The Trouble With Tubas - What It Takes To Be A Great Tuba Player

Did you know that there is an International Tuba Day? Yes, there is and it is celebrated on the first Friday in May every year. This is a day to recognize tuba players in musical association around the world. Many people typecast tuba players as having no real musical talent, no individuality, just large bodies with inflated cheeks and powerful lungs.

International Tuba Day was formed for both tuba players and non-tuba players alike. If you do not play the tuba and feel as expressed above, International Tuba Day is a day to learn more about the importance of the tuba in our musical society. It is a day to see how the tuba is the strength of the band with the means of playing much more than just “oompah.� International Tuba Day is a day to acknowledge the tuba player as being a gifted performer who physically comes in all different shapes and sizes. Certainly, if you play the tuba International Tuba Day is your day to sit back, unwind, and enjoy the respect you have earned.

The tuba is one of the biggest of the brass instruments, an enormous, heavy, deep-toned brute. There are varieties of different types of tubas; the most well liked today being the “E flat tuba� and the slightly larger “double B flat tuba.� The double B flat tuba has just about 550 centimeters of metal tubing. The air blown through the mouthpiece must travel a long distance! All tubas have a massive bell, out of which the deep sound appears. There are individuals who feel that the outer finish of the tuba plays a significant role in the tone production. There has never been a standardized test to confirm this though. Musicians will often have tubas in varying finishes to be used in a variety of performances. The types of finishes for tubas are raw brass, silver-plated brass, and lacquered brass.

There is typically only one tuba in a band or orchestra. The tuba is used as the bass of the brass section. Due to its musical adaptability, it can be used to support the strings and woodwind sections. Tubas have become featured in solos more and more frequently.

Because the tuba sounds so deep, it has usually provided the bass notes in musical band. The tuba was developed in the 1830s in Germany and Austria. The term “tuba� stems from the “bass-tuba� invented by Willhelm Wieprecht in Berlin. It soon became a standard addition to military marching bands, from where its long-established association with “oompah� bands originated. It has also been included in many classical music works.

In jazz, the tuba was a significant part of the early history of the music. It was a familiar aspect of the early twentieth century and presented the distinctive bass sound to that music. In modern jazz, it did not manage as well, frequently being replaced by the double bass or bass guitar. In recent years, the tuba has made a bit of a comeback.

Like the euophonium, the tuba is an obscure talent - often downgraded to a simple “oom-pah-pah� type bass line, and hardly ever called upon for solos. On the other hand, the tuba is an extremely capable instrument, less agile than smaller instruments but capable of a range of expression as broad as any other instrument and more than the majority - from soft and lyrical to loud and pompous and even fast and complex. With a full range of four octaves (and more - unequaled by most other instruments), the tuba has a lot to offer that has not yet been fully develop.

The tuba is derived from the ophicleide, a style of keyed bugle that was used in the 1800s. This was before the musical society accepted valved brass instruments. The ophicleide itself is the successor to the serpent. It first increased in recognition in the brass bands of Great Britain where a forerunner to the modern sousaphone called the helicon was used for easier portability. A modification based on the French horn was formed by Richard Wagner for his Ring cycle of operas, and has ever since been called the Wagner tuba. Since that time, the common design has remained the same.