Sousa and Sousaphones

[Dave Detwiler]

I've recently been reading up on John Phillip Sousa, and have a question I'd like to throw out to you all . . .

First, here's what I have learned: Sousa toured for about 40 years, but in those 40 years, he and his band only marched 8 times. And yet Sousa, who had started his band using tubas only, eventually moved to adding one Sousaphone to the section, and then finally, from 1922 on, to Sousaphones only (with upright bells, of course).

My question: Why? If Sousa's band was almost exclusively a concert band, why use Sousaphones instead of regular tubas? So far, my research hasn't provided an answer.

Any insights?

[1895King]

From what I have read over the years, he used sousaphones to get the bell higher so that the sound would diffuse over the band "like frosting on a cake."

[imperialbari]

Wasn’t Sousa a showman with good senses for visual elements also?

And what do we know about one or more makers sponsoring the Sousa band to have their instruments advertised in the most efficient way known back then?

Klaus

[Wyvern]

Remember that most of the rain-catcher sousaphones used by Sousa's band were really large - like bell up Conn 48K Jumbo sousaphones. These have considerably larger bell throats than the largest 6/4 tubas. So maybe the reason for using sousaphones was partly to facilitate such large tubas to provide the sound he wanted?

An equally interesting question is why an instrument originally designed for concert use, became to be considered almost exclusively a marching instrument?

[Wyvern]

A very interesting and informative post Ian - thanks!