Hello Sarrusophiles - I finally received my baritone sarrusophone on
Monday, thanks to the hard work and dedication of Hudson Graham at
Graham Antique Brass Instruments
(http://www.pipeline.com/~hgraham/). I've been searching for over a
year, and it's quite a relief to finally have it in my possession. I
had my first opportunity to play it this evening at my community band
rehearsal, so I'd like to share my impressions:

Appearance: It's smaller than I had envisioned, just a shade under 3
feet long. And it's very light, too; much lighter than my alto sax.

The sound: as I expected, like a cross between a bassoon and a sax.
It has the reediness of the bassoon, with the bite and projection of
a sax. Or, more colorfully, like a bassoon on steroids, or a bari
sax with a head cold.

I'll be using it to play bassoon parts in the community bands that I
play in for outdoor concerts; I'll decide later whether to use it
indoors as well. If you are passing through MA this summer, and
would like to see and hear it in action, I'll be performing with the
Lexington Bicentennial Band on Tuesday nights starting 6/29 at the
Levi Burnell Bandstand at Hastings Park in Lexington, and with the
Concord Band on Thursday nights beginning 6/24 at the Fruitlands
Museums in Harvard.

---Nat