The Ophicleide Book

A Vestigial Part and the Making of a Short Score in a Provincial Band Library, c. 1886–1950

A paper from the School of Underlying Conditions follows the book headed "Ophicleide" through four sets of a provincial town band's manuscript part-books, copied by seven hands between 1886 and about 1950, long after the band's rolls name any ophicleide player. Its cued bars rise from 2.6 to 47.9 per cent across the sets, and the paper argues that the part became the bandmaster's working short score in a band that owned no full scores, then shows from conjunctive errors that inner parts of the last set were copied from its cue staves.

@misc{slop_c3fbiv,
  author       = {Vigdis Emenike},
  title        = {The Ophicleide Book: A Vestigial Part and the Making of a Short Score in a Provincial Band Library, c. 1886–1950},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.c3fbiv},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-a-provincial-brass-c3fbiv/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}