......
Upright tubas (Jupiter from Taiwan, St. Petersburg from Russia, Besson
from England).
• Upright tuba Your
basic tuba which sits in the player's lap with the bell pointing up (or
to the side, if he or
she is
lazy!) May have 3 to 6 valves. Pitched in the basic
four tuba keys: B flat, C, E flat, or F (I saw a
Mirafone
ad 20 years ago for aG tuba!) Valves may be pistons or rotaries.
White Fiberglass Sousaphone
(some metal ones are at the bottom of the page)
• Bell-front sousaphone
May
be made of metal or plastic (fiberglass; white or in colors). May
have 3 or 4
valves.
Pitched in B flat, C, or E flat. Valves are usually pistons.
Recording Bass
• Recording bass (like
an upright tuba with the bell facing forward) It gets its name from
being a
substitute
for a string bass, hence, it should never be called a recording
tuba (as some tuba players get
ticked
off by having their instruments referred to as basses, as many tuba
parts are marked in band
music).
Rumor has it that the idea came from Enrico Caruso. Tubas had been
replacements for string
basses
for years but the direction of the bell in the recording studio had been
a problem. It was remedied
by aiming
the sound of the tuba at the microphone. Tubas continued being used
as string bass substitutes
until
the invention of the electronic microphone in 1929. The instrument
was popular in old time radio (1928-
1950s).
May be pitched in B flat, C, E flat, or F, with 4 or 5 valves. Valves
may be either pistons or
rotaries.
• "Marching" tuba (an
upright tuba with a mouthpipe coming out the side so that the tuba is placed
on the
player's
shoulder) Personally, I think these are hokey.
I've marched with an upright tuba (in normal upright
position)
with superior results! Usually a B flat tuba with 3 or 4 piston valves.
The Three Marx Brothers try to figure how a helicon works.
• Helicon (forerunner
to the sousaphone; like a raincatcher sousaphone without a bend in the
shoulder) I saw
a recent
entry on eBay about a sousaphone manufactured in 1869. This
piqued my curiosity. I discovered the
instrument
to be a helicon. I thought about e-mailing the seller because some
younger and uninformed tubists
might
think they have uncovered the missing link! Realizing the one selling
the tuba is innocently trying to make
a buck
I don't think he or she really cares what is being sold. Pitched
in any of the four basic tuba keys, 3 or 4
rotary
or piston valves.
Actor portraying John Philip Sousa and an original sousaphone.
• Raincatcher sousaphone
[upright bell] This is the original sousaphone as originally
suggested
by John
Philip Sousa. The recording bell came out later with the advent of
making records. According to
Sousa (in his
autobiography, Marching Along), the tuba bells pointing upward
had the same effect as
"the icing on
a chocolate cake." Again, do not confuse this with a helicon which
came out about 25 years before
the sousaphone.
(The sousaphone originated in the 1890s.) Pitched in B flat or E flat with
3 or 4 pistons.
The powerful tuba section of the Mount
Carmel High School Sun Devil Band from San Diego "getting together"
in the parking lot of the Santa Anita Race Track just minutes prior to
stepping off at the Arcadia Band Review in November 1998. (No, this
isn't trick photography; they marched with that many tuba players on the
street!)
Links to tuba manufacturers.
Last updated August 11, 2001