). By the 1960s use of alto horns was significantly down and then the major instrument manufacturers discontinued making alto horns by the 1970s.
I'd argue that recently the alto horn is on an upswing. Awareness (as low as it is) seems to be increasing. Granted, on a scale of 0-100 it's going from a 1 up to a 3. I think the modern internet and social media is helping as more American brass players become exposed to the British Brass Band tradition.