Editing Sousaphone (section)

==History==
[[File:Sousaphones (1893), Museum of Making Music.jpg|left|thumb|1893 sousaphones at the [[Museum of Making Music]]]]
The first sousaphone was built by James Walsh Pepper in 1893 at the request of [[John Philip Sousa]],<ref name="Bierley2006">{{cite book|first=Paul E.|last=Bierley|title=The Incredible Band of John Philip Sousa|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780252031472|url-access=registration|year=2006|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-03147-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780252031472/page/55 55]–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The School Musician Director and Teacher|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r3BTAAAAYAAJ|volume=57|year=1985|publisher=Ammark Publishing Company|page=23}}</ref> who was dissatisfied with the [[hélicon]]s in use by the [[United States Marine Band]]. Some sources credit [[C.&nbsp;G. Conn]] with its construction, because of the first sousaphone he built later in 1898.<ref>Conn's first sousaphone is now owned by the [[Interlochen Center for the Arts]] at Interlochen, Michigan. {{Cite web|title=A Sousa-phony Exposed|date=6 October 2015 |publisher=University of Southern California|url=http://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/2158/a-sousa-phony-exposed/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151010012850/http://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/2158/a-sousa-phony-exposed/ |archive-date=10 October 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> Sousa wanted a tuba-like instrument that would send sound upward and over the band, much like a concert (upright) tuba. The new instrument had an oversized bell pointing straight up, rather than the directional bell of a normal hélicon.

The sousaphone was initially developed as a concert instrument rather than for [[Marching instrument|marching]]. Sousa wanted the new instrument for the professional band which he started after leaving the [[United States Marine Band|Marines]], and this band marched only once. Sousa mainly used sousaphones built by C.{{nbsp}}G. Conn.<ref name="Bierley">{{cite book|first=Paul E.|last=Bierley|title=John Philip Sousa: American Phenomenon|year=1973|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QcabC2avFLsC&pg=PA16|publisher=Alfred Music|isbn=978-1-4574-4995-6|pages=16–|edition=Revised}}</ref>  Although less balanced on a player's body than a helicon, because of the large spectacular bell high in the air, the sousaphone retained the tuba-like sound by widening the bore and throat of the instrument significantly. Its upright bell led to the instrument being dubbed a "rain-catcher". Some versions of this design allowed the bell to also rotate forward, projecting the sound to the front of the band. This bell configuration remained the standard for several decades and is the standard today.

The instrument proved practical for marching, and by 1908 the United States Marine Band adopted it.<ref name="PhillipsWinkle1999">{{cite book|first1=Harvey|last1=Phillips|first2=William|last2=Winkle|title=The Art of Tuba and Euphonium Playing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUEZP-STylkC&pg=PA9|date=10 October 1999|publisher=Alfred Music|isbn=978-1-4574-0438-2|pages=9–}}</ref>

Versions with the characteristic extra 90° bend making a forward-facing bell were developed in the early 1900s. Early sousaphones had {{convert|22|in|mm|adj=mid|-diameter}} bells, with {{convert|24|in|mm|adj=on}} bells popular in the 1920s. From the mid-1930s onward, sousaphone bells have been standardized at a diameter of {{convert|26|in|mm}}. Some larger sousaphones (Monster, Grand, Jumbo, Giant or Grand Jumbo, depending on brand) were produced in limited quantities.