Finding Aid for Douglas Yeo Historical Trombone Collection and Papers, ca. 1870-1950 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

By Nolan Vallier

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Collection Overview

Title: Douglas Yeo Historical Trombone Collection and Papers, ca. 1870-1950Add to your cart.

ID: 12/5/83

Primary Creator: Douglas Yeo (1955 -)

Extent: 10.25 cubic feet

Arrangement: Materials are arranged into two series: Series 1) Historic Low Brass Instruments, ca. 1870-1950 and 2) Papers, ca. 1950

Date Acquired: 04/26/2023. More info below under Accruals.

Subjects: Instrumental music, Musical Instrument Collections, Musical Instrument Makers

Scope and Contents of the Materials

Consists of historic valve and slide tenor, bass, and contrabass trombones and personal papers, documenting these instruments. Materials document unique instrument manufacturers and their design practices.

Biographical Note

Douglas Yeo (1955 - ) was born in Monterey, California. At the age of nine, he began performing on the trombone in New York and Oak Ridge, New Jersey. In 1973, he graduated from Jefferson Township High School. He earned a bachelors of music degree from Wheaton College (IL) and a master of arts degree from New York University. Between 1981 and 1985, Yeo performed bass trombone with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, serving as a faculty member at both the Peabody Conservatory of Music (MD) and the Catholic University of America (DC). He served as the bass trombonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1985 until 2012. During this time, he also served on faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music. Following this, he served as Professor of Trombone at Arizona State University until 2016. In 2019, he was appointed to the faculty at Wheaton College and in 2022 he served as a visiting professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Yeo is a leading scholar of historic low brass instruments and author or co-author of the following books: Mastering the Trombone (EMKO 2008); The One Hundred: Essential Works for the Symphonic Bass Trombonist (Encore 2017); Serpents, Bass Horns, and Ophicleides at the Bate Collection (Oxford 2019); An Illustrated Dictionary for the Modern Trombone, Tuba, and Euphonium Player (Illinois 2021); and Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry (Illinois 2021).

Yeo was the first bass trombonist to solo with the Baltimore and Boston Symphony Orchestras. During his career as a soloist, Yeo gave the premiere of Vaclav Nehlybel's Concerto for Bass Trombone; the bass trombone premiere of John Williams' Tuba Concerto; Lawrence Wolfe's Wildfire; and Norman Bolter's Temptation for serpent and string quartet; and Simon Proctor's Concerto for Serpent and Orchestra, under the direction of John Williams; and Christopher Brubeck's Concerto for Bass Trombone and Orchestra, among many other appearances. In 2014, Yeo was awarded the International Trombone Association's ITA Award, the highest award offered by the association.

Subject/Index Terms

Instrumental music
Musical Instrument Collections
Musical Instrument Makers

Administrative Information

Repository: The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Accruals: Douglas Yeo donated the Davis Shuman Brochure on October 4, 2023.

Acquisition Source: Douglas Yeo

Acquisition Method: Gift.


Box and Folder Listing


Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Historic Low Brass Instruments, ca. 1870-1950],
[Series 2: Papers, ca. 1950-2010],
[All]

Series 1: Historic Low Brass Instruments, ca. 1870-1950Add to your cart.
Consists of historic valve and piston trombones. Materials are unarranged. Included within this collection are an "angular trombone" by David Shuman, which egonomically angled the slide 45 degrees away from the body; a C.S. Schmidt Bass Trombone -- one of the only known examples by this maker -- originally owned by Boston Symphony Orchestra bass trombonist Kauko (Koko) Emil Kahila; and a Salvation Army contrabass trombone -- one of only five known to survive -- originally owned by Don Kittle.
Item 1: Lyon and Healy rotary valve bass trombone, ca. 1870Add to your cart.
Constains no serial number. Accession no. 2023.1205083.001.
Item 2: Champion Silver Piston valve tenor trombone, ca. 1920Add to your cart.
Contains no serial number. Case contains #16 Pinard Model H.N.White Mouthpiece, ca. 1911. Accession No. 2023.1205083.002.
Item 3: Carl Fischer Artist Grade piston valve tenor trombone, ca. 1897Add to your cart.
Contains no serial number. Includes #16 York and Son Mouthpiece, ca. 1902. Also includes photocopies of Sears and Roebuck 1895 and 1897 catalogs, signed by Andre Larsen. Accession No. 2023.1205083.003.
Item 4: Salvation Army Triumph Class A contrabass trombone, ca. 1911Add to your cart.
Serial no. 11732. Accession No. 2023.1205083.004.
Item 5: Shuman and Son Jaguar Model 8 tenor trombone, ca. 1950Add to your cart.
Serial number 248. Stamped with the following: British Patent no. 681787, French Patent no. 1.302.802, US Patent no. 2669152. Includes crooked leadpipe and Couesnon mouthpiece. Accession No. 2023.1205083.005.
Item 6: C.F. Schmidt bass trombone, ca. 1910Add to your cart.
Serial number 20570. Includes leather-pull E-attachement. Accession No. 2023.1205083.006.
Series 2: Papers, ca. 1950-2010Add to your cart.
Box 1Add to your cart.
Folder 1: Davis Shuman Angular Trombone Brochure, ca. 1950Add to your cart.
Folder 2: Approaching the Serpent: An Historical and Pedagogical Overview, 2010Add to your cart.
DVD with liner notes.
Folder 3: "The Life and Legacy of John Kuhn," ITEA Journal, 2023Add to your cart.