and B and are non-transposing
instruments. Most have three valves; some have a fourth valve that lowers the
pitch by a 4th. The fundamental notes are E' and B''. A
type of bass tuba used mainly in marching bands, named after John Philip Sousa
(1854–1932). It is distinguished from the rest of the tuba family by its shape
and widely flaring bell (see illustration). Like the Helicon it encircles the player,
resting on the left shoulder and passing under the right arm, with the bell
pointing forward above the player’s head. It is especially popular in America
but is also used in some European bands; in the 1920s it sometimes appeared in
jazz groups. Like upright band tubas, sousaphones are pitched in E and B and are non-transposing
instruments. Most have three valves; some have a fourth valve that lowers the
pitch by a 4th. The fundamental notes are E' and B''.
The earliest sousaphones, made to Sousa’s specifications in the 1890s, had the bell pointed upright and (as described in Sousa’s autobiography, Marching Along, Boston, 1928) ‘projected the sound upward and mushroomed it over the entire band and audience’ (see Brass band, fig.3). This model, nicknamed ‘the rain-catcher’, never became popular, though Sousa used it in his concert band, usually in combination with upright tubas. At least one manufacturer (H.N. White of Cleveland, Ohio) advertised ‘bell-up’ sousaphones as late as 1924, although by this time the bell-forward form, first made by the C.G. Conn Co. about 1908, was standard in college and marching bands. From the early 1960s manufacturers such as Conn and the Selmer Co. constructed sousaphones with fibreglass bodies and brass valves and fittings, resulting in an instrument that is lighter and less susceptible to denting.
The question of who built the first sousaphone was for many years part of an intense rivalry between the J.W. Pepper and C.G. Conn companies, both of which claimed credit for the instrument. Sousa himself recalled, in an interview published in the Christian Science Monitor of 30 August 1922, that while he was still conductor of the Marine Corps Band (i.e. before August 1892) he suggested the instrument to J.W. Pepper of Philadelphia, who made and named the first sousaphone. An instrument believed to be the first sousaphone – made by Pepper and dated 1893 – came to light in 1992. An 1896 issue of the Musical Times and Band Journal, which was published by Pepper, names Herman Conrad as ‘Sousaphone, Sousa’s Band’, possibly the first use of this term in print. By 1898 the Conn Co. had built its own sousaphone and had given it, along with other Conn-made instruments, to Sousa for use in his band. The Conn sousaphone subsequently became the more commercially successful instrument.
Musical Times and Band Journal, xiv 159 (1896)
H.I.B.: ‘Sousaphone Seen as Possible Substitute for Upright Tuba’,Christian Science Monitor (30 August 1922), 4
J.P. Sousa: Marching Along (Boston, 1928)
C. Bevan: The Tuba Family (London, 1978)
P. Bierley: Letter, TUBA Journal, xxi/2 (1993–4), 4–5
CAROLYN BRYANT (with LLOYD P. FARRAR)