Posted by Rob P-M on September 03, 2002 at 07:01:37:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: tips on wearing a sousaphone posted by Kenneth Sloan on September 02, 2002 at 17:41:54:
""My only complaint is that they have the body twisted to their left (so that the tubing touches the right shoulder) and the bell twisted to their right
(so that the bell rim touches their forehead!)""
EXACTLY!! In our local high school marching band (where two of my kids play - piccolo & trumpet -- no sousaphone carrying for them), I have been trying for the past three years to educate the sousaphone section on the correct way to carry a sousaphone and away from the position you describe. Our section is about 50/50 boys and girls, and the horns are a mix of 4 brass Kings (including a 1270 Giant), a Conn 20K, a Besson (a poor horn) and a Yamaha (the newest and worse than the Besson). The boys seem pretty indifferent (i.e., willing to try it the right way), but the girls (all of whom play the lighter King 1250/2350s) absolutely refuse and insist that the cross-body carry, as I call it, with the bell facing the valve section and the weight of the horn distributed onto both shoulders is the only comfortable way to carry the horn.
Do you have girls in the section? This may be part of the problem. In my day, girl sousaphone players never carried big brass King, Conn, Holton or Martin sousaphones, rather they used the then new fiberglass horns or lighter horns such as small Olds or Reynolds sousaphones. And, while I've known a few girls who can handle King 2350s, and I'm sure there are female who could handle the big Conns, Holtons or King 1270/71s, they are the exception rather than the rule.