The bazooka is a

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

musical instrument several feet in length which incorporates telescopic tubing like the

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

Radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

Bob Burns is credited with inventing the instrument in the 1910s, and popularized it in the 1930s. It was also played by

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

musicians Noon Johnson and Sanford Kendrick.

Sound

From its start within a lipreed mouthpiece – which may consist of nothing but the bare tube or may employ a mouthpiece which is handmade to emulate one from a low brass instrument – the air column expands into a wide length of pipe that slides freely around a narrower length of pipe, which, in turn, terminates in a widely flaring bell. Although the slide action of the bazooka appears to alter pitch, this is not the case due to the extremely wide diameter of the horn's tubing. Manipulating the horn's length changes tone quality as subtle harmonic overtones fluctuate. This effect gives the bazooka its characteristic warbling, echoing sound. All of the bazooka's notes are produced purely in falset. In other words, the player's lips produce pitches as they vibrate on the bare pipe end or in conjunction with the optional mouthpiece and

leadpipe In a brass instrument, a leadpipe or mouthpipe is the pipe or tube into which the mouthpiece is placed. For example, on the illustration of a trombone, the leadpipe would be between #3 and #4, the mouthpiece and the slide lock ring. In the ...

unit, but not in resonance with the full tube length of the instrument. Unlike the

, the remainder of the bazooka works mainly as a

megaphone A megaphone, speaking-trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loudhailer is usually a portable or hand-held, cone-shaped acoustic horn used to amplify a person's voice or other sounds and direct it in a given direction. The sound is introduced into ...

to amplify the volume of the sound. It can be seen being played by Bob Burns in the 1936 movie ''

Rhythm on the Range ''Rhythm on the Range'' is a 1936 American Western musical film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Bing Crosby, Frances Farmer, and Bob Burns. Based on a story by Mervin J. Houser, the film is about a cowboy who meets a beautiful young wom ...

'' during the song " I'm an Old Cowhand".

Name

The name "bazooka" comes from an extension of the word "bazoo", which is slang for "mouth" or "boastful talk", and which ultimately probably stems from Dutch ''bazuin'' (

buisine The ''buisine'' and the ''añafil'' were variations of a type of straight medieval trumpet usually made of metal, also called a herald's trumpet. While arguably the same instrument, the two names represent two separate traditions, in which a Per ...

, a medieval trumpet). The name appears in the 1909 novel ''The Swoop, or how Clarence Saved England'' by

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...

, describing a musical instrument used in music halls. During World War II, "

bazooka Bazooka () is the common name for a Man-portable anti-tank systems, man-portable recoilless Anti-tank warfare, anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the ...

" became the universally applied nickname of a new American

anti-tank weapon Anti-tank warfare originated from the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy tanks during World War I. Since the Triple Entente deployed the first tanks in 1916, the German Empire developed the first anti-tank weapons. The first devel ...

, due to its vague resemblance to the musical instrument.

References

External links

Bob "Bazooka" Burns
* — the inventor explains and demonstrates his instrument {{Authority control Brass instruments Bass (sound)