What Register Does Sousaphone Play In

What is a Sousaphone?

Mary Elizabeth

Date: February eighteen, 2022

The tubas—including the baritone, euphonium, Sousaphone, and tuba proper—form i of the iv chief groups into which the contumely family of instruments is often divided, along with trumpets, trombones, and horns. The Sousaphone is a type of bass tuba, used—like the marching tuba—mainly in marching bands, although in early days it was used in concert ring settings as well. The Sousaphone is not used in the modern orchestra.

The sousaphone is ane of a pocket-sized group of instruments the names of which are eponyms, instruments that have been named after their inventor. The concept of the Sousaphone was created by the American composer and bandmaster John Philip Sousa, putting it in a category with the Wagner tuba—a horn conceptualized past High german composer Richard Wagner—and the Saxophone, one of the numerous inventions of Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax.

Sousa created the specifications for the showtime sousaphones, which were modeled on the musical instrument called a helicon, which wraps effectually the player, resting on the left shoulder, and built in the 1890s. He requested a bell-up design, leading to the nickname "the pelting-catcher," and it was only in the early twentieth century that the bong-frontward model was beginning made. In southern Europe, the Sousaphone is actually called the helicon.

While both marching tubas and Sousaphones are designed to be carried, the Sousaphone is distinctive in encircling the player, making it almost announced to exist worn, rather than carried. Start in the 1960s, fiberglass bodies replaced the metal construction, making the instruments lighter, easier to handle, and less susceptible to dents.

The Sousaphone, like the tuba, may be pitched in Eb or Bb and is a non-transposing instrument. Because it is sometimes used off the playing field and parade basis, a special "sousaphone chair" has been developed to hold the instrument in a concert setting. The chair has braces to support the musical instrument, so a seated player does not accept to carry the weight. Harry Wenger, a music educator and inventor, holds a patent for the Sousaphone chair. The chair enabled children who were too small to back up the musical instrument to acquire to play it.

Notable sousaphone players of the xx-first century include Tuba Gooding, Jr. in the hip hop ring The Roots and Nat McIntosh in the Youngblood Contumely Band. A notable New Orleans brass ring Sousaphone player is Kirk Joseph of the Dirty Dozen Contumely Ring, and his teacher, Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen, was a noted sousaphonist of the late twentieth century.

Mary Elizabeth

Mary Elizabeth is passionate about reading, writing, and research, and has a penchant for correcting misinformation on the Net. In addition to contributing articles to about fine art, literature, and music, Mary Elizabeth is a instructor, composer, and author. She has a B.A. from the University of Chicago's writing program and an Thou.A. from the Academy of Vermont, and she has written books, study guides, and instructor materials on language and literature, also every bit music composition content for Sibelius Software.

Mary Elizabeth

Mary Elizabeth is passionate near reading, writing, and research, and has a penchant for correcting misinformation on the Internet. In addition to contributing manufactures to nigh art, literature, and music, Mary Elizabeth is a teacher, composer, and writer. She has a B.A. from the University of Chicago's writing programme and an M.A. from the University of Vermont, and she has written books, study guides, and instructor materials on language and literature, equally well as music composition content for Sibelius Software.