Posted by Rick Denney on July 05, 2001 at 10:41:59:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: t.u.b.a. forever posted by Old Man on July 05, 2001 at 06:21:52:
Oh, don't let's get too hung up on terminology here. I know it's tempting and I easily fall into the trap myself. But everyone knows what Tracy means when she says "baritone", which is, of course, the essence of Joe S.'s support for that term. I suspect even our British colleagues were not confused.
But that is not the question Tracy is asking.
The reason that euphoniums and tubas are so often grouped together is that they are both tubas. It is really as simple as that.
Tubas are not as rigidly defined as many other orchestral instruments. Tubas range in size from tenor models pitched in Bb or C to bass models pitched in F or Eb to contrabass models pitched in Bb or C (an octave below the tenor models). The tenor models are often given a special name, depending on the traditions of the locale, such as "baritone" or "euphonium." There may be some differences in how they are designed, which also vary by the traditions of the locale (and thus those differences get attached to the local name), but those differences are not greater than the differences in larger tubas.
We are fortunate that nobody successfully patented a 6/4 tuba under a different name than a 4/4 tuba, or that the rotary tuba was not considered a different instrument early on than those with Berliner pumpen. Or, more to the point, that a trend-setting composer, say Wagner, didn't compose separate parts for rotary tubas and piston tubas, or based on overall size. Had the nomenclature been established making a clear distinction between instruments we now call tubas, then surely we'd have calls for an organization for BAT players and another for 3/4 tubas. The tension between BBb and CC players is bad enough, but at least the combatants all agree that they are all still tubas.
I wonder if the trombonists faced the same thing a hundred years ago when a typical orchestral trombone section contained an alto trombone (in Eb?), a tenor trombone in Bb, and a bass trombone in G or F or whatever it was. Even the modern bass trombone, albeit pitched the same as a tenor trombone, is still a much different instrument. But it's still a trombone, because of its shape, style of play, and sound.
And we should not forget that the first official tuba was much more like a euphonium in terms of bore and taper than a modern tuba.
And what of sousaphones? Any well-educated Martian would think a sousaphone a completely different instrument than a tuba, until he heard them played.
So, tuba and euphonium players choose to be in the same organization because their instruments are part of the same family of instruments, and much of the information relevant to players of tubas and baritones is common between them.
Rick "owner of six tubas including two euphoniums" Denney