Sorting out Sousa and his Sousaphones

[Dave Detwiler]

Hi again, all,

With some much-needed time off over Christmas, I've returned to resolve some lingering questions about Sousa and Sousaphones - like when exactly did he move from one to two in his band? And when did he go with all Sousaphones? And who all played those monsters over the years?

Years ago, John Taylor took a look at this topic in the TUBA Journal ("The Sousaphone Men of Sousa," Fall 1993), but I wanted more details (plus, I found numerous inaccuracies in the article, and he only mentions 7 of the men who played Sousaphone with Sousa's Band, and discusses Luca Del Negro and, at length, August Helleberg - neither of whom played the Sousaphone in the band).

So, if you're interested, here is my post: https://tubapastor.blogspot.com/2019/12 ... -1931.html

Let me know if you catch anything that's not quite right.

Merry Christmas!
Dave

[Donn]

Not that it's an error of any kind, but what's interesting to me is that he seems to have gone all contrabass early on. Sousaphone or lap tuba, same difference, I suppose all BBb. When he started, I'm pretty sure the common tuba lineup was Eb bass on the bottom, and a "Bb bass" (more or less a euphonium) sharing a part with the 3rd trombone, and some of his tunes are arranged for that ensemble (pretty sure anyway - am not looking at my folder right now, but in this case the part that would later be for "Basses" will be labeled "Eb Bass".) When that moves to a more modern instrumentation, the "Basses" part is divided, with an upper part that suits a bass tuba fairly well. So to play his published work faithfully, you might sort of want a bass tuba, but apparently he didn't have any use for them himself?

[Dave Detwiler]

When he started, I'm pretty sure the common tuba lineup was Eb bass on the bottom, and a "Bb bass"

Hi Donn - I found and added the following quote, by Sousa in 1922, to the end of the article: "From one Sousaphone in use in my band during its earliest days, I gradually eliminated the upright E-flat and double B-flat tubas, and use at the present five double B-flat Sousaphones"

[greenbean]

...
So, if you're interested, here is my post: https://tubapastor.blogspot.com/2019/12 ... -1931.html
Dave

This is a great read - THANKS!

[Dave Detwiler]

this is a bit off-topic, but what happened to Don Johnson's brass collection in lebanon ky after he passed? didn't he have one of the original JW Pepper rain catchers?

I'm not sure. I had been in conversation with the folks at J. W. Pepper a short while after Don's passing, to see if they were going to inquire about his Pepper collection at some point (esp. the print materials), to make sure it didn't just get tossed (they have very limited historical archives at Pepper). I'll have to circle back with my contact there to see if anything ever happened with that.

But the rain catcher in Don's collection was actually an imported Eb Sousaphone from around 1907, when Pepper finally started selling Sousaphones. As far as I have been able to discern, the original Sousaphone, made in the Pepper factory in Philadelphia in 1895, was one of a kind. They never produced another Sousaphone.

[Dave Detwiler]

his response came... the collection is in a local history museum. he doesn't know if it's open all the time or by appointment and is going to find out. i think we're going to meet and take a look. i'll get some photo's if they allow.

Ah, sorry, I misunderstood you - but yes, that horn, and some of the rest of Don's collection is in (or at least was in) the Marion County Heritage Center in Lebanon, KY. What I was referring to was Don's vast collection that was, I believe, at his home, from which he was planning to write a book about J. W. Pepper history.

I wrote a post about those imported Pepper Sousaphones from 1905-1907 a couple of years ago, and there is a photo of Don's Eb Sousaphone. Here's the link: https://tubapastor.blogspot.com/2016/01 ... nally.html

Let me know if you find out more!

[tofu]

.

[Dave Detwiler]

Thank you for so steadfastly pursuing the true history. This stuff is just fascinating. Funny how Sousa at one point had to hunt down an old raincatcher as they were no longer making them. It's interesting how Sousa was such an influence on music and yet nobody else seemed to follow his lead of all raincatchers and no tuba for the last decade of the band. Great read!

Thank you very kindly, tofu! Technically, Conn was still making bell-up Sousaphones at that time (1921), but almost no one was buying them. They finally gave up producing them in 1926.

[windshieldbug]

Thank you for so steadfastly pursuing the true history. This stuff is just fascinating. Funny how Sousa at one point had to hunt down an old raincatcher as they were no longer making them. It's interesting how Sousa was such an influence on music and yet nobody else seemed to follow his lead of all raincatchers and no tuba for the last decade of the band. Great read!

