Silver Sousaphone

Description

The sousaphone is a type of tuba that is widely employed in marching bands. Designed so that it fits around the body of the tubist and is supported by the left shoulder, the sousaphone may be readily played while being carried. The sousaphone is a valved brass instrument with the same tube length and musical range as other tubas. It’s shape is such that the bell is above the tubist&#**9;s head and projecting forward. The valves are situated directly in front of the musician slightly above the waist and most of the weight rests on one shoulder. The bell is normally detachable from the instrument body to facilitate transportation and storage. Modern sousaphones almost definitively use three non-compensating piston valves in their construction, in direct contrast to their concert counterparts&#**9; large variation in number, type, and orientation. It semi-conical—no valved brass instrument can be entirely conical, since the middle section with the valves must be cylindrical. While the degree of conicity of the bore does affect the timbre of the instrument much as in a cornet and trumpet, or a euphonium and a trombone, the bore profile of a sousaphone and most tubas is similar. It is manufactured from sheet brass, usually yellow or silver, with silver, lacquer, and gold plating options, much like many brass ***** is in the key of B♭, and the instrument&#**9;s part is usually read in "concert pitch", not transposed as with a trumpet in B♭. Like other tubas, It has parts written in the bass clef. Very large bore (>= 0.**0 inch) sousaphones, with oversized bells as large as *2" in diameter, were made by Conn ("Grand Jumbo"[*6K(*-valve)