[PW] 76 Trombones?

[Condell, Joan]

Douglas Anderson said: 

> Also, a minor correction: at least in the version of The Music Man in
> which I played Harold Hill, there was no mention of a Sousaphone in
> the song.  There were, however, in addition to those mentioned by Tom,
> "double-belled euphoniums and big bassoons", "copper-bottomed tympany
> in horse platoons", "clarinets of every size", "trumpeters", and
> "horns of every shape and kind".  (There have been revisions to the
> book and score over the years, so some prior or later version may
> indeed have mentioned a Sousaphone.)


I recall in the Preston/Jones movie, there is the line, "And I modestly
took my place / As the one and only bass / And I oom-pahed up and down
the square."  It occurs in the scene where Prof. Hill is waiting outside
Marion's house while she gets ready to attend the ice cream social with
him.  It seems to me that a band with 76 trombones, 110 cornets, etc.
would be frightfully out of balance with only one person playing the
bass part.  Especially if he had to be heard over 50 mounted cannon.

As for personal experience, I was one of a very large "massed band" at
the Virginia Beach music festival in the late 1970's.  Believe me, the
only way it's workable is if the musicians have their parts memorized,
and there are additional conductors (semi-conductors?) for each
individual band to transmit the arm movements of the famous person on
the podium who's supposedly directing the massed group.

Joan
(who, because of Meredith Willson, wondered for years why horses needed
spittoons in marching bands)

	Joan P. Condell
	  Catalog Dept., Dallas Public Library
              joan<dot>condell<at>dallaslibrary<dot>org