Keyed bugle, 8 keys. Fully restored with tuning bits for both a keyed bugle mouthpiece shank, as well as a cornet mouthpiece shank. Plays in high pitch Bb. Bugle does not have a makers name. Plays very well. Copper body with brass garland and keys. $3500 Buyer pays shipping. Contact Steve at nevetsdraw@cox.net.
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Not much is written any more about the first brass bands that developed just after the invention of the keyed bugle and ophicleide. The Serpent, which is not actually a brass instrument but a leather and wood concoction with a brass or ivory mouthpiece added the bass element to the band and an occasional trombone or sackbutt and a flute rounded out the earliest brass bands from 1810 up until the mid 1840s when the invention of valves on brasses changed the picture forever.
Keyed brass bands had their own soloists of the day. Edward “Ned” Kendall and the mysterious Francis Johnson, an African American of much renoun provided the solo line and actually “dueled” with valved brass soloists to display the proficiency of the instruments and the talent of the soloist.
Keyed brass bands soon faded and are not heard from except in the U.K. and eastern seaboard of the United States where there is only one such band remaining.
Keyed brass return us to the earliest brass bands. I remember hearing the 1st Brigades Bill Burdick performing “Gentle Annie” on the ophicleide. It is something I will always treasure.