Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the ophicleide. Tuba is Latin for trumpet or horn. The horn referred to would most likely resemble what is known as a Baroque trumpet.
An orchestra usually has a single tuba, though occasionally a second tuba is required. It is the principal bass instrument in symphonic and military bands, and those ensembles generally have more. It serves as the bass of the brass section and of brass quintets and choirs, as well as reinforcement for the bass voices of the strings and woodwinds, and as a solo instrument.
The lowest pitched tubas are the contrabass tubas, pitched in C or B-flat; (referred to as CC and BB-flat tubas respectively, based on a traditional distortion of a now-obsolete octave naming convention). The fundamental pitch of a CC tuba is 32 Hz, and for a BB-flat tuba, 29 Hz. The CC tuba is used as an orchestral instrument in the U.S., but BB-flat tubas are the contrabass tuba of choice in German, Austrian, and Russian orchestras. In the United States, many younger players start out with an E-flat tuba, but the BB-flat tuba is the most common tuning in public schools (largely due to the use of sousaphones, which are virtually always BBb, in high school marching bands) and thus also for adult amateurs. Most professionals in the U.S. play CC tubas, with BBb also common, and many train in the use of all four pitches of tubas.
The next smaller tubas are the bass tubas, pitched in F or E-flat (a fourth above the contrabass tubas). The E-flat tuba often plays an octave above the contrabass tubas in brass bands, and the F tuba is commonly used by professional players as a solo instrument and, in America, to play higher parts in the classical repertoire (or parts that were originally written for the F tuba, as is the case with Berlioz). In most of Europe, the F tuba is the standard orchestral instrument, supplemented by the CC or BB-flat only when the extra weight is desired. Wagner, for example, specifically notates the low tuba parts for "Kontrabasstuba" which are played on CC or BB-flat tubas in most regions. In the United Kingdom, the E-flat is the standard orchestral tuba.
The euphonium is sometimes referred to as a tenor tuba (or in the U.S. as a baritone horn), and is pitched in B-flat, one octave higher than the BB-flat contrabass tuba. The term "tenor tuba" is often used more specifically to refer to B-flat rotary-valved tubas pitched in the same octave as euphoniums. The "Small French Tuba in C" is a tenor tuba pitched in C, and provided with 6 valves to make the lower notes in the orchestral repertoire possible. The French C tuba was the standard instrument in French orchestras until overtaken by F and C tubas since the Second World War. One popular example of the use of the French C tuba is the Bydło movement in Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, though the rest of the work is scored for this instrument as well.
Larger BBB-flat subcontrabass tubas exist, but are extremely rare (there are at least four known examples). The first two were built by the Gustav Besson in BBBb, one octave below the BBb Contrabass tuba, on the suggestion of American Bandmaster John Philip Sousa. The monster instruments were not completed until just after Sousa's death (photo). Later, in the 1950s, British musician Gerard Hoffnung commissioned the London firm of Paxman to create a subcontrabass tuba in EEEb for use in his comedic music festivals
In addition to the length of the instrument, which dictates the fundamental pitch, tubas also vary in overall width of the tubing sections. Tuba sizes are usually denoted by a quarter system, with 4/4 designating a normal, full-size tuba. Larger rotary instruments are known as kaisertubas and are often denoted 5/4. Larger piston tubas, particularly those with front action, are sometimes known as grand orchestral tubas (examples: The Conn 36J Orchestra Grand Bass from the 1930's, and the current model Hirsbrunner HB-50 "Grand Orchestral", which is a replica of the large York tuba owned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra). Grand orchestral tubas are generally described as 6/4 tubas. Smaller instruments may be described as 3/4 instruments. No standards exist for these designations, and their use is up to manufacturers who usually use them to distinguish among the instruments in their own product line. The size designation is related to the larger outer branches, and not to the bore of the tubing at the valves, though the bore is usually reported in instrument specifications. The quarter system is also not related to bell size, at least across manufacturers.
Tubas have been used in jazz since the genre's beginning. In the earliest years, bands often used a tuba for outdoor playing and a double bass for indoor jobs. In this context, the tuba was sometimes called "brass bass", as opposed to the double bass, which was called "string bass"; it was not uncommon for players to double on both instruments.
