{"id":2946,"date":"2021-12-13T15:12:03","date_gmt":"2021-12-13T15:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraryarchives.web.illinois.edu\/sousa\/?p=2946"},"modified":"2024-02-20T23:21:24","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T23:21:24","slug":"sousa-archives-opens-new-saxophone-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/2021\/12\/13\/sousa-archives-opens-new-saxophone-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"Sousa Archives Opens New Saxophone Exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photograph of Tom Brown sitting with his Couesnon alto saxophone was taken by
Benjamin Strauss in Kansas City sometime in 1917 and autographed by Brown on April 11, 1917.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Sousa Archives’ new exhibit, “The Imperfect Saxophone: Not Just a Clown\u2019s Instrument,” examines America\u2019s complex social and cultural relationship with the saxophone during a period known as the \u201csaxophone craze.\u201d\u00a0 Adolphe Sax\u2019s most recognized instrument, the saxophone — invented and first produced between 1844 and 1845 — has had a very complex musical and social life.\u00a0 Originally developed to blend the distinct tonal qualities of the woodwind and brass instruments commonly used by Europe\u2019s military bands, the saxophone\u2019s startlingly unique sound made it difficult for professional musicians and composers of that time to embrace the instrument.<\/p>\n

Despite Sax\u2019s initial hopes that both symphonic orchestras and wind bands throughout Europe would eventually utilize the saxophone, the horn initially became an exotic novelty and was treated more like a musical clown than a fine-art instrument.\u00a0 America\u2019s minstrel and vaudeville circuits were much less hesitant to accept Sax\u2019s novel instrument in their performance routines. \u00a0By the 1910s, the Five Musical Spillers, a vaudeville act, began incorporating saxophones into their performances with great success. They often used comedic humor and popular ragtime melodies to keep their audiences engaged with their performances.<\/p>\n

The breakout saxophone ensemble during the 1910s was the Brown Brothers led by Tom Brown. \u00a0Performing first as a trio on the minstrel circuit and later as a quintet and sextet on the vaudeville circuit, they were the first major saxophone ensemble to profit from making commercial audio recordings. \u00a0By the early 1920s they were among the most popular and highest paid ensembles, earning nearly $1,000 per week. \u00a0\u00a0Up to 1914, the Brown Brothers wore military band uniforms.\u00a0 Once they began performing in the Broadway production Chin Chin<\/em>, they instead began dressing as clowns.\u00a0 During this period, ensembles like the Brown Brothers helped popularize the instrument while embracing a musical clown mystique by performing popular ragtime works dressed as clowns.\u00a0 Despite appearing as a musical clowns, the repertoire that the Brown Brothers played required serious technical and musical skill.<\/p>\n

Music instrument manufacturers of the time designed their saxophones around the needs of these top performers, but also capitalized on the growing popularity of the instrument among amateur musicians.\u00a0 These manufacturers also took the opportunity to improve Sax\u2019s imperfect instrument, adding new keys and improving their methods of construction. As these innovative improvements were made to the horn\u2019s original design and performers refined their ability to play this new family of music instruments, audiences quickly embraced the saxophone\u2019s many unique musical qualities.\u00a0 This exhibit highlights the saxophone\u2019s imperfect musical beginnings and musicians like the Brown Brothers\u2019 performances that made it a truly unique instrument.\u00a0 For further information about this exhibit and scheduling tours please call 217-333-4577 or email sousa@illinois.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sousa Archives’ new exhibit, “The Imperfect Saxophone: Not Just a Clown\u2019s Instrument,” examines America\u2019s complex social and cultural relationship with the saxophone during a period known as the \u201csaxophone craze.\u201d\u00a0 Adolphe Sax\u2019s most recognized instrument, the saxophone — invented and first produced between 1844 and 1845 — has had a very complex musical and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":511,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/511"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2946"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3688,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2946\/revisions\/3688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/sousa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}