Sarrusophone in 1930s high school band

[Thom]

I found this photo when I cleaned out my parents' house in PA. They graduated from high school in 1937, but I believe the photo might be from a year or two before. A response from Bloke corrected my mistake. What I took for an ophicleide in the photo was a sarrusophone.

[Thom]

Thank you for the reply and the education. It definitely makes more sense now.
I will edit the original title.

[Three Valves]

I wonder if the Mummers ever permitted them??

Not reed or string, so I doubt it.

[Donn]

Reed indeed. The reed is like a contrabassoon's, maybe bigger. I had a chance to toot one a few years ago, which poured some cold water on a long standing enthusiasm for the instrument. Probably just like this one, a Conn Eb contrabass. I wasn't getting a very powerful tone, and honestly in the real contrabass range I don't think woodwinds generally hold up very well acoustically, to the point where it can be hard to make out what the fundamental is supposed to be.

[Three Valves]

Cool.

So there may be one in the Mummers Museum!!

[tubapix]

Here is another picture of the band on Etsy

https://www.etsy.com/sg-en/listing/2417 ... dren-music" target="_blank"

[Z-Tuba Dude]

So, a sarrusophone is basically a saxophone with a double reed?

[iiipopes]

I'm thinking more like a BBb contra clarinet with a double reed. My high school had a nickel bodied BBb contra clarinet, as opposed to a wood bodied (or composite) Eb contra clarinet, which my high school band also had one of, and a bassoon and a bari sax.

I have a friend with a BBb bass sax, and the bore is larger, like a bari stepped up in size as you would expect.

[Donn]

The bore is sure smaller than a saxophone of the corresponding size. An Eb contrabass sax is quite a whopper, usually bigger than the player. But acoustically, that's a detail. I guess in the taxonomic scheme of things, sarrusophone is closest to being a sort of oboe, and the oboe and saxophone families are more closely related to each other than to the clarinets. (Clarinets have very different acoustics, that allow that Bb paper clip thing to reach a 16 foot C that the Eb sarrusophone may or may not have - low A extension? I doubt it.)

The relation to the contrabassoon is also pretty obvious, and counting size/range I think it's fair to say that's the nearest relative, it's just that for some reason it's hard to be sure that the bassoon family shares the same relatively straightforward bore shape as the oboe and sarrusophone. That has been one of the hopes of sarrusophone manufacturers, I think, that they'd be an easier and more economical replacement for contrabassoon, but ... alas. Initially they were promoted as a general new and improved double reed, in a saxophone like range of sizes (Sax sued, but I believe lost.) There's a possibly apocryphal story out there of an orchestra leader who handed them out for that purpose, only to be assaulted by musicians beating him with his sarrusophones. The guy who had the sarrusophone I tried, also had an alto Rothphone, same concept but cuter, and he could make it sound pretty sweet.

[Donn]

Yes, the 2nd register thus coming out an octave higher; as Z-Tuba Dude observed, saxophone with a double reed. And as Sax observed, though the judge was not buying it.

[Thom]

Bloke,
Not a Windows guy, but did my best on my old Mac. Dad was on trombone; Mom on cymbals. The previous photo from Etsy was apparently the junior high band.

[aqualung]

Hold your palm lightly over your embouchure and gently buzz low pitches. It is a pretty good emulation of a contrabass sarrusophone.

[Thom]

Looking at the entire photo, it looks like the men were outnumbered.