Monday, April 27, 2020

A brief glimpse of Conrad marching!

John Philip Sousa, in case you didn't know, has his own Facebook page, and posted there today is a short clip of Sousa's Band at the Paris Exposition of 1900 - including footage of the band marching, which is something that rarely happened!

If you look close, all the way on the left, right after the band appears on the video, you'll see Herman Conrad marching with a modified version of Conn's first Sousaphone. It goes by quickly, but give it a look:


We are told elsewhere that the Sousaphone weighed 33 pounds, but just how long Conrad had to march with it in Paris is unknown. But it must have been a beast to carry - even with Conrad being a big guy, at 6 feet 6 inches tall (more or less - accounts vary by a few inches!).

While J. W. Pepper produced the first Sousaphone in 1895, and Conrad played it with Sousa in 1896 at least, Conn crafted his first Sousaphone in late 1897 and Conrad played it with Sousa starting in 1898.

But Conn continued to tinker with the valve cluster for a few years, going through a couple of versions before landing on the one that remained over the years. The version seen here, if my research is correct, is the second one, but not the third and final one, which is first seen in 1903.

Here's a still shot from that same parade in 1900, showing the Sousaphone on the far left again:


And here's the full photo of the band on parade, from a distance (this was one of the images I found when going through the Sousa Band Press Books at that U. S. Marine Band Library in Washington, D. C. a few years ago):


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