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The Over the Shoulder (OTS) Horn
| A distinctively American musical instrument is
the "over the shoulder" (a.k.a. "OTS") horn, also
refered to as the "saxhorn". These brass wind instruments
were designed to play to the troops following the band and fell out of
favor after the War when entertaining audiences became fashion. |
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| Over the shoulder saxhorn with detachable
bell - - Isaac Fiske was an early US maker of rotary valved brass
instruments from Worchester Massachusetts. Fiske contributed to the early
development of better and less restrictive bores of brass instruments and
in developing lighter and quicker valve actions for cornets. This Saxhorn
is nearly identical to one seen in a surviving Fiske catalog dating from 1862.
The unique removable bell may have been designed to make the horn easier
to pack and transport in the field. An additional lead pipe (not shown)
could be used to change this horn from a "over the shoulder" configuration to a bell upright configuration.
From the Tom Bowen collection
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