Thank you very kindly, tofu! Technically, Conn was still making bell-up Sousaphones at that time (1921), but almost no one was buying them. They finally gave up producing them in 1926.

It was my understanding that Sousa's band was primarily a concert band and rarely marched, so the reason that the "raincatcher" was invented didn't occur so often in lesser bands, who could just use tubas when they played inside.

[roughrider]

Thank you very much for your fine work in detailing the history of the sousaphone in Sousa's Band and the men that played them! Considering the physical effort involved, it is amazing that players such as Jack Richardson and others stayed with the Band for as long as they did. Great Work on your part. Please continue!

[jperry1466]

Wonderful article. Thanks for sharing it.

[WilliamVance]

Thank you for the interesting article with lots of pictures to look at. I wonder where those rain catcher sousaphones are today?

I wish more directors / conductors would take a cue from Sousa and allow sousaphones for outdoor, symphonic type concerts. I regularly have people tell me it was difficult to hear the tubas when we play in the park for summer municipal band concerts. I mentioned both tuba players own and could bring our sousaphones, only to be told NO! I think many non-tuba / low brass conductors think all sousaphones are poorly tuned or are incapable of playing softly. I love to hear the naysayers balk when I walk into a quintet gig with a Martin sousaphone and then have them come up afterward complimenting me on how well the sousa blended and wasn't what they expected.

[iiipopes]

I was lucky. My high school director was Navy band trained, so we did use sousaphones for outdoor concerts for the very reasons stated: so the audience could hear the bass. We didn't have that large a budget, so for years, we also used them indoors for regular concerts. And yes, as Sousa preferred, when my band director started in 1959/60 school year, one of the first items was to eliminate Eb tubas and go exclusively to BBb sousaphones, playing the lower notes of split parts, with a Wenger chair for the junior high band. At times over the years, I have used a sousaphone where a tuba would get lost, including outdoor concerts and even indoor concerts where there was so much draping and such in the stage rafters to shield the overhead stage lights from audience view that the tone of upright tubas simply got absorbed.

Remember that the original design of the sousaphone was bell up, what we now call "raincatcher," because Sousa wanted the tone to waft over the band and fill the concert space, as a concert instrument. It was Conn who put the bell forward for street and field marching.

[Dave Detwiler]

In poking around further, I discovered that Earl Field was recruited by Sousa out of the Seattle Symphony in 1921, and, according to C. G. Conn's Musical Truth, vol. 11, no. 24, 1920, Conn had built Field a Sousaphone back in 1917 that he had been using up to that point - first in Kryl's Band, and then, presumably, in the Seattle Symphony.

And that got me thinking - do we have any visual evidence of a Sousaphone being used in a symphony orchestra?

Just a little bit of searching online unearthed a number of photographs, mostly from the 1930s, that clearly show a Sousaphone in the orchestra - mostly of the bell-front variety. But here's the Wilmington (Delaware) Symphony, showing a raincatcher, back in 1930:

Wilmington Symphony 1930.png

It certainly worked well for Sousa's concert band; why not for an orchestra? Provided, of course, we're talking about the expertly crafted Sousaphones from that bygone era!

[Ace]

In poking around further, I discovered that Earl Field was recruited by Sousa out of the Seattle Symphony in 1921, and, according to C. G. Conn's Musical Truth, vol. 11, no. 24, 1920, Conn had built Field a Sousaphone back in 1917 that he had been using up to that point - first in Kryl's Band, and then, presumably, in the Seattle Symphony.

And that got me thinking - do we have any visual evidence of a Sousaphone being used in a symphony orchestra?

Just a little bit of searching online unearthed a number of photographs, mostly from the 1930s, that clearly show a Sousaphone in the orchestra - mostly of the bell-front variety. But here's the Wilmington (Delaware) Symphony, showing a raincatcher, back in 1930:

Wilmington Symphony 1930.png

It certainly worked well for Sousa's concert band; why not for an orchestra? Provided, of course, we're talking about the expertly crafted Sousaphones from that bygone era!

I remember a full-page ad in Look magazine in the late 1940's. The ad was for Longine watches, and showed the all-girl Longine Symphony Orchestra. In the back was a girl with a Sousaphone resting in a stand right next to her.

Ace