[Dixielandjazz] Sarrusophones

[jobriant at sunrisetelecom.com]

Tom Belmessieri wrote:

> Thanks, "Jim".  

Aha!  You got my first name right!!! (Thanks!)

> Searching on-line about this, the "opheclide" 
> was spelled this way.  

Because the instrument's name is from the  Greek ophis (serpent) and
kleid (key), the correct spelling is "ophicleide."   But Google also
gets a lot of hits from the alternate spelling "ophecleide."

> You know the fingerings well.  

Not as well as you think.  I had to get it out and play it to remember
the fingerings that I described in that earlier message.

> Do you play it?  

Sort of.  A couple of hours of practice will generally get the
fingerings back into my head, and then I can do all right if the music
isn't to difficult technically.  A couple of years ago, I took an old
"concert in the park" band piece called "A Night in June," in which the
euphoniums have much of the melody, and re-arranged it as an ophicleide
solo.  I performed it a few times with the brass band in which I play Eb
bass, the Pacific Brass.

> How many octaves does it have?

Same number as a trumpet or trombone; that is; it will only go so low,
but the top end is limited by the player's ability rather than by the
instrument itself.

A Bass Ophicleide in Bb (such as the one owned by Glenn Calkins) has the
following range:

Lowest note:  A Natural, 2 ledger lines below the bass staff
"Official" Highest note:  Bb, a minor seventh above Middle C.

My Bass Ophicleide in C is pitched one step higher, and has the
following range:

Lowest note:  B Natural, 2 ledger lines below the bass staff
"Official" Highest note:  C, one octave above Middle C.

I can't play that high.  G above middle C is about my limit. Any
trombonist who can go above high Bb could probably go higher than the
"official" highest note of the instrument.

I guess that after all this talk, I'd better get the thing out and
practice a bit, so I can show up with it at NOCONA one of these days.  I
pity the cat -- she knows what it sounds like, and she hides whenever
she sees me bring out the case.

-- Jim O'Briant