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1924-EEb-Gold-Sousa / Bell |
Jean Shepherd's perception of the Sousaphone
Published by Doubleday, NY ISBN 0-385-02174-7 (Currently available in paperback.) BP '00's Rating- Five Stars Jean Shepherd's novel about growing up in 1930's Indiana was the basis for the popular 1983 movie, A Christmas Story. The movie tells of young Ralphie Parker's misadventures in pursuit of the "Holy Grail of Christmas presents", an Official Red Ryder Range Model Air Rifle (the one with a compass in the stock). For those who love the movie, its all here, the winter of BB gun obsession, the Orphan Annie secret decoder debacle, etc. But the movie only uses material from a few of the book's early chapters. There is a get deal more and it is just as good. The book takes Ralphie all the way to adulthood. For band parents these is a whole chapter about the Hohman High School Band in which Ralphie plays sousaphone. (Knew there was something I liked about that kid when I saw the movie.) It was clear from the BB gun episode that Ralphie is prone to obsessive behavior. When it comes to the sousaphone, Ralphie is a tuba-nerd's tuba-nerd, an inspiration to all of us who have toiled under the "Great Horn". Here is a brief excerpt from Chapter XXIV. (The note numbers are mine.) "When the bitter winds of dead winter howl out of the frozen North, making the ice-coated telephone wires creak and sigh like suffering live things, many an ex-Bb sousaphone player feels an old familiar dull ache in his muscle-bound left shoulder, a pain never quite lost as the years spin on. Old aching numbnesses of the lips, permanently implanted by frozen German silver(1) mouthpieces of the past. An instinctive hunching forward into the wind, tacking obliquely the better to keep that giant burnished Conn bell(2) heading always into the waves. A lonely man, carrying unsharable wounds and memories to his grave. The butt of low, ribald humor; gaucheries beyond description, unapplauded by music lovers, the sousaphone player is among the loneliest of men. His dedication is almost monk-like in its fanaticism and solitude. He is never asked to perform at parties. His fame is minute, even among fellow band members, being limited almost exclusively to fellow carriers of the Great Horn. Hence, his devotion is pure. When pressed for an explanation as to why he took up the difficult study and discipline of sousaphone playing, few can give a rational answer, usually mumbling something very much like the famed retort of the climbers of Mount Everest. There is no Sousaphone category in the renowned jazz polls. It would be inconceivable to imagine an LP entiled: HARRY SCHWARTZ AND HIS GOLDEN SOUSAPHONE BLOW COLE PORTER IN STEREO And yet every sousaphone player, in his heart, knows that no instrument is more suited to Cole Porter than his beloved four-valver.(3) Its rich, verdant mellowness, its loving somber blues and grays in tonality are among the most sensual and thrilling of sounds to be heard in a man's time. But it will never be. Forever and by definition those brave marchers under the flashing bells are irrevocably assigned to the rear rank. Few men know the Facts of Life more than a player of this noble instrument. Twenty minutes in a good marching band teaches a kid more about How Things Really Are than five years at Mother's granite knee. There are many misconceptions which at the outset must be cleared up before we proceed much further. Great confusion exists among the unwashed as to just what a sousaphone is. Few things are more continually irritating to a genuine sousaphone man than to have his instrument constantly called a "tuba". A tuba is a weak, puny thing fit only for mewling, puking babes and Guy Lombardo (4)--the better to harass balding, middle-aged dancers. An upright instrument of startling ugliness and mooing, flatulent tone, the tuba has none of the grandeur, the scope or sweep of its massive, gentle, distant relation. The sousaphone is worn proudly curled about the body, over the left shoulder, and mounting above the head is that brilliant, golden, (5) gleaming disk-- rivaling the sun in its glory. Its graceful curves clasp the body in a warm and crushing embrace, the right hand in position over its four massive mother-of-pearl capped valves. It is an instrument a man can literally get his teeth into, and often does. A sudden collision with another bell has, in many instances, produced interesting dental malformations which have provided oral surgeons with some of their happier moments. A sousaphone is a worthy adversary which must be watched like a hawk and truly mastered 'ere it master you. Dangerous, unpredictable, difficult to play, yet it offers rich rewards. Each sousaphone individually, since it is such a massive creation, assumes a character of its own. There are bad-tempered instruments and there are friendly sousaphones; sousaphones that literally lead their players back and forth through beautiful countermarches on countless football fields. Then there are the treacherous, which buck and fight and must be held in tight rein 'ere disaster strike. Like horses or women, no two sousaphones are alike."(6) Is that great writing or what? That is just part of the introduction to Chapter XXIV. The chapter tells the moving story of Hohman Band Drum Major Wilbur Duckworth's last Thanksgiving Day parade. It is worth the price of the book just for that. There is a great deal more, after all, the band chapter is number XXIV. It would be terrible if Mr. Shepherd didn't get it right about band and sousaphones. Happily (and unusually in the case of sousaphones), Mr. Shepherd knows of what he speaks. He even gets the little details right. I do not know if he was a sousaphone player but from how he writes about it, he certainly could have been. My notes on some details in the excerpt- (1) German silver, now called "nickel silver", is an alloy of copper, zinc and a little nickel. (Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc). German silver contains no silver but is has a bright silver color. It is harder than brass and is used for mouthpieces, ferrules, leader-pipes, tuning-slides, bracing and decorative trim on all types of brasswinds. (2) C. G. Conn Inc., of Elkhart, Indiana, made the first production model sousaphones sometime in the late 1890's (The J. W. Pepper Company claims to have made the very first sousaphone in 1893). Sousaphone players in Sousa's Band used Conn sousaphones, usually four-valved models with upright bells. Except for Sousa himself, bandmasters generally preferred bell-front sousaphones with large flaring bells up to 30 inches in diameter. Mr. Shepherd describes this type. In those days, Conn sousaphone bells sometimes were decorated with elaborate engraving. Conn and King, now both part of UMI, remain the largest US producers of sousaphones. (3) To reduce weight and cost, most sousaphones now have only 3 valves. Back when there was still a large market for them among professional musicians, Conn made large bore 4 valve sousaphones. Some of these grand monsters weighed over 45 pounds, twice the weight of sousaphones made today. A German tuba-maker, Miraphone, still makes a production model 4-valve sousaphone. A Czech tuba-maker, Cerveny, offers a 4-rotary-valve BBb helicon. (4) The Royal Canadians (Guy Lombardo's band, famous for its New Year's Eve broadcasts) used a tuba instead of a string bass. Tubas were widely used in jazz and dance bands before electric amplification was available for string basses. (5) Most sousaphones were silver-plated until the Depression. Then the cost of silver became prohibitive. Instrument makers switched to clear lacquer as their standard finish. Silver finishes are still available but at considerable extra cost. (6) Until modern machining and quality control techniques were applied to tuba manufacture in the 1960's (Meinl Weston was among the first companies to do so) individual instruments of the same model varied greatly in playing characteristics. There is usually a noticeable and significant difference between identical modern instruments. In the old days, instrument to instrument variations were extreme. This book is highly recommended for band parents. The Art of Brass Playing By Philip Farkas Coming SOON Copyright 1999 by George Yenetchi |
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