Tuba

As Printed on a Score

Labels the tuba staff, abbreviated Tb., Tba. or written out; German scores print Basstuba or Tuba. In orchestral music it is written in bass clef at sounding pitch, whatever the instrument’s key (F, E-flat, C or B-flat); British brass bands, which write their basses in treble clef, are the exception. In some scores it shares a staff with the third trombone.

Abbreviations: Tb., Tba.

Also spelled: Tube, Tuben, Basstuba, Bass Tuba, Tuba basso

How Composers Use It

The bass of the brass, from about D1 to around F4, with a broad, round tone as useful at pianissimo as at full volume. It took over the ophicleide’s place in the nineteenth century; it doubles the bass trombone or the bass line, sustains the bottom of brass chords, and occasionally sings, as in Bydło from Ravel’s orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition. Write it at concert pitch, give it rests for breath, and save its weight rather than doubling the basses throughout.

Example

Mahler, Symphony No. 5, fifth movement (Rondo-Finale), tuba staff, m. 711: “(Tuba tacet.)”, beside “Pos.II.III.” in the same staff at a forte.