Band Parenting in the '00's

What Band Parents Need to Know About

TUBAS

History
Tubas were the last instruments added to the modern orchestra. This was because the tuba is the most highly advanced acoustical instrument and could be created only after the other traditional orchestra instruments. It was from a knowledge of their faults and limitations that the conception of the far more perfect instrument, the tuba, was developed. This perfection is evident in the make-up of orchestras where several of each of the lesser instruments (up to 30 in the case of violins) are needed but just one tuba is sufficient.

The modern valved tuba dates from 1842 and was developed by Adolphe Sax in a desperate (and successful) attempt to expiate his guilt for inventing the saxophone two years earlier. It is no accident that most great orchestral music was written after 1842. Modern musicologists can only wonder that 18th century composers such as Bach, Mozart and Haydn were able to write so much (more or less) serviceable music while lacking tubas.

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A.W. von Faensterwald has reviewed all of Mozart's orchestral and operatic works and identified thousands of places where Mozart was clearly (unconsciously?) struggling to compensate in his orchestrations for a missing instrument which we now know was the tuba. How great a composer Mozart might have been had he lived a little later or the tuba appeared earlier we can only imagine. (Herr Prof. Dr. von Faensterwald and his colleagues at the European Tuba Institute in Vienna are currently preparing a corrected edition of the complete works of Mozart incorporating tubas. The new editions, destined to quickly supplant those now in use, will have K. numbers ending in "T", for example Symphony #40 in G minor K. 440T, the four Tuba Concertos K. 412T, 417T, 447T, 495T and the opera "The Magic Tuba" K. 620T.)

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Tuba Types
The most common tuba is the upright bell model available in four keys, BBb, CC, Eb, and F. Each of these has its own characteristic sound quality. Tubas in each key are now made in a range of sizes- 3/4 (small horns for students), 4/4 and 5/4 (for normal size players), 6/4 and even 7/4 (whose makers apparently anticipate a large increase in human stature and wish to protect their tuba's future resale value). Tubing bore, bell size and weight all increase in larger sizes. The sound becomes darker and deeper. It was once customary to write just a "tuba" part and leave it to the player to select the type of tuba to use. The tuba savvy modern composer will take the trouble to specify the key and size of the tuba in order to insure a performance as close as possible to his/her intentions.
BBb Tubas These are the largest standard tubas and are the natural basses of the brass family of instruments and of music in general. Tubas are more powerful and have infinitely richer tone than string basses, contra-bassoons or octo-contra-bass clarinets. Only the largest pipe organs can compete with the tuba in bass sonority but they are costly and lack portability. BBb contrabass tubas produce the richest sound of any tuba and have the lowest range. They are the standard for use in concert and symphonic bands (which as Percy Grainger has written are better balanced and more flexible ensembles than symphony orchestras). It is truly difficult to adequately describe the greatness of BBb tubas in mere words. (Shakespeare might have done it.) Students must develop a personal familiarity with BBb tubas as early as possible in their musical careers.
CC Tubas Pitched a whole tone higher than the BBb tuba the CC tuba has become popular among tubists who (presumably for economic reasons) frequently play in symphony orchestras. The stringed instruments used in orchestras are notoriously limited and inflexible. Most music for them has been written in sharp keys to make things easier for the players. Furthermore, string players often play sharp in an attempt to compensate for the annoying scratchy tonal quality of their instruments. (see note on pitch below). Orchestra tuba players, with a generosity which reflects the nobility of their instruments, force their horns to produce notes significantly out of tune with the tuba's perfect natural intonation in order to mask the strings' imperfections. The CC tuba being two sharps sharper than the BBb tuba makes this easier to do (but no less vexing for the tubist).
The many drawbacks of the CC tuba include a lack of the lowest notes (although extra valves are now usually included in an attempt to give the CC tuba the full BBb range) and a smaller sound (this, sadly, is considered to be an advantage by string players). As the popularity of symphony orchestras continues to decline it is likely that CC tubas will disappear as have the sarrusophone, ophicleide and C melody saxophone.

