The tuba is a large brass instrument that plays very low sounds. It has a wide, cone-shaped tube inside. Most tubas have four or five valves, though some have three or six. The tuba first appeared in 1835 in Prussia as the Baß-Tuba. It was made by adding five valves to a large 12-foot bugle tuned to the note F. This design allowed the tuba to play all the notes in the low range with a deep, rich sound. By the 1850s, Adolphe Sax in Paris created E♭ and B♭ band tubas with piston valves as part of his saxhorn family. In the 1870s, Václav František Červený in Austria-Hungary developed larger contrabass tubas in 16′ C and 18′ B♭ with rotary valves.

Like other brass instruments, the tuba makes sound when the player buzzes their lips into the mouthpiece. A person who plays the tuba is called a tubist, tubaist, or simply a tuba player. In British brass and military bands, the player is referred to as a bass player.

History

The tuba was created to provide a low-pitched brass instrument for use in bands and orchestras. Before the 1820s, brass instruments like the natural horn or bugle could only play notes from a single harmonic series. To play more notes, instruments used either a slide (like on a trombone) or tone holes (like on a keyed bugle or serpent). These methods had problems for low-pitched instruments. Natural instruments could only play certain scales in their high range, bass trombones had long, hard-to-use slides, and the serpent’s sound was often criticized.

To replace the serpent, a maker in Paris named Jean Hilaire Asté invented the ophicleide in 1817. The ophicleide had a curved shape like a bassoon and extended the keyed bugle into the low range. It became popular in bands and orchestras, including those led by composer Hector Berlioz. However, neither the ophicleide nor the serpent could play notes much lower than C₂.

In the 1820s, valved ophicleides were made after valves were invented. These instruments had valves instead of keys or tone holes. A band leader named Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht and a maker named Johann Gottfried Moritz created the Baß-Tuba in F in 1835. It used five Berlinerpumpen valves (early versions of modern Périnet valves) to play notes as low as F₁. These valves worked better with the large tubing of the instrument, making the Baß-Tuba the first successful low-pitched brass instrument with valves.

In Paris, Adolphe Sax developed the saxhorn series, which included instruments in E♭ and B♭. These became popular in French military bands and later in Britain and America. Instrument makers like Gustave Besson and Henry Distin helped spread their use. Saxhorns, along with trombones, became the main instruments in modern British brass bands. Today’s E♭ and B♭ tubas are similar to 19th-century saxhorns, with wider tubing and an extra valve.

The helicon first appeared in Russia around 1848 and was patented by a maker in Vienna. Its tubing wraps around the right arm, with the bell resting on the left shoulder. It became popular in Europe and North America for marching and mounted bands.

By the 1850s, a Czech maker named Václav František Červený created brass instruments with rotary valves in Austria-Hungary. He made tubas in the bass and contrabass ranges, including the Kaiserbass C and B♭. These instruments had a wide bore, a feature still used in modern tubas. Červený supplied thousands of instruments to the Russian Army, and composers later wrote music for these tubas.

In the United States, saxhorns became popular in military and brass bands by the mid-1800s. In 1838, Allen Dodworth patented "over-the-shoulder" saxhorns, which allowed soldiers to hear the music better. Demand for these instruments grew during the American Civil War, and many were made in the U.S. or imported from Europe. After the war, brass bands remained popular, leading to the development of drum and bugle corps and music by leaders like Patrick Gilmore and John Philip Sousa.

In 1893, Sousa wanted a better sound from his B♭ tubas and asked J. W. Pepper to build a helicon with an upward-pointing bell. This design, called a "rain catcher," was later made by American companies and eventually became the modern sousaphone.

The Italian term "cimbasso" comes from "corno basso," meaning "bass horn." It was first used in music scores in the 1820s. Early cimbassos were similar to serpents or bass horns, but later referred to the lowest brass instruments, like the ophicleide and early valved instruments. Giuseppe Verdi disliked the sound of these instruments and commissioned a valved contrabass trombone for his operas. By the early 20th century, this instrument was replaced by the tuba in Italian orchestras.

In Britain, the F tuba was first made in 1887 with five non-compensating valves. Harry Barlow, a musician in the Hallé Orchestra, had an F tuba built in 1897. By the 1960s, these "Barlow" tubas were rare and expensive, so British musicians switched to the more common E♭ tubas with four compensating valves.

From the late 1800s until the 1950s, the French tuba was small and built in 8′ C with six piston valves. It was based on the bass saxhorn and became standard in French orchestras. French composers like Maurice Ravel used these tubas, as seen in the "Bydło" solo from his orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition.

