Tuba FAQ's

The tuba is the lowest pitched member of the brass instrument family. It serves as the lowest “voice” of the band. You make the tuba produce a sound by blowing air into a mouthpiece, which will cause the player’s lips to vibrate. This vibration is then amplified by the instrument’s entire body, where the metal (often brass or any other alloy) and its overall quality comes into play. That’s how the tuba produces its characteristic and iconic sound. 

Tubas are not small instruments, and they can be quite heavy and delicate. Your best bet would be to use a dedicated tuba hard case, or even better a custom-fitted flight-case  to protect it during the journey. But before you try to book a flight, contact your airlines first on the exact charges that your tuba and its casing will cost you. And when you’re going through the TSA checkpoints, make sure to stay with your instrument so you’ll be able to see if it’s being repackaged properly after inspection. 

A tuba is a brass instrument with the lowest tonal range of all brass instruments. Consider them the bass instruments of their family. But while the general idea is that they have the lowest notes available, they still come in a lot of variations. There are F, Eb, C, and Eb tubas. The baritone, euphonium, and sousaphone are also closely related to the tuba. The name “tuba” itself comes from a Latin word meaning “tube,” which is basically what the instrument is: a hollow tube that produces sound. 

A tuba will often come with three or six valves in its most standard configuration. Three-valve tubas are often the most affordable ones compared to six-valve ones, because there’s less hardware to build and set up. The sousaphone, which is often used in marching bands, is a variant of a three-valve tuba. Four and five-valve tubas are commonly used by more advanced players, with six-valve instruments being quite rare except the F tuba, which has five or six.