Eb Tubas Also called Bombardons (although not very often) these small tubas were widely used in bands in the late 1800's and early 1900's. No one seems to remember why.
F Tubas Not so much tubas as overgrown Euphoniums, F Tubas were developed to make it easier for tubists to play the very high tuba parts common in French orchestral music. They completely lack the lower register which is the non plus ultra of the true tuba. However they can, when well played, display a firmness of tone that shows what French horns should sound like but don't. They do add a sometimes useful "tenor" voice to tuba ensembles.

Tuba Usage in Bands
John Philip Sousa suggested that, in bands, there be one tuba for every 10 other instruments. This number of tubas is surely too few. Sousa was undoubtedly referring to outdoor marching conditions where treble sounds quickly attenuate permitting tuba sound to shine through. For indoor concert conditions a ratio of one tuba for every 5 other instruments is a better rule of thumb (more if Eb tubas are used). In a pinch fewer tubas may be used if they have front facing bells. A traditional basic concert band or wind ensemble would contain:

Tubas in Orchestras
In orchestras the tuba is a solo instrument (the mundane bass line chores being relegated to string basses). Only one tuba is used. Since most of the other instruments are strings one tuba is all that is needed.
Tuba Ensembles
All-tuba ensembles have become increasingly popular as the musical taste of the public has developed and matured. Early tuba ensembles played music in four parts the higher two parts being played on euphoniums and the lower two parts on tubas. The modern tuba ensemble is a true all-tuba orchestra and is capable of playing music as demanding and involved as any symphony orchestra.

Specialty Tubas
Bell front (recording) tubas- These are otherwise upright tubas with a front facing bell designed to project the sound forward. They were originally intended for use in the making of acoustic recordings where the primitive recording equipment had difficulty picking up the tuba sound. They are still in use today in bands which do not have enough tubas.
Helicons and Sousaphones- If tubas have any drawback at all it is that they are somewhat large and heavy. This is a problem mostly in marching. During the days of the great marching bands the first solution was to attach straps to tubas to assist the players in carrying them. This moved the center of gravity of the player so far forward that tripping accidents became all too common. The first attempt at a true marching tuba was the helicon in which the instrument's tubing was coiled to fit around the player resting the weight of the horn on the left shoulder. Helicons had a fixed, often upright, bell. An improvement on the helicon (attributed to and named after John Philip Sousa) was the sousaphone which also coiled about the player but had an adjustable front facing bell. For years the sousaphone has reigned supreme on the streets and football fields of America (as long as the winds are not too strong). Recently, however, a new attempt has been made to create a marching tuba by moving the leader pipe and mouthpiece so that the tuba can be carried on the left shoulder.

Poem Link-Sousaphones!

Wagner tubas-These instruments are not so much tubas as French horns. They are pitched in F and Bb to match horns and use a horn mouthpiece. Their usage is happily confined to a few works of Wagner and Bruckner that only a handful of fanatics still listen to.
Tuba d'amore-So closely related to the Tuba d'gamba that they are probably the same thing, these medium size tubas in D are made out of the heart wood of Larch trees with pewter valve assemblies and ferrules. They have a lovely mellow sound which has been compared to the birdsong of emu's. They were much favored by 19th century wandering minstrel tubadours.
Alpenhorns- An early valveless large conical bore instrument now used chiefly to amuse tourists in Switzerland and advertise cough drops in the USA. The alpenhorn is not coiled and sticks straight out before the player a distance of 18-36 feet. They are not used much for marching and indoor usage is confined to concert halls having unusually deep stages. Alpenhorns were once used as a means of communication, their low tones being able to carry for miles along alpine valleys. Today they have been replaced by modern technology at AT&T (All-Swiss Tuba and Telegraph Company).

Copyright 1997 George Yenetchi

Copyright 1994. 1995, 1996 , 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006 by George Yenetchi