The benefits of bell-front horns

Most people have no idea that Sousaphones began as bell-up horns. In fact, when someone sees an old "raincatcher" today, they may not even realize that they are looking at a Sousaphone. But once the bell-front design was introduced in 1908 by C. G. Conn (shown at left), it wasn't too long before it came to dominate the Sousaphone market - and there has been no other kind of Sousaphone made for over 80 years now (with one brief exception - stay tuned).

Why did the bell-front design become so popular? In reading the earliest notices about Conn's new Wonderphone instruments (referenced a few posts below), the following benefits are mentioned:

• The sound can be directed at the audience (although that is exactly what Sousa didn't like about Helicons, whose bells point somewhat forward, and this gripe gave rise to the original Sousaphone with its upright bell).
• Soloists will sound better (but I'm wondering . . . were there any Sousaphone solos back then?).
• The appearance of the horn will be more attractive (although this is surely subjective - but hey, people do seem to like big shiny things, and few things are bigger or shiner than a Sousaphone bell!).
• Being adjustable, the bell can be turned in any desired direction (expect upwards, of course).
• For example, if the horns are put in the front rank of a marching band, their bells can be pointed backwards so that the rest of the band can hear them (this was actually mentioned, although I've never seen a photo showing this approach).
• On the other hand, if the horns are put in the rear rank of a marching band, with the bells pointing forward, everyone else can hear them quite well (which is the approach seen regularly to this day).

Interestingly, one thing that was not mentioned at all is how a forward facing bell could help in the process of recording. After all, these bells did come to be known as "recording bells" - at least in connection with tubas.

As far as I can tell, the bell-forward design was a particular hit with marching bands, but eventually began to be the horn of choice in concert and dance bands as well - even though Sousa, that most famous of band leaders, never made that switch himself (more on that next).

Merry Tuba Christmas, 2012!

Today was our annual Tuba Christmas celebration at the Railroad Plaza of Lansdale, PA, where we had a great showing of Sousaphones, along with about 70 tubas, euphoniums, and baritones:

Rehearsing at the local Fire Department an hour ahead of time



Between songs out on the Railroad Plaza - the weather was great!

The horn I am playing (the one with a wreath on the bell on the right) is a 1927 Pan American 64K Sousaphone that my son and I acquired for free almost exactly a year ago. After a massive cleanup job, and having a new neck tenon soldered on, we discovered that it played great, and today was its first public appearance:

One of my friends, with whom I play tuba in our local community concert band, brought his circa 1919 Buescherphone:

The most ridiculous instrument?

Image found by author

This photo and brief article appeared in the March-April 1953 edition of The Instrumentalist (vol. 7, no. 5, p. 21), supposedly providing a thumbnail sketch of the earliest history of the Sousaphone.

Notice what it says about the bell-front design, which appeared in 1908:

None of the earliest information on Conn's Wonderphone Helicon (as it was called for the first ten years of its existence), suggests that Mr. Conn reacted initially in this way (see post below). But perhaps he did - who knows?

However, other parts of the article are inaccurate, so that should give us pause. For example, it says that this new bell-forward horn was called "the sousaphone grand," but that name wasn't used regularly until 1918.

Further, the article states that John Kuhn, "a member of Sousa's band," weighed in on the new horn, telling Conn that he "really had something there." But Kuhn wasn't with Sousa's Band until 1915, and according to this photo from 1912 (C. G. Conn's Musical Truth, January 1912, vol. 9, no. 10), which is four years after Conn introduced the bell-forward design, Kuhn was still playing a bell-up Sousaphone - not a Wonderphone Helicon:

Image courtesy of Mark Overton at saxophone.org

Finally, while I have already shown in a previous post that the Sousaphone in the photo at the top of this post is most definately not the "Original Sousaphone," I discovered this week that it isn't even the Sousaphone that "'Stars' In Movie" - that movie being Stars and Stripes Forever (1952).

