Posted by Sean Chisham on April 15, 2003 at 13:17:08:
In Reply to: A question for Rick Denney posted by jlb on April 15, 2003 at 12:30:56:
I believe Arnold Jacobs did some flow rate experiments with CSO players and found that all the brass instruments flowed almost identical rates when playing the same enharmonic notes at the exact same dynamic levels in the same octave. For instance a middle C played at 90dB on a trumpet would flow the same as that middle C at 90dB on a trombone or a tuba.
So the reason tubas flow more air volume is not because they are tubas but because the music played by most tuba players falls in a lower octave than that of a trumpet.