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Helicon (instrument)

Musical instrument in the tuba family

Field	Value
name	Helicon
image	Musikinstrumenten-Museum Berlin - Helikon in Es - 1107081 (crop).jpg
background	brass
classification	{{hlist
hornbostel_sachs	423.232
hornbostel_sachs_desc	Valved lip-reed aerophone with wide conical bore
inventors	Patented by Stowasser, 1848
developed	1840s
related	{{hlist

Note

the instrument

The helicon is a brass musical instrument in the tuba family. Most are B basses, but they are also built in E or F, and occasionally in tenor or even smaller sizes. The helicon has a wide, roughly-circular shape designed to be worn around the player's body, with the tubing wrapped under one arm and the bell resting on the opposite shoulder.

The instrument is very popular in Central and Eastern Europe and is a common instrument for a military band and a mounted band. It is used by Ed Neuhauser of the traditional folk band Bellowhead.

The range of the B helicon is two octaves below that of a B cornet,{{cite encyclopedia

The sousaphone is a specialized version of the helicon. The first sousaphone, a non-production prototype made by J. W. Pepper & Son, Inc., had an upright bell, hence the nickname "rain catcher" because of its shape. Later production versions differ primarily in two ways: a bell shaped to face forward with a larger flare and a bell diameter of 22 to(-), and a "goose-neck" leadpipe which offers greater adjustability of mouthpiece position at the expense of tone quality.

History

The helicon is derived from the saxhorn or the saxtuba. Helicons were first used in the 1860s in cavalry and artillery mounted bands, then later used in military marching bands.

Helicon family

The Slovenian composer Igor Krivokapič invented a new family of helicons which were produced by the German manufacturer Melton:

Soprano in E
Alto in B
Tenor in E
Baritone in B
Bass in F (or EE)
Contrabass in BB (or CC)

File:Joueur.jpg|Two musicians playing helicons. File:Philip Timms Helicon E flat bass 1909 18552.jpg|Philip Timms with his E bass helicon in 1909

References

Haine, Malou. (1980). "Adolphe Sax (1814–1894): sa vie, son œuvre et ses instruments de musique". Éditions de l'Université de Bruxelles.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

brass-instruments tubas

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