The Sousaphone shown with the article is a four-valve Monster Sousaphone (while the four valves cannot be seen, the tubing coming from the fourth valve is clearly visible). The Sousaphone used in the movie is a three-valve Monster, as seen in this photo from one of the scenes in the film:

The bell comes forward (1908)

On December 26, 1907, Charles G. Conn drafted a letter to the U. S. Patent Office that would bring a dramatic change to the Sousaphone, as well as to other bell-up instruments. Here's a portion of what he wrote:

The object of my invention is to construct the bells of brass wind musical instruments with curved axes and by attaching these curved bells to the bell-tubes of the instruments by means of curved sleeves, to provide a bell-front instrument having a much larger field of adjustment than heretofore.

The application was filed on February 13, 1908 (although not approved until August 17, 1909), and included the following diagram:


Image, along with entire patent info, available online here

The Feburary 1, 1908 edition of The Music Trade Review (vol. 46, no. 5, pp. 40-41) reported on this "new Wonderphone family of instruments," where "the volume of tone for the entire band can be directed toward the audience instead of being partly projected skyward or toward the ceiling as with the bell-up instruments" (p. 40). It also revealed that Conn "has been working on the development of these instruments for the past two years," and that "pirates [are] already in evidence."

Three weeks later, the journal further reported on "The Wonderful 'Wonderphone'" (MTR, February 22, 1908, vol. 46, no. 8, p. 40), and five months later, published this full page feature (MTR, July 11, 1908, vol. 47, no. 2, p. 37):


Image courtesy of The Music Trade Review online

The instrument on the left above is what we know as the Sousaphone today, but since that name was already tied to the bell-up horn that Pepper first built sometime between 1894-96, and Conn improved upon in 1898, this new bell-forward horn was dubbed "The Helicon BBb Bass Wonderphone."

That name, or something close to it (e.g. "Wonderphone Helicon") seems to have remained until 1918, when the bell-forward horn began to be referred to exclusively as "The Sousaphone Grand" (see C. G. Conn's Musical Truth, May 1918, vol. 10, no. 22).

Click here for more on the bell-front design.

Conn's first Eb Sousaphone (1907)

Photo courtesy of The Music Trade Review

Up to this point, the Sousaphones built by Conn have all been BBb instruments (whether four valve or three valve), but in 1907 Conn unveiled the "Giant Eb Bass Sousaphone" - presumably the first of its kind.

This was picked up by The Music Trade Review of December 28, 1907 (vol. 45, no. 26, p. 42), featuring the above photo and the following short article:

CONN'S SOUSAPHONE

One of the Remarkable Creations Made by the C. G. Conn Co.

In the front rank of enterprise may always be found C. G. Conn Co., Elkhart, Ind., as manufacturers of band instruments, and their reputation goes beyond the borders of the United States. One of the most unique examples of their craftsmanship and musical progress is the giant Eb bass Sousaphone, of which a splended illustration is presented herewith, and named in honor of the distinguished American bandmaster, John Philip Sousa, the "March King," as he is known the world over. This great instrument was designed by the skilled artists attached to the mammoth works of the C. G. Conn Co., and is manufactured exclusively by them. Its musical qualities and sonorous tone are the acme of perfection.


Of course, Conn continued to make available their other basses, including their popular three valve BBb Sousaphone, as shown in this feature page from 1907 (their four valve "Monster Sousaphones" presumably remained special order instruments):

Photo courtesy of Mark Overton at saxophone.org

Sousa and the Sloperphone?!

The March 4, 1905 edition of Ally Sloper's Half Holiday (a British comic paper, first published in 1884) decided to poke a little fun at Sousa and his newfangled Sousaphone while the band was touring England at that time:

Image courtesy of Paul Bierley, John Philip Sousa: American Phenomenon, p. 137

Since it's very hard to read, here's the written humor at the bottom of the page:

SOUSA AND THE SLOPERPHONE

Pa won't be beat! He's not going to play second fiddle to any Yankee living. If he'd been brought up to it he'd have been a great musician I'm sure - pity he never learnt. Since Sousa's splendid band has been over Pa has evolved an instrument of  tort- ahem, music, which makes the vaunted Sousaphone sing very small. Assisted by a few talented amateurs he gave a concert the other day. Mr. Sousa, F.O.S., kindly conducted and complimented poor Pa on an excellent performance. The wind was, perhaps, if anything a leetle too strong for perfect balance, still he had no doubt the Sloperphone had a great stare [?] before it - off the Newfoundland banks, as a fog-horn! -Tootsie.

