Strictly Oompah: Harvard Band's 100th

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Harvard Band's 100th - with tuba!

Last night, the Harvard Band celebrated its 100th anniversary, and in their montage concert featured a work written especially for their newly restored giant tuba - "Caprice for a Great Big Tuba" by Lewis J. Buckley. Performing on the beast was Mike Roylance, principle tubist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The tuba is brought out at 1:01:40, and the performance begins at 1:05:25 - click here to watch it on YouTube.

Here are a few images of the historic performance (taken from the video):

No comments:

Post a Comment

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)