This reinforces my suspicion that those Eb alto horns are actually extra-large flugel horns, not little-bitty baritones. (However, the straight-ahead models may well be more tiring to hold in playing position than the upright models.)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3705173344&category=620
Not only that, when an oom-pah polka band somewhere needs somebody to play alto horn (or, pardon the expression, "mellophone"), I think it makes more sense to recruit from among the brotherhood of cornet & trumpet players than from among us horn players. Right?
That opinion, however, can be dangerous. When I voiced it to a local hothead fronting a semi-amateur Alpine band around here, he got so angry I wondered if he was going to try to punch me out.
-- Alan Cole, rank amateur McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.
_______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