I'm guessing that Sloper wasn't the first to consider the Sousaphone an instrument of torture!

UPDATE - November 27, 2015:

In searching for references to the word "Sousaphone" in old newspapers recently, I came across this paragraph in the March 25, 1905 edition of the Deseret Evening News (Salt Lake City, UT):

Hats off to the Sousaphone!

In Sousa's autobiography, Marching Along, the famous bandmaster recounts this story from 1904 when his band was playing at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD:

Photo showing the band there in 1907; courtesy of the Sousa Archives

A company of vaudeville artists were there and entertained the public a couple of times a day in the same hall where we gave our concerts. One of the actors had a comedy scene in which, among his properties, were about two hundred hats that were kept in a net; at a certain cue these were freed and came tumbling onto the stage.

We were holding the stage and, in response to an insistent demand, the band struck up the "Manhattan Beach" march. Just how it happened, I don't know; but in the middle of the number someone cut the rope that held the hats in the net, and we were the most surprised lot of men you ever saw when a shower of hats descended upon us.

In the bells of the Sousaphones they were piled nearly three feet deep. The laughter that overwhelmed the audience was so tremendous that you couldn't hear the band at all, although they valiantly continued to play!

Sousa does refer here to "Sousaphones," plural, which is almost certainly incorrect, as there is no evidence of more than one Sousaphone in his band until 1915. However, at the time Sousa wrote these words (1927-28), he had five or six Sousaphones in his band, so the slip is understandable. Plus, along with the one Sousaphone in 1904, there were three or four tubas, which would have caught a lot of hats as well!

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis

The Lousiana Purchase Exposition, popularly known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was held in 1904 to celebrate the centennial of the Louisianna Purchase (it was also the site of the summer Olympic Games that year). Opening day saw a huge crowd turn out:

Photo available online here

And providing music that day, and at other times during the Fair, was the reknowned band of John Philip Sousa:

Photo available online here

In addition, inside the Liberal Arts building, C. G. Conn set up what he called his "Palace of Music" as a way to showcase his band and orchestra insruments. The display won the Grand Prize, and in one of the beautifully decorated cases, "The feature [was] the Wonder sousaphone, the largest band instrument in the world, which was introduced by Sousa's band. This is quadruple plated silver and engraved" (The Music Trade Review, September 10, 1904, vol. 39, no. 11, p. 42).

Could it be that the Sousaphone Conn featured at the Fair is the one I played up at Interlochen?

[Bonus feature! Here's a historic recording of the song used for this post title]

Seeing this Conn Monster today

Along with the horn I played up at Interlochen, there are a few other examples of Conn's latest "Monster Sousaphone" - the improved model first seen in 1903 - that are still around today. They are considerably later than the Interlochen horn, but they look pretty much the same.

Here's one said to have been built in 1922 that is on display at Taylor Music in Aberdeen, SD, where it has been for the past 50 years:

All photos of this horn courtesy of Paul Schmidt

And, yep, this old horn not only looks fantastic for its age; it's also ready for action, as you can see:

According to the folks at Taylor, this Sousaphone was built in 1922 for John Kuhn, who played in Sousa's Band from 1915-1920, and was known as "Chief Red Cloud," which might explain the engraving on the bell:

Here is Kuhn that same year (1922) with Isham Jones and his Orchestra, holding what may possibly be the very same horn (other photos show him with a smaller three valve horn, but this appears to be a four valve "Monster"):

Photo found at Isham Jones Wikipedia site

At the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music, based at the University of Illinois, there is a very similar "Monster" from around that same time. The serial number is 208098, which places it around 1924 (according to the Conn Loyalist website), and records indicate that, at the very least, this Sousaphone was played in the University of Illinois concert and marching bands in the 1930s:

All photos of this horn were graciously provided by the Sousa Archives

One of the great things about this particular Sousaphone is that it still has its original case, giving us a better idea of what it was like to travel with such a large instrument. I'm told that the case with the horn in it weighs upwards of 150 pounds!:

Finally, a recent post on TubeNet revealed that at least one more of these "Monsters" is floating around out there - last seen a few years ago at the Disneyland Tuba Christmas:

Monster sightings after 1903

This "new, improved" model of Conn's "Monster Sousaphone," first seen in 1903, and featured in the two posts below, seems to have stood the test of time - at least in Sousa's Band. From what I can tell, no other large, four-valve horn ever appears in that group for the remainder of its existence (ending in 1932, with Sousa's death).

