tuba

the lowest brass wind instrument

For the municipality in the Philippines, see Tuba, Benguet. For the ancient city in Syria, see Umm el-Marra.'' -}The tuba is the largest of the low-brass instrumentbrass instruments and 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.

Role of tuba - There is usually only one tuba in an orchestra, and it is used as the bass of the brass section, though its versatility means that it can be used to reinforce the strings and woodwind, or increasingly as a solo instrument. The most significant instance of two tubas being used is in ''Symphonie Fantastique'' by Hector Berlioz.Concertos for Tuba have been written by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Edward Gregson, John Williams (composer)John Williams, Robert Fleming and Gary Kulesha.Tubas are also used in wind and concert bands and in brass bands, although in the latter instance they are referred to as Eb and BBb basses, there being two of each.

Types and construction - Tubas are found in various pitches, most commonly in F, Eb, C, or Bb in "brass band" pitching. When reading bass clef music, all of which is in concert pitch, all tubas play the notes as they sound and must know the correct fingerings for their instrument, because the fingerings are different for instruments in each of the four tuba pitches. The CC tuba is used in the vast majority of orchestral music, because its intonation tendencies are in line with those of stringed instruments. In military or concert bands and brass bands, the BBb tuba is preferred because its intonation better matches that of other wind instruments in Bb or Eb. Players of the Eb tuba often find themselves in demand from brass bands, where they read music in treble clef pitched in Eb, as well as orchestras where they read music in bass clef at concert pitch (C).The lowest pitched tubas are the contrabass tubas, pitched in C or Bb; (referred to as CC and BBb tubas respectively). The BBb is almost exclusively used in brass bands, and the CC tuba as a orchestral instrument or sometimes as a solo instrument. The next smaller tubas are the bass tubas, pitched in F or Eb (a fourth above the contrabass tubas). The Eb Tuba typically 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 to play higher parts in the classical repertoire. The euphonium is sometimes referred to as a tenor tuba, and is pitched one octave higher than (in Bb) than the BBb contrabass tuba. The "French tuba" corresponds to the tenor tuba, but is pitched in C.Tubas come in both piston and rotary valve models. Rotary valves are thought to give a "darker" tone quality than piston valves, and require less maintenance that piston valves, but they are more complex than piston valves and are more difficult to disassemble and reassemble. The German tradition prefers rotary valves; the British and American traditions favor piston valves, but this is not absolute and choice of valve types remains up to the performer.Tubas generally have from three to six valves, though some rare exceptions exist. Three-valve tubas are generally the least expensive and are almost exclusively used by beginners and amateurs, and the sousaphone (a marching instrument) almost always has three valves. Among more advanced players, four and five valve tubas are by far the most common choices, with six valve tubas being relatively rare. The role of the fourth, fifth, and sixth valves on tubas having them is as follows:The fourth valve is used in place of combinations of the first and third valves, and first, second and third valves, both of which are noticably sharp (too high) on three-valve instruments. By using the fourth valve by itself to replace the first and third combination, or the fourth and second valves in place of the first, second and third valve combinations, the notes requiring these fingerings are more in tune.Since the "bass" tuba in F is pitched a fifth above the BBb tuba and a fourth above the CC tuba, it needs additional tubing length beyond that provided by four valves to play securely down to a low F as required in much tuba music. The fifth valve is commonly tuned to a flat whole step, so that when used with the fourth valve, it gives a in-tune low Bb. The 6th valve is commonly tuned as a flat half step, allowing the F tuba to play low G as 1-4-5-6 and low Gb as 1-2-4-5-6. In CC tubas with five valves, the fifth valve may be tuned as above or tuned to replace the 2-3 combination - the choice is up to the performer. Some believe that the external finish of the tuba can play an important role in the tone production. Professional players have individual preferences on the finish that they select, and will sometimes have horns in more than one finish for different musical settings. In general, it is thought that silver finish produces a darker tone while lacquer produces a brighter tone. However, tone quality is subjective and there is no scientific basis for these claims.Some piston valved tubas have a compensating system to allow accurate tuning when using several valves in combination to play low notes, simplifying fingering and removing the need to constantly adjust slide positions. This does have the disadvantage of making the instrument significantly more 'stuffy' or resistant to air flow when compared to a non-compensating tuba. This is due to the need for the air to flow through the valve block twice. It aslo makes the instrument heavier.

Jazz - Tubas have been used in jazz from the music's beginning. In the earliest years, bands often used a tuba for outdoor playing and a double bass for indoor jobs. The role of two bass instruments remains similar. Tubas are usually featured in a supporting role, although it is not uncommon for them to take solos. Many jazz bands actually use a sousaphone, commonly if technically incorrectly called a "tuba" in this context.

Notable jazz tubists -

Chink Martin Abraham

Dave Bargeron

Ron Caswell

Ray Draper

Michel Godard

Howard Johnson (jazz musician)Howard Johnson

Sam Pilafian

Marcus Rojas

Jim Self

Cyrus St. Clair

Bob Stewart (tuba)Bob Stewart

Jonathan Sass

Sergio Carolino

Miscellaneous - Former Chicago Symphony Orchestra tuba player Arnold Jacobs was well-known for his breathing techniques and teachings.Some tubas are capable of being converted into a marching style. A leadpipe can be manually screwed on next to the valves. The tuba is then rested on the right shoulder (althouh some tubas allow use of the left shoulder), with the bell facing directly in front of the player.Category:Brass !instrumentsde:Tubaes:Tubafr:Tu bait:Tuba? (strumento musicale)he:טובה (כלי !נגינה)hu:Tubanl:Tubaja:� �ューバno:Tubann:Tubapl:Tub apt:Tubaru:Тубаsimple:Tuba sr:Тубаfi:Tuubasv:Tuba

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