"double" tubas


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Posted by JoeS on February 09, 2003 at 14:43:48:

I can smell another series of "double" tuba inquiries coming up, because of comments about the CSO and old "Pictures" recordings.

Here are the facts about double tubas (using an F tuba as an example):

- A 4-valve tuba is a "double" tuba, because the 4th valve changes the instrument from the key of F to the key of CC.

- A 5-valve tuba is a fancier "double" tuba, because not only does the 4th valve change the key of the instrument from F to CC, but the CC "side" has a "1st valve" to go with it.

- A 6-valve tuba is, for all practical purposes, a "complete double" tuba, because not only does the 4th valve change the key of the instrument from F to CC, there is a 1st valve AND a 2nd valve for the CC "side", AND the F "side's" 2nd and 3rd valves (used in combination) are almost precisely the correct length for the CC "side's" 3rd valve (minor third)...so adding a seventh valve would really just be a redundancy of the F-"side" 2-3 combination.
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Yes, there are/were other tubas built that were "billed" by their manufacturers as "double" tubas...and they were more purposely built to more visually demonstrate the two "sides", but tubas "billed" as "double" tubas functioned no more as "double" tubas than plain old 6-valve F tubas.

Your flames here...


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