In the 1920s, recording tubas were made with bells pointing forward so the sound could reach microphones. Extra players were sometimes hired to play parts originally meant for double basses.

In 1933, Alfred Johnson, a maker in Michigan, built two large C tubas for Leopold Stokowski, who wanted a tuba sound similar to an organ for the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Construction

The tuba is classified as a bass valved bugle. Valved bugles are a group of brass instruments that include the euphonium, flugelhorn, and wider-bored saxhorn family members. These instruments have a wide conical shape inside and use valves to change pitch. The conical shape of bugles is wider than that of other brass instruments like the horn or cornet, which are wider than the cylindrical-bore trumpet and trombone. The wide conical shape helps produce lower, mellow, and warm sounds. The large bell of the tuba and the wide taper of its tubing amplify these low sounds, creating a deep contrabass tone.

Tubas come in four main pitches, determined by the length of their open tubing when no valves are used. The smaller bass tuba is made in 12-foot (12′) F or 13′ E♭, while the larger contrabass tuba is made in 16′ C or 18′ B♭. Contrabass tubas are sometimes called "CC" or "BB♭" tubas based on an old English pitch notation system. Composers rarely use the terms "bass" or "contrabass," leaving the choice of tuba to the player, who often selects based on sound preference rather than the range needed.

The modern F tuba evolved from the 1835 Baß-Tuba in F. It is often used by professional players for solo performances or in orchestras where a C tuba is typically used. In Europe, the F tuba is the standard orchestral tuba, with the larger C or B♭ tuba used only when extra weight is desired. In Vienna, the Wienerkonzerttuba is an F tuba with six rotary valves. In Britain, orchestral tubas from the late 19th to mid-20th century were in F with four or five piston valves and a narrower bore similar to the euphonium.

The E♭ tuba is common in brass and military bands, often with three top-mounted piston valves and a fourth compensating valve. In British orchestras, the E♭ tuba replaced the old F tuba in the 1960s and is still used today, though some players now use the C tuba. In Germany and Scandinavia, the E♭ tuba sometimes has five rotary valves.

The C tuba is widely used in orchestras outside Germany and Russia and in American concert bands. Professional C tubas have five non-compensating valves, and the fifth valve on piston-valve models is usually a rotary valve.

The largest tuba, the contrabass in B♭, is used in German, Austrian, and Russian orchestras, usually with rotary valves. In the U.S., B♭ tubas often have front-action piston valves and are common in schools due to their use in marching bands. The B♭ saxhorn-style tuba, with three top-mounted piston valves and a fourth compensating valve, is standard in British brass bands.

Tubas of the same pitch have the same length of tubing but may differ in width, bell size, and bell taper. Sizes are categorized using a scale in quarters, with 4/4 being full size. Smaller student or intermediate models may be 3/4 or 1/2 size. Larger tubas are labeled 5/4 or 6/4, such as the Conn 36J "Orchestra Grand Bass" or Chicago York tubas. These size labels help compare models within a manufacturer’s catalog but do not have standardized measurements.

The euphonium, pitched in 9′ B♭ (a fourth above the bass tuba in F), is sometimes called a tenor tuba, especially by British composers. This term can also refer to the German Baryton, a similar B♭ instrument with rotary valves. These instruments are used for tenor tuba, ophicleide, and high tuba parts.

A few very large novelty subcontrabass tubas have been built, though only four playable models remain, mostly in museums. In 2019, Harvard University restored "La Prodigieuse," a 36′ B♭ tuba an octave below a B♭ contrabass from the 1890s. Another 36′ B♭ tuba was displayed in 1928, and a 32′ C tuba was featured in a 1956 festival. A 36′ B♭ Riesentuba with four rotary valves was built in 2010 and is in a museum.

Tuba development occurred in many regions during the 19th and 20th centuries, resulting in varied designs with different bores, bell tapers, sizes, and valve types. Tubs are broadly divided into "German style" and "French style."

"German style" tubas, based on the Baß-Tuba and later models by Červený, have the leadpipe on the left side of the bell and valves on the right, operated from the front ("front action"). These usually have rotary valves, except for some American and early 20th-century York tubas with horizontal piston valves.

"French style" tubas, derived from saxhorns, have vertically mounted piston valves operated from the top ("top action") and leadpipes on the right side of the bell. These are common in France, Britain, and the British Commonwealth, especially in brass and military bands.

All tubas are played with the right hand operating the valves. Saxhorn-style tubas with a fourth compensating valve often place the fourth valve on the side, operated by the left hand.

Standard tubas can be played while standing and marching, as is common in British brass and military bands. Straps or harnesses are used to support the instrument’s weight.

