Featured Musical Instruments on Stamps

I thought I would start a Musical Instruments on Stamps thread. Perhaps we can build an orchestra!

My favorite instruments are the viola, English horn and French horn. Current favorite depends on which one I’ve last heard. I played drums from 4th-12th grade and while I got fairly good at it, I always wanted to play a melodic instrument. I quit in 12th grade when a kid beat me out for 1st chair which I had held since 8th grade. I took German instead which came in handy for me. I did purchase an Alto Sax in high school, taught myself a little…but without guided instruction I didn’t get very far.

Of course, to play any instrument at the professional level is exceedingly difficult and requires a natural talent. That said, my impression is the French Horn is perhaps the most difficult to play well. I am open to other opinions!

 

Concur! A beautiful instrument with many moods.

The Cello is right up there towards the top for me. So many great cellists! My fav would be Gregor Piatigorsky tho I love watching Yo-Yo Ma.

I tried to find a Bass Clarinet on a stamp...no luck.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Japan-1955...095331?hash=item2170112fe3:g:f~oAAOSwbwFeyv6X

I thought it might be a Japanese bong.

 

Timpani. A difficult instrument to master but figures heavily in classical music.

 

Closest I can find for Bassoon on a stamp. The largest of the double-reeds save for the contrabassoon. I remember the bassoon as Grandfather in Peter and the Wolf.

Shostakovitch scored some of his symphonies of multiple bassoons. His 13th (my favorite) has three bassoons one of which is a contra. He was in-and-out of trouble with the Soviet authorities much of his career; quite deep yogurt after his 4th symphony. His 5th was labelled “A Soviet Artist’s Response To Justified Criticism.” Maybe Stalin did not like the sound of the bassoon?

In other news and regards this image - I just read USPS has discontinued its custom stamps program...seemed like a great idea to me, but how many businesses use stamps in quantity these days?

 

The trombone. Usually associated with Swing and Jazz, it often is scored for symphonic/classical music.

 

The flugelhorn is truly a betwixt-and-between instrument. Of course, there are dozens of varieties of brass instruments. The flugelhorn is said to be – in both size and sound – between the trumpet and the French horn. Musically, it is sometimes a jazz instrument and sometimes a symphonic instrument. It is the brass viola between the violin and cello. To my ears it has a very nice sound.

Pictured is a very old-style flugelhorn. The standard Bb looks like the second image.

 

Here's the only two that I have.

 

Sousaphone. No marching band would be without several.

Interesting stamp...almost looks like a cindy...

 

The Clarinet. Backbone of the woodwind (‘single-reed’) instruments. Clarinets are used in just about all forms of music – swing, jazz, orchestral.

We are most familiar with the B-flat flavor, but there are quite a few others: D, A high-G and E-flat. Also the bass clarinet and – an instrument with a wonderful sound – the basset horn.

For beginners, some instruments – such as the strings – take months before he or she can get a decent sound out of them. But with the B-flat clarinet within weeks they can be playing Twinkle-Twinkle-Little-Star almost as well as Pete Fountain or Benny Goodman! (Not to say it is easy to play at the top levels, of course.)

 

Saxophone, perhaps ‘king of the woodwinds.’ Although made of brass, they have the oscillating reed as opposed to vibrating lips (brass instruments), classifying them as woodwind.

Typically, not used in orchestral music but very popular in bands and jazz. There are ten sizes of the saxophone, but the three most popular are soprano (looks like a brass clarinet although it also is made looking like a very small alto!), alto and tenor. To my ears the tenor has the most interesting sound, very throaty and sophisticated.

Many great players, of course, Boots Randolph is my favorite. His awesome Yakety-Sax was high up on the popular music charts early in the 1960s. You can see and hear him playing this piece on YouTube – he really gives it all he’s got!

 

And not to mention, everyone's favorite president of the last century, Bill Clinton!!!

Don