What bass horn is he talking about?
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 9:43 am
In reading through J. W. Pepper's Musical Times and Band Journal, vol. 26, no. 301, which dates from 1914, I ran across a fascinating little article about how to place bass instruments in a band when it is "on the street," or marching.
The writer affirms putting the basses on the ends of the front couple of ranks, to bookend the trombones, which was apparently the common approach in those days. But then he clarifies, as it relates to the bells, that "the basses, whether upright or circular, [should] point toward the band, not away from it." In other words, a top-action tuba would be placed on the front left of the rank, and a front-action on the front right.
But then there is the Sousaphone, which was becoming more prominent in those days, although apparently the original bell-up design was still the most common - even though C. G. Conn had developed the bell-front design 6 years earlier, in 1908.
There is an extended comment about the Sousaphone in the article. But pay close attention to what the writer says about the horn that was developed roughly 40 years earlier (so around 1874), and was made "on practically the same lines" as a Sousaphone, but not being circular in form (and thus, we're apparently not talking about a helicon here).
What bass horn is he talking about? Here's what he says . . .
"There are now many basses made on what is called the Sousaphone model; with these basses it makes little difference where they are placed as the sound goes neither to the right or the left, but straight up in the air. This model was but a few years ago hailed as something new, when in fact it is nothing of the sort.
"Not only basses, but whole sets of instruments were sold forty or more years ago made on practically the same lines except that the basses instead of being circular in form were upright, the curve resting on the shoulder of the player. They were good instruments, too, but for some reason they were not popular, and gradually disappeared from use. At this day it is very doubtful if even one is in existence."
The writer affirms putting the basses on the ends of the front couple of ranks, to bookend the trombones, which was apparently the common approach in those days. But then he clarifies, as it relates to the bells, that "the basses, whether upright or circular, [should] point toward the band, not away from it." In other words, a top-action tuba would be placed on the front left of the rank, and a front-action on the front right.
But then there is the Sousaphone, which was becoming more prominent in those days, although apparently the original bell-up design was still the most common - even though C. G. Conn had developed the bell-front design 6 years earlier, in 1908.
There is an extended comment about the Sousaphone in the article. But pay close attention to what the writer says about the horn that was developed roughly 40 years earlier (so around 1874), and was made "on practically the same lines" as a Sousaphone, but not being circular in form (and thus, we're apparently not talking about a helicon here).
What bass horn is he talking about? Here's what he says . . .
"There are now many basses made on what is called the Sousaphone model; with these basses it makes little difference where they are placed as the sound goes neither to the right or the left, but straight up in the air. This model was but a few years ago hailed as something new, when in fact it is nothing of the sort.
"Not only basses, but whole sets of instruments were sold forty or more years ago made on practically the same lines except that the basses instead of being circular in form were upright, the curve resting on the shoulder of the player. They were good instruments, too, but for some reason they were not popular, and gradually disappeared from use. At this day it is very doubtful if even one is in existence."