Tuba after American bandmaster John Philip Sousa, resembles a hélicon with the bell pointed up (in the original models as the J. W. Pepper prototype and Sousa's concert instruments) and then curved to point forward (as developed by Conn and others). Some ancestors of the tuba, such as the military "bombardon", had unusual valve and bore arrangements compared to modern tubas. During the American Civil War, most brass bands used a branch of the brass family known as "saxhorns", which, by today's standards, have a narrower bore taper than tuba—the same as true cornets and baritones, but distinct from trumpets, euphoniums,
Tenor cornett cornetts, true alto or tenor cornetts. However, a number of instruments with a larger bore have survived and these instruments seem to have had a sound somewhat reminiscent of the serpent. The timbre of the small bore tenor cornetti is more "focused" and incisive than that of their large bore counterparts. Some modern cornett makers, like Christopher Monk, for instance, have made both varieties of tenor cornett available to customers. The tenor cornett was used almost exclusively as a consort instrument. No solo music survives for this instrument. In the works of Schütz, Schein, Scheidt, Praetorius, Gabrieli, Viadana and other