# Music man **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543 "2005-05-19T05:38:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/1 "2005-05-19T05:38:13Z")
You know, they have the BIG title song- “76 Trombones”- have they ever really had a marching band with 76 Trombones and all the etc? (110 trumpets?) 😕 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/2 "2005-05-19T05:56:35Z")
Not trumpets, _cornets_. Interesting question, though. Answer might be in the _Guinness Book of Records_. Don’t forget you need more than a thousand reeds. I’m not sure if oboes and bassoons count as two reeds each, but either way, that’s a lot of pairs of pants with a big gold stripe running . . . Okay, I’ll stop now. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/3 "2005-05-19T05:59:49Z")
All that and only one bass? I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![Feydeau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Feydeau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feydeau)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/4 "2005-05-19T07:02:22Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Not trumpets, _cornets_. > > Interesting question, though. Answer might be in the _Guinness Book of Records_. Don’t forget you need more than a thousand reeds. I’m not sure if oboes and bassoons count as two reeds each, but either way, that’s a lot of pairs of pants with a big gold stripe running . . . > > Okay, I’ll stop now. {nitpick} It’s a red stripe. {/nitpick} ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/5 "2005-05-19T08:05:04Z")
My friend had a cd where they performed 76 trombones with you guessed it 76 trombones…it was really good and they covered some cool songs I’ll ask him who they were if your interested. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/6 "2005-05-19T16:58:36Z")
Didn’t Prof. Hill specifically make this claim about the John Philip Sousa band? That would narrow the search a bit. Hill was a flim-flam man anyway, so there’s no reason to believe anything he said. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/7 "2005-05-19T17:21:30Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Didn’t Prof. Hill specifically make this claim about the John Philip Sousa band? According to the lyrics, Gilmore [presumably Patrick S Gilmore], Pat Conway, The Great Creatore [real name: Giuseppe Creatore], WC Handy, and John Phillip Sousa had all come to the same town on the same date. (All of these men are real, however, they don’t fit well on a timeline, as Gilmore died before the Great Creatore ever visited the US, and Handy was not, to the best of my knowledge, a concert bandleader.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/8 "2005-05-19T17:40:29Z")
> [@Governor Quinn](#): > > (All of these men are real, however, they don’t fit well on a timeline, as Gilmore died before the Great Creatore ever visited the US, and Handy was not, to the best of my knowledge, a concert bandleader.) And Hill could not have graduated from the Gary, Indiana, Conservatory, Class of '05, because the town wasn’t built until '06. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary%2C\_Indiana#History](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary%2C_Indiana#History) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/9 "2005-05-19T17:54:04Z")
Yes, and **Captain Billy’s Whizbang** wasn’t published until after 1920, after the time period of the musical. But who cares? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/10 "2005-05-19T18:50:54Z")
Those nice red stripes would have been all covered with dung, unless the copper-bottom tympani in horse platoons were at the rear. Has anyone ever actually \*seen \* a double-belled euphonium? ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/11 "2005-05-19T20:57:35Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Has anyone ever actually \*seen \* a double-belled euphonium? They [exist](http://home.earthlink.net/~tenorhorn/euphhistory.html). My band teacher in sixth grade had one. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/12 "2005-05-19T21:24:06Z")
> [@Governor Quinn](#): > > According to the lyrics, Gilmore [presumably Patrick S Gilmore], Pat Conway, The Great Creatore [real name: Giuseppe Creatore], WC Handy, and John Phillip Sousa had all come to the same town on the same date. > > (All of these men are real, however, they don’t fit well on a timeline, as Gilmore died before the Great Creatore ever visited the US, and Handy was not, to the best of my knowledge, a concert bandleader.) I’d swear Liberace is in there somewhere, too, (at least on the Broadway: The American Musical compilation I have) which never made sense to me because it would have been WAY too early for him. And he has nothing to do with marching bands anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Feydeau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Feydeau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feydeau)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/13 "2005-05-20T06:54:28Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I’d swear Liberace is in there somewhere, too, (at least on the Broadway: The American Musical compilation I have) which never made sense to me because it would have been WAY too early for him. And he has nothing to do with marching bands anyway. Alessandro Liberati, 1847-1927. Found [here.](http://www.sewickley.org/~kcerny/LowerSchool/DivisionMusical/TheMusicManDictionary.htm) ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/14 "2005-05-20T07:09:01Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Has anyone ever actually \*seen \* a double-belled euphonium? Seen it. Played it. Didn’t actually shatter window glass with it, though it wasn’t for lack of trying 😃 A more important question is whether farting bedposts (a.k.a. bassoons) have ever been part of a marching band in a parade. A concert band, sure, but bassoons are heavy, and double reeds are mighty fragile… Tip o’ the hat to old Professor Hill for knowing that there’s a difference between cornets and trumpets! ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/15 "2005-05-20T11:03:19Z")
Right. Just to show how lazy I am today, I dragged out our old (1978) copy of the Guinness Book of Records, and my son’s 2004 copy. First, the bad news: as many of you probably already know, the Guinness Book people have found out their biggest market was among preteens, so they have now given the book an obvious preteen slant. Lots of pages about Pop Music and Rock Music, but no entry for a Largest Marching Band in the 2004 edition. However, in the 1978 edition, we read: > [@](#): > > The largest marching band on record was one of 1,976 musicians and 54 drill majors, flag bearers and directors who marched 2 miles _3.2 km_ down Pennsylvania Avenue in President Nixon’s Inaugural Parade on 20 Jan. 1973. If this band did indeed feature 76 trombones catching the morning sun, with 110 cornets right behind, we are left with 1,790 other musicians. Since much of the brass section has already been counted, we might just be left with enough musicians for over a thousand reeds to spring up like weeds, though I have found no evidence to support tympani, horse platoons, or double-bell euphoniums. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/16 "2005-05-20T11:13:02Z")
> [@Feydeau](#): > > Alessandro Liberati, 1847-1927. > > Found [here.](http://www.sewickley.org/~kcerny/LowerSchool/DivisionMusical/TheMusicManDictionary.htm) Ah…THAT makes much more sense! And what IS a horse platoon, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/17 "2005-05-20T13:39:32Z")
[Other cultural references explained](http://www.doggedresearch.com/wilson/glossary.htm). I have my doubts about the 50 mounted cannon in the battery, though. Unless they were playing the 1812 Overture, they’d either drown out or take out the rest of the band. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/18 "2005-05-20T13:59:37Z")
You know, normal people get earworms like commercial jingles or “Sweet Caroline”. I get “76 Trombones”… ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/19 "2005-05-20T14:27:26Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > You know, normal people get earworms like commercial jingles or “Sweet Caroline”. I get “76 Trombones”… Not “Sweet Caroline”!!! Must…drown…out…earworm…AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHH!!! _There waaaas a wiiiild coloooonial boooy, Jack Duggannnnn waaaas his naaaaaame_ ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543/20 "2005-05-20T18:58:13Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > Not “Sweet Caroline”!!! > > Must…drown…out…earworm…AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHH!!! Since we’re talkin’ 'bout_The Music Man_ try this Lida Rose, I’m home again, Rose To get the sun back in the sky. Lida Rose, I’m home again, Rose About a thousand kisses shy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-man/304543.md?page=2)