"wearing" a sousaphone successfully...

[Dan Schultz]

I think you're really on to something there, Joe!

[hurricane_harry]

c'mon bloke, its just that barets make us sousafone players look cool

[WoodSheddin]

One more point. You don't have to use both bits. On my Sousaphone using 2 bits shifts the weight of the bell too far forward and makes the whole horn feel like it is going to tip over.

[Doug@GT]

no excuses for sousaphone players wearing berets

Ball caps are the way to go.

[Shockwave]

The first two pics are "CORRECT" and the last two pics are "WRONG".

The ONLY reason to wear a sousaphone the way you suggest is for rather arbitrary aesthetics. Practical sousaphone players who need to play for long periods of time (12 hours in my case) invariably wear their sousaphone the common way. Your way is awkward and painful. I prefer having the weight distrubuted as centrally as possible and with the horn as stable as possible so that I don't have to waste energy keeping it upright.

-Eric

[phoenix]

I positioned my bits the "wrong way" in high school marching band for three years, and i did just fine. I don't think there is a right or wrong way, as long as you're comfortable.

[Dan Schultz]

The most important aspect of this (which if done correctly will almost always lead you to put the gooseneck and the bits more or less the right way) is to have the valve section to the right of one's body, rather than almost in front. I think the kids hold the horn the wrong way so that they will avoid putting the weight of the sousaphone on one shoulder.....

Well.... perhaps part of the problem is that kids are heavier that ever before. Maybe too many Big Macs. Hey... put the fat kid on the tuba! I'm right at 260 pounds (not really very fat but have a REALLY large chest and square shoulders) and even my Martin 'Mammoth' won't hang with the valve set at my side! The adjustable neck and bits are a feeble attempt of a 'one size fits all' sousaphone but won't work for many of us. I usually make custom necks for my sousas. The standard Conn or King necks are way too high and my original Martin neck and bits were obviously designed for a slender player.

Hmmm... right or WRONG?

[bigboom]

I have been the sousaphone section leader for the Loveland High Band for the last three years and have had a lot of issues come up with how to put the neck and bits to get the bell forward. One of the issues we came across was an incosistancy in the sousaphones themselves. we have 7 conn 20k's that we got in the last three years and 2 yamaha's (I personally would not recommend the yamaha's unless your other choice was fiberglass). On each of them the bell comes off at a different angle and where the neck goes into the horn comes off at very different angles on all of the horns too. I finally gave up telling them which way the bits go and just made them point their bells at the same angle as mine. some went the the left and others to the right. I agree with Tubad because the larger kids do seem to have more problems with placement of these things.

Ben

[Paul S]

I definitely was the fat kid on tuba (and I am still not any smaller) but I am sure glad I was able to wear my High school's British Guard type helmets rather than the beret I had to wear in college. I will say that I did prefer the beret to having the dead pigeons everyone else had on their covers though.

[Tubaryan12]

When I high school and in college I always wore the tuba correctly. Why? Because I didnt want the thing slamming me in the forehead if the bell was straight ( you can get away with it if you are shorter). I do feel the only reason that bands whent to the berets is because most sousaphone players in H.S. and college wear the horn incorrectly. Btw.... big guys can wear it the correct way and even now (lets just say I got you beat Tinker...by a lot), I can still wear it correctly. Although i must admit...Conn style horns are much better for the "larger" sousaphone player.

[Hank74]

As one who is primarily a sousaphone player, I can tell you that having the bell pointed a little bit to the left does help out to see the music and anything else in sight.

The other issue though would be the positioning of the inner tube where you rest the horn on your shoulder. I've seen some pictures where if you tip the horn backwards a bit, it helps out with balance. In other words, point the bell a little upwards.

As for wearing a hat while marching, I play in a fire dept. band and wear a traditional hat like police officers do. It doesn't interefere with my playing. Berets and baseball caps are fine too. But I would also point out that the huge hats which you see in marching bands wouldn't be too much of a problem either. If you look at the Ohio State marching band's tubas, the famous "I" dotters, you'd see the sousa players wearing a hat with a huge bushy tail above it.

The most important thing I have to say to all of you sousa players is that if you want to reduce the shoulder and back pains that we all face, investing in shoulder padding is a must! I learned the lesson the hard way at my first TC when I had a very heavy old sousa with no shoulder padding. My neck and left shoulder felt the brunt for about a day.

Now for those of you who have to march long distances on sousa for parades, it would be best to lift the horn a little bit up so that the weight doesn't rest on the shoulder entirely. Whether you use a brass or fiberglass horn, lift it up during rests from time to time.

We as sousa players are unique in that as Bloke said, we "wear our instrument." Despite the pains we get from time to time, it's a great instrument to play.

Any marching stories of the sousa you wish to share, like long parade routes, etc.?

Hank74

[Rick Denney]

Now for those of you who have to march long distances on sousa for parades, it would be best to lift the horn a little bit up so that the weight doesn't rest on the shoulder entirely. Whether you use a brass or fiberglass horn, lift it up during rests from time to time.

I played a sousaphone exclusively from 7th to 12th grade. For some reason, the shape of my shoulder is utterly incompatible with the sousaphone (no matter which method you use, though my own position was the one advocated by Bloke), and even now resting a sousaphone on my shoulder causes excruciating pain. I learned early on to carry the instrument with my left arm, and my hand holding the upper bow a little off my shoulder. Slide adjustment was precluded, but we didn't worry about intonation anyway (some say I still don't) and I'm not even sure those slides could have been moved.

In marching band, I executed all the tricky moves, considering we marched in the military style long before anyone around where I grew up had ever heard of a drum corps. I could make crisp and sharp counter marches with the best of them, and could run with the instrument as much as I needed to. I marched in many a cold (for Houston) Thanksgiving Day Parade without any memory of collapsing.

Even now, I can't hang a sousaphone on my shoulder for more than two seconds without feeling like someone is hitting a hammer on my collar bone. But I can carry my Holton BAT with one arm over my head across the band room we rehearse in.

Rick "strong of limb but not broad of shoulder" Denney

[LOTP]

What does anyone here use as a pad ? I bought a CHEAP length of foam pipe insulation and find that it helps considerably.

[Dan Schultz]

Someone ought to market a harness for sousas. Something sort of like my Meinl-Weston harness that I use for stand-up gigs with my conventional tubas. .... or, how about a shoulder/breast plate similar to the ones the drummers use for their marching equipment. Mount the pad on your shoulder instead of on the horn.

[ken k]

the correct picture in your original post has the bits coming from the player's right not his left. It is coming at him from our left. The valve set side not the shoulder side, correct?

ken k

[ken k]

<img src="http://tinypic.com/1dypmd" WIDTH="500">

Ok I see what yo mean. I was looking at the neck more than the bits. Yes, I've always worn the horn so that the wrap that goes over the shoulder should be as perpendicular to the body as possible.

ken k