Strictly Oompah: April 2016

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Herman Conrad's brother, Gustave

I've been researching Herman Conrad, the world's first Sousaphonist, and learned recently that his younger brother, Gustave, was also a musician. I haven't found out yet what instrument he played, but I did get confirmation that he was a member of the Ford Motor Band - most likely from 1910, when the band was formed, until his death in 1916. He's probably one of the guys in this photo from 1915 - I just don't know which one!

Courtesy of the Hagley Library

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)