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1960s baritone carried like a contra?


Jim Nevermann

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Shoulder-fired Euphoniums are a common sight here in Japan.

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The horn was the original bass-baritone model from Holton, manufactured in the mid-50s.

That's *gotta* be what I saw Keith carrying.

Huh, even though I've strictly been a drummer in corps since Day 1, it's funny how a horn I saw only once [and from a distance, at that] at a halftime show over 40 years ago still stuck in my mind all this time!

Thanks Ken and Frank!

Edited by Jim Nevermann
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And here is my Whaley, Royce & Co. shoulder euph, from the late 60s.

W-Rshouldereuph.jpg

IronLips also owns one.

I was in the New Bedford Whalers in the 60s & We had Whaley Royce euphoniums ,but they were carried front .Man those were big horns to carry out front. Was the sholder carry done as a result ? Great photo Ironlips.

Mike d.

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Speaking of tromboniums: they were short-lived because they didn't sound/project as hoped for, or...?

The intention of the Trombonium was to supply an additional voice to the bugle choir, not to replace baritones or euphoniums. Tim Salzman (Guardsmen,SCV..etc.), Jim Wedge (27thLancers), Jim Elvord (Madison, SCV) and I all agreed on this.

In the early 80's, there was a great deal of contemporary big band music being arranged for drum corps, largely due to the influence of the Blue Devils and Madison, but the characteristic lead trombone texture was missing.

Some corps simply swapped out T-boniums for the other low brass. That was unwise. The rap on them became "they're not as loud as baris". Moot point.

They were used mostly as solo instruments thereafter by corps like SCV, the San Jose Raiders and others.

With hornlikes the size of today's, a Bb version could be quite hip methinks, as an additional voice. (Hardly anyone features soloists anymore. Have you noticed? Pity.)

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Here's a link to my Trombonium. 20110226_Garfield I&E_7976 b This is a picture from BHOF Garfield. Though it may look a little like the Shoulder Euphonium that was shown they are not one in the same. I play both horns though my Euph is the traditional horn you hold way out in front of you. It has a sweet deep resounding tone. It makes all the other baritone players jealous. My Trombonium kind of rest on the shoulder if your arms get lazy and it sounds like a trombone in many ways. Mine is a two valve horn and I wish it had the third valve so I could play it in some of the other B flat groups I perform with. When transposing concert baritone parts for a G bugle many times It puts me into 4 flats and my brain gets overloaded and shuts down.

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Thanks to Frank "ironlips" Dorritie for these photos.

1960's euphoniums: standard and "baby contra" shoulder-carried version.

Euphoniums1.jpg

The 1958 [pre-Accademy] Air Force D&B corps with what looks like some of those Holton bass baritones closest to the camera.

corpsAirForce58.jpg

Edited by Jim Nevermann
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How do you erase/cancel your own, duplicated post? Where's the Delete key??

Edited by Jim Nevermann
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Now that my mystery horn's been identified [again, for me, *finally* after 40 years!] I assume that when the Air Force D&B was moved from the Washington DC area to the squeaky-clean, new Academy in Colorado Springs, all the instruments went with them, including those odd Holtons. And since Keith Markey became the horn arranger [and instructor?] at some point, I imagine he had the leeway to play one of those Holtons I saw him use in '68.

"And now, the rest of the story." Prior to my late 1969 audition with the Academy corps drumline [for which I passed, but had no openings when my draft number came up in early 1970... ARGHHHHHH!!!] I'd met Keith a few times a year earlier when he was brought up to write a couple songs for the east Seattle corps [bellevue "Sentinels"] I marched drumline with.

Keith always came across to me as very intense yet, in some ways, "mercurial" [for want of a better descriptor] though I know he was idolized by our hornline, rightly so. Some years later he also wrote a few charts for the Seattle Imperials. Memorably, I saw him conduct their horns at a Christmas concert in Seattle's great St. Mark's Cathedral. I think any brass ensemble worth its salt would sound impressive in there, but a large, finely-honed hornline playing at all dynamic levels... yikes.

Do any of you have stories about Keith?

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Shoulder-fired Euphoniums are a common sight here in Japan.

What company, where, makes them? Have any pix?

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