Before Sousaphones were known as Sousaphones

[Dave Detwiler]

Hi all,

Now that I found out where you all went, I thought I'd share my latest finding as it relates to Sousaphone history.

It turns out the horns we know today as "Sousaphones" were not called that at first, and for quite a few years. You can read about that here if you're interested: http://tubapastor.blogspot.com/2020/08/ ... 08-to.html

1908 Music Trade Review (July 11 - vol. 47, no. 2) bass (2).jpg (101.25 KiB) Viewed 981 times

They sure looked like what we call a Sousaphone, but that name was already taken by the original design, which many affectionately refer to as a "raincatcher" (and someday, I hope to track down the origin of that nickname!).

Enjoy!
Dave

[lost]

thanks for joining Dave. I do enjoy your history finds so keep em coming.

If j.w. pepper called it sousaphone, maybe conn was concerned about trademark infringement so they named it a wonderphone. Holton named theirs holtonphones. Buescher names them buescherphones etc etc

[Mithosphere]

IIRC - someone (May have been Sousa) had their band march with these and it rained. The bell being up caught a bunch of rain and filled up the horn by the end of the parade - player complained that it added a bunch of weight.

I swear I read it in an article from very early on, maybe in the Bevan or the Sousa book, maybe it was a newspaper clipping.

[Rick Denney]

It's important to remember the sequence of instruments. Sousa wanted a bell pointed up on the then-current parade instrument, which was the helicon. That became a bell-up helican, aka raincatcher. Then, with the forward bell craze during the early recording era, they took the bell-up helicon and made it a recording helicon with a bell forward. But by that time, it may have already been called a sousaphone, aka a bell-up helicon.

So, the raincatcher was a variant of the helicon (and the instrument Sousa specified), and what we usually call the Sousaphone is a bell-forward version of a raincatcher.

Rick "suspecting the first use of 'raincatcher' was accompanied by colorful adjectives" Denney

[LeMark]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I heard/read that Sousa hated the bell forward design, and refused to let his name be attached to it, until it was finally negotiated with his family after his Death

I swear that's what my brain remembers from reading the Bevans book 30 years ago. Maybe my brain isn't what it used to be

[Dave Detwiler]

Okay, reading through your thoughts above, here's what I can clarify for you:

1892 - Sousa speaks with J. W. Pepper about modifying a helicon by adding a larger, upright bell
1893 - Herman Conrad joins Sousa's Band, bringing with him the helicon he had played with Gilmore's Band
1895 - Pepper finally creates his modified helicon for Sousa, naming it a "Sousaphone" in his honor
1896 - Conrad plays the Pepper Sousaphone on the Sousa Band's cross-country tour
1897 - we don't know if the Pepper horn was still in use, but Conn builds huge basses for Brooke's and Innes' Bands
1898 - Conn builds a new modified helicon for Sousa, calling it a "Sousaphone" just like Pepper had
1908 - Conn creates the bell-front "Wonderphone helicon," which Sousa has no interest it using
1914 - Conn starts calling the "Wonderphone helicon" the "Sousaphone Grand" model
1921 - Sousa has to tolerate Earl Field's Conn 4-valve Sousaphone Grand for the 1921-22 tour (I'm working on this story)
1926 - Conn stops making the original bell-up Sousaphone design, but still calls the bell-forward a Sousaphone Grand
1950s - Conn quietly drops the "Grand" designation, and just calls the bell-front horn a Sousaphone, as we do today

"Raincatcher," if it did come about from using an upright bell Sousaphone outside, which would make sense, could go all the way back to 1899, as that is the earliest known year that a Sousaphone was featured in a parade - Sousa marched with it in Admiral Dewey's victory parade in NYC, and a week later, another Conn Sousaphone, owned by the A. O. U. W. Military Band in Cedar Falls, Iowa, was used in in the Grand Army parade at Philadelphia.

But I could also imagine Sousa Band members joking about Pepper's new Sousaphone back in 1896, when it first went on a concert tour. I could also see them playing basketball with the horn, as that sport had been invented in 1891!

The earliest reference to "rain-catcher" that I could find on newspapers.com only goes back to 1953, as part of the hub-bub around the new movie, "Stars and Stripes Forever." But here's what was said about it in the Bedford (Indiana) Daily-Times Mail on January 20, 1953, although there are some key inaccuracies in the article (claiming that Conn built the original Sousaphone, and saying that Sousa asked for the bell-front design):

1953-01-20 Bedford (IN) Daily-Times Mail, p. 8.JPG (157.72 KiB) Viewed 940 times

So, if any of you have any raincatcher stories from before 1953, let me know!

[Jim Williams]

All the Wonderphones seem to have uniquely-shaped bells. I've seen several and
wondered about their design. Not sure I have the vocabulary to describe what I
see. Any wisdom about the bells?
Jim

[Dave Detwiler]

I'm not sure what you're referring to, other than the bell diameter appears smaller than a typical Sousaphone today, which makes it look like it sits higher above the player's head.

Anyone else see anything unusual?

[iiipopes]

All the Wonderphones seem to have uniquely-shaped bells. I've seen several and
wondered about their design. Not sure I have the vocabulary to describe what I
see. Any wisdom about the bells?
Jim

22 inches instead of 24 inches (14K, original 36K, Cavalier, Pan Am, etc.; and student Kings) or 26 inches ("standard"). The bell throats are more like 20K or 38K throats, which to today's eyes being used to the Conns and Kings and derivatives, look out of proportion.