Michel Godard Serpent...

[Dylan King]

Fantastic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmbI8XdH ... re=related

This is real neat too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KripAQrc ... re=related

[Chuck Jackson]

HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!! How many different colors can the drummer get out of one instrument. The serpent playing is amazing, but the drummer is out of this world!!! Thanks for posting Dylan.

Chuck"picking his jaw up off the floor after he gets done typing"Jackson

[David Richoux]

Hearing such amazingly good Serpent makes me wonder: is is possible to know if the early Serpent players sounded like this or is Goddard inventing techniques to get more flexibility out of the instrument based on more modern sound-sets? I don't think there would have been any written music with this range or quickness back in the early days, but having also heard modern virtuosos on the Keyed Bugle, Ophicleide and other "awkward instruments" - would they have been equaled by the masters of those instruments when they were the only thing available? Or is it a case of knowing the music is possible because of more modern instrument designs and figuring out tricks to draw it out of the more basic instruments - something the original players would have never thought of doing (or been restricted by the traditions of the day...)

Are there actual transcriptions of improvised solo performances from those "classic days" for these instruments, or was that just for more "important" instruments (like violin or organ?) My tuba reference books don't show much info on this (except for a tiny bit of Ophicleide notation.)