The+Tuba-By+Andrew+Mahn

=**The Tuba** =

The tuba is part of the Brass Family. The mouthpiece connects to a length of brass tubing ending in a bell. The first tuba was actually made in Germany by a composer named Richard Wagner. Not only did he make the tuba and compose music but he also greatly increased the amount of woodwinds that play in the orchestra. He divided the brass section into four groups. In his orchestras he had three trumpets and a bass trumpet, three trombones and a bass tuba, four French horns and four tubas that he had made especially for his orchestra.

Tubas are tuned to various notes, especially F, E-flat, C or B-flat. The C and B-flat tubas are known as CC and BB-flat tubas. These two, as the deepest, are the contrabass tubas (contrabass refers to an instrument with a range that extends lower than the usual bass range). The bass tubas are the F and E-flat tubas. One of these is usually the standard tuba used in symphony orchestras. The tenor tuba in B-flat is tuned an octave above the BB-flat tuba. Another tenor tuba is the French C tuba.

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Tubas that have the tubes wrapped so that the player can rest the instrument on their lap as he plays are called concert tubas. Tubas that have the bell end pointing forward are called recording tubas.

To begin with the player held the tuba on his shoulder. With the bell pointed forward the sound projects in the direction that the marchers are going. Later the mouthpiece position was switched to the position it is now in and players can sit down and play it. Tuba players change their mouthpieces to go with the music they are playing. Sometimes a tuba player will have 40 mouthpieces!

The tuba may be considered the youngest instrument normally found in the orchestra. The various strins in percussion are easily centuries old. =media type="youtube" key="TGp9j2QR4o0" height="385" width="480" align="right" =

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