Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: tuba keys??


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Posted by Chuck(G) on December 21, 2002 at 01:01:27:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: tuba keys?? posted by Mark Wiseman on December 20, 2002 at 19:58:10:

Well, there's a basic problem with the way we name our lowest brasswinds.

A trumpet can be in Bb or C or Eb or D or F; the notes refer to the basic open pitch of the instrument ( and also because it's normally notated as a transposing instrument). Likewise you can have a piccolo trumpet in Bb or C No uppercase, letter doubling or anything else, because the note given corresponds only to the open pitch, not the octave it falls in (and also to the transposition). Note that no one talks about a piccolo trumpet as being a Bb4 trumpet.

Likewise, a horn's in Eb, F or Bb (and possibly other keys). Again, referring not to the actual octave of the open pitch, just to what it is. For old natural horns, there was some duplication of pitches in the high members and the low members, so you could have a horn in Bb basso. Still, clear enough to avoid any confusion between the high and low members of the family.

But tubas, for some inexplicable reason try to combine the notation for the open pitch with the octave in which it occurs. Why not simply refer to a Bb contra-tuba, or an Eb bass tuba? The big monster tuba that Gerard Hoffnung played would then be a C sub-contra tuba. The little French beast would be a C bass tuba and the euphonium would be a Bb bass.

Simple and unconfusing, I think.



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