For example, here it is in 1905 at Willow Grove, PA, being held (I think) by Jack Richardson:

Photo courtesy of the Sousa Archives

And here it is in 1907 at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD, presumably held by Richardson again:

Photo courtesy of the Sousa Archives

And here it is in South Africa, during the world tour of 1911, being held this time by Arthur Griswold:

Photo courtesy of the Sousa Archives

And now for a few "close-ups"; here is William Bell holding the horn in 1921 at Willow Grove:

Photo courtesy of Paul Bierley, The Incredible Band of John Philip Sousa, p. 60

And sometime later in the 20s (1927, I believe), here is Jack Richardson once again with that horn:


Photo courtesy of the Sousa Archives

Of course, there is no way to tell whether this is the same exact Sousaphone throughout these years, but it seems clear enough that it is the same exact model. And along with the horn up at Interlochen, there are at least a handful of these Sousaphones that can still be seen today, but I'll save that for the next post.

Hey! Did I play that Sousaphone?

The Sousaphone mentioned in the post below may very well be the one I played this past summer up at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, MI - the experience that sparked my interest in Sousaphone history in the first place:

Photo taken by John Beery, curator of the Greenleaf Collection at Interlochen

For years, that vintage "Monster" has been accompanied by a framed info sheet that claims that it is "The Original Sousaphone," built in 1898:

Photo taken by author

We now know that this claim is incorrect (see various posts below), but it was believed to be true from the moment that Sousaphone came to Interlochen. Here is one news clipping telling of its arrival:

Image courtesy of John Beery

However, as I noted in an earlier post, this horn - or one that looks just like it - has been viewed as Conn's first Sousaphone since at least 1949, according to this page from the March-April edition of The Instrumentalist from that year (vol. 3, no. 4, p. 38):


Image found by the author in the USC library

I have a hard time understanding how Ted Pounder, the very craftsman who built the first Sousaphone to  come out of the Conn factory back in 1898, managed to get his history wrong. For there is no evidence that I have come across to suggest that this particular version of Conn's "Monster" was created any earlier than 1903. And at the very least, we know that it is not the original "Monster" that we see Herman Conrad playing in photos from 1898-1901 (again, refer to various posts below).

So what about that old Sousaphone I played up at Interlochen this summer? Is it perhaps the one we see in action in Sousa's Band in 1903 in the post below? The serial number is 88983, which places it around 1905, according to educated guess at the Conn Loyalist website, so who knows!

What we can say for sure is that it is a very old horn, which Interlochen should be proud to possess, and I am honored to have played (and for what it's worth, it sounded really good!).

[UPDATE from December 2019: Click here!]

Conn's Monster evolves further

The large, four-valve "Monster Sousaphone," created by C. G. Conn in 1898, evolved further in 1903, as seen in this photo of Sousa's Band in London that year:

Photo courtesy of Paul Bierley, The Incredible Band of John Philip Sousa, p. 46

Taking a closer look at the Sousaphone in this photo, two significant differences can be detected, when comparing this horn with the "Monster" we had seen in previous years:

First, the bell appears larger, and seems to sit higher above the head of the player.

Second, and much more obvious, the tubing that comes from the third valve is entirely different, as it now forms a long, straight line that sits below the fourth valve, and culminates in a small, double-wrap on the right before connecting once again with that third valve.

To see this change more clearly, here is the very same model Sousaphone - if not the exact same horn - about twenty years later, being held by Jack Richardson:

Photo courtesy of Paul Bierley, The Incredible Band of John Philip Sousa, p. 55

Compare that with the photo of Herman Conrad holding the modified version of the horn built in 1898:

Photo courtesy of Ian Church

Again, the bell seems to sit a bit lower on the older horn, and the third valve tubing configuration is clearly different. And from this point on (1903), this new version of Conn's four-valve "Monster" is the only one seen in Sousa's Band. In fact, by the 1920s, Sousa was using two of them (albeit with different bell and first branch sizes), along with three of the smaller, three-valve Sousaphones, as can be seen in this photo from 1927:

Photo courtesy of the Sousa Archives