In North America, marching bands often use the sousaphone, a tuba wrapped under one arm with the bell resting on the opposite shoulder. The sousaphone evolved from the earlier helicon, still used in some European and global bands.

The contrabass bugle is a marching version of the tuba carried on the shoulder. Introduced in 1959 for drum and bugle corps, early models were in 21′ G with two valves. After a rule change in 2000, they were made in B

Performance

A symphony orchestra usually has one tuba, but sometimes two are needed for large musical pieces, such as Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring (1913) or Havergal Brian's Symphony No. 1 (1927). The tuba plays the lowest notes in the brass section and helps support the deep sounds of string and woodwind instruments.

Concert and military bands often use two to four tubas as their main low-pitched instrument. In British-style brass bands, there are two tuba parts: one for the E♭ tuba and one for the B♭ tuba. Each part is usually played by two musicians, and sometimes the parts are divided between players. Tuba players also use instruments like sousaphones in jazz, marching, and Mexican banda music. A type of tuba called the contrabass bugle is used in drum and bugle corps.

In chamber music, the tuba provides the lowest notes in a brass quintet, a group of five brass instruments. This style became popular in the 1950s with groups like the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and the New York Brass Quintet.

In orchestras and symphonic bands, the tuba is written in the bass clef at concert pitch, meaning it does not change the pitch when reading music. Tuba players must learn different fingerings for each size of tuba. Unlike other bass clef instruments, such as the trombone or cello, the tuba does not use the tenor clef for high notes. Instead, players read music with up to five lines above and below the bass staff.

In British brass bands, most instruments use the treble clef, which was popularized by Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone. The tuba parts are written in treble clef but sound much lower than written. For example, the E♭ tuba sounds an octave and a sixth lower, like a baritone saxophone, while the B♭ tuba sounds two octaves and a second lower, like a contrabass clarinet. This system allows musicians to switch instruments without learning new fingerings.

Some concert band music also uses E♭ and B♭ treble clef for tuba parts to help players from different backgrounds. Professional tuba players are usually familiar with both notations.

The tuba can play a wide range of notes because different sizes have been used in different times and places. Large B♭ tubas used by composers like Wagner could barely reach middle C, while smaller French C tubas can play up to a C one octave above middle C. On most tubas, notes from F1 to C4 (middle C) are easy to play, but modern solo music often includes very low notes (as low as B♭0) and higher notes up to C5.

The highest notes depend on the player's strength and technique. Notes above a certain pitch are harder to play clearly, but the tuba's wide shape allows it to produce very low notes easily compared to other brass instruments.

Some tubas have strong, unusual notes that are not part of the main harmonic series. For example, large B♭ tubas often have a strong note around low E♭1, between the lowest B♭0 and its octave. These notes are called false, factitious, or privileged tones and allow the tuba to play chromatically (using all notes in a scale) from E1 down to B♭0 using only three valves.

Modern music sometimes includes quarter tones and other small intervals. A special valve system for microtonal playing was created in 2009 by Robin Hayward and the company B&S. This system adds valves for quarter tones and eighth tones and can be used on six-valve F or C tubas. Some tuba models from B&S and Rudolf Meinl include this system as an option.

Repertoire

In the late 1800s, the first solo tuba pieces were simple and popular, often written for brass and concert bands. These pieces were usually in the form of polkas and trios and had the same structure as similar pieces for solo cornet and other instruments. Arrangements of Jean-Baptiste Arban’s Variations on the Carnival of Venice (1864), a well-known example of this style, are still performed and recorded today.

In 1945, the American composer George Kleinsinger created a children’s play called Tubby the Tuba, written for solo tuba and orchestra, with narration by lyricist Paul Tripp. Its popularity with young audiences led to many commercial recordings and arrangements for wind band and brass band accompaniment.

The first serious composition for solo tuba was the Sonata for Bass Tuba and Piano (1957) by the German-American composer Paul Hindemith. Since then, a large collection of music for tuba as a solo instrument has grown, including pieces performed without accompaniment and those with ensemble or piano support.

The first tuba concerto was the Concerto in F minor for Bass Tuba and Orchestra, written in 1954 by the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Since that time, many tuba concertos have been composed by musicians such as Edward Gregson, John Williams, Alexander Arutiunian, Eric Ewazen, James Barnes, Joseph Hallman, Martin Ellerby, Philip Sparke, Kalevi Aho, Josef Tal, Bruce Broughton, John Golland, Roger Steptoe, David Carlson, Jennifer Higdon (Tuba Concerto), and Marcus Paus (Tuba Mirum).