Strictly Oompah: Who knew the Sousaphone in 1892?

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Who knew the Sousaphone in 1892?

The October 24, 1925 edition of Presto speaks of Sousa and his band "in those exciting days of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1892 in Chicago. . . . Who in that time . . . knew the sousaphone? That was the March-King's own device for obtaining a distinctive sound; and today the sousaphone is part of every big band, of many small ones, and has a place in the great modern orchestras" (p. 20).

Photo courtesy of Paul Bierley, John Philip Sousa: American Phenomenon, p. 60

Above is the Sousa Band in 1893 - which does not yet have a Sousaphone. What you see in the top right is Herman Conrad playing a Helicon bass - the forerunner to the Sousaphone.

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Sousa on the Sousaphone

"The Sousaphone received its name through a suggestion made by me to J. W. Pepper, the instrument manufacturer of Philadelphia, fully 30 odd years ago. At that time, the United States Marine Band of Washington, D. C., of which I was conductor, used a double B-flat bass tuba of circular form know as a 'Helicon.' It was all right enough for street-parade work, but its tone was apt to shoot ahead too prominently and explosively to suit me for concert performances, so I spoke to Mr. Pepper relative to constructing a bass instrument in which the bell would turn upwards and be adjustable for concert purposes. He built one, and grateful to me for the suggestion, called it a Sousaphone. It was immediately taken up by other instrument makers, and is today manufactured in its greatest degree of perfection by the C. G. Conn Company, of Elkhart, Ind." (John Philip Sousa, Christian Science Monitor, August 30, 1922, p. 8)