A presentation for an undergraduate music methods course at Lubbock Christian University.

1. Tubas and Euphoniums
By Adam Schrader

2. Overview
 In the Brass Family
 Made from brass- either unfinished, lacquered
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or electro-plated with nickel, gold or silver.
Unfinished brass will eventually tarnish
Sound Produced by Vibrating Lips into
Mouthpiece
Conical
Found in various pitches, most commonly in F, EFlat, C, or B-Flat
Tubas with bell pointing forward and not upward
are often called recording tubas
Either Piston or Rotary Valves

3. Types of Tubas
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Sousaphone- High School Marching Bands
Helicon
Contrabass Tuba
Euphonium - sometimes referred to as tenor tuba and
is pitched in B-Flat
Tenor Tuba- often used more for the B-Flat rotaryvalved tubas pitched in the same octave as
euphoniums
Small French Tuba in C- tenor tuba pitched in C, with
6 valves to make low notes in orchestral music
possible
F and C tubas since WWII
Wagner Tuba
Roman Tuba

4. Ensemble Types
 Orchestra- usually has a single tuba
 Military Bands- principal bass instrument in
symphonic and military bands, which have more
 Marching Bands
 Brass Quintets
 Brass Choirs

5. Famous Tuba Players
Harvey Phillips
Arnold Jacobs
Tommy Johnson

6. Famous Works Featuring Tubas
 Vaughan Williams- Concerto for Bass Tuba
and Orchestra
 Modest Mussorgsky (orch. Ravel)- Pictures at
an Exhibition - Bydlo, uses the French Tuba
 Gustav Holst- The Planets
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz0b4STz1lo
 Igor Stravinsky- The Rite of Spring
 Edgard Varèse- Déserts
 Richard Wagner- Die Meistersinger von
Nürnberg, Ride of the Valkyries

7. History and Forerunners
 Patented by Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht and
Johann Gottfried Moritz on September 12, 1835
 First tenor tuba by Carl Wilhelm Mortiz, son of
Johann, 3 years later
 The Serpent- a bass brass instrument that was
wavy in shape to make the tone holes accessible
to the player
 The Ophicleide-had a cup-shaped brass
instrument mouthpiece but had keys and holes
similar to a modern saxophone

8. History (Cont.)
 Adolphe Sax- developed a series of brass
instruments known as saxhorns. The instruments
developed by Sax were generally pitched in EFlatand B-Flat
 American Civil War- Most brass bands used
Saxhorns, which had narrower bore taper than
tubas today
 Cerveny- Contrabass Tuba were pitched in F and
C
 The Bombardon- had unusual valve and bore
arrangements compared to modern tubas

9. The End