Band of brass instruments try to break a Guinness World Record
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A unique performance Saturday at Independence Mall. A group of musicians played some unusual instruments, in an effort to break a world record.
Tia Sadler was out enjoying the beautiful weather near Liberty Bell Center Saturday morning when she stumbled upon a band made entirely of brass instruments.
"I like the huge bassy sounds like that," Sadler said. "Like deep tones. So, yeah, this is pretty cool."
The band gathered for a special reason.
They're trying to break a Guinness World Record for the most number of bass saxophones performing in one place. A bass saxophone is a large saxophone with lower pitches.
"Currently, we have 17 bass saxophones playing and two contrabasses," Christian Halpin said.
Organizer Halpin, who is a mummer from the Ferko String Band, says it took months of planning to bring all these musicians together from across the country.
"I feel energetic," Halpin said. "It's something interesting to bring to the world because Philly's the only place where you have this amount of bass saxophones. Maybe about 1,000 were ever produced and about 100 of them reside in the greater Philly area."
Some of the musicians came from as far away as Indiana, San Diego, and the United Kingdom for this record-breaking attempt.
"It's something special," bass saxophone player Jonathan Shaw said. "It's going to be great to be part of such a large gathering of this impressive instrument."
Halpin says if the band does break a world record, it would be difficult for anyone else to top it due to the rarity of the contrabass.
"It's very seldom made and if it is, it's very rare to have music for it," Halpin said. "So you almost have to make arrangements for the contrabass."
The group hopes to learn soon whether they set a record.
In the meantime, Halpin is hoping to turn this gathering into an annual event so the group can continue to share their love of the saxophone.
