Musical Instruments Museum

Modern-day marching and community bands have their roots in 19th-century American military bands.

The instruments used in these early bands had to meet one major criterion: portability. The demand was for instruments that could easily be carried from camps to battlefields.

Beyond that, the instruments evolved to suit the unique situation of a band marching at the front of a column of troops. Over-the-shoulder horns were specifically designed to project the instrument's sound behind the player, the better to be heard by the soldiers marching at the back of the band.

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