Conn-Selmer

Conn-Selmer, Inc. is an American manufacturer of musical instruments for concert bands, marching bands and orchestras. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments and was formed in 2003 by combining the Steinway properties, The Selmer Company and United Musical Instruments. Conn-Selmer is the largest manufacturer and importer of band and orchestral instruments in the United States. The company produces a large variety of musical instruments itself and through contractors under the brand names Vincent Bach, C.G. Conn, King, Holton, Selmer, Armstrong, Leblanc, Ludwig, Musser, and Scherl & Roth. Conn-Selmer is also the North American distributor of Henri Selmer Paris woodwinds and the U.S. distributor of Yanagisawa saxophones. History Origins The origins of the Conn-Selmer company begin with the H&A Selmer company. In the late nineteenth century, brothers Alexandre and Henri Selmer graduated from the Paris Conservatory as clarinetists. They were the great-grandchildren of French military drum major Johannes Jacobus Zelmer, grandchildren of Jean-Jacques Selmer, the Army Chief of Music, and two of 16 children in this musical family. At the time, musical instruments and accessories were primarily hand made, and professional musicians found it necessary to acquire skills allowing them to make their own accessories and repair and modify their own instruments. Establishing Henri Selmer & Cie. in 1885, Henri began making clarinet reeds and mouthpieces. In 1898, Henri opened a store and repair shop in Paris and began producing clarinets, and Alexandre joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra that same year.