Posted by Randy Mac Iver on February 17, 2000 at 11:37:59:
Here is something to think about....can anyone give me a good answer because I really would like to know how a Tuba is named by pitch?
I have a long back ground in horticulture and using the latin name for plants sorts things out nicely and puts everyone on the same page so to speak. While reading the post below about the Yamaha EEb got me to thinking, and that could be dangerous. I happen to have these horns lying around so I measured them with a tape and this is what I got approximately:
F Horn 22ft
G Contra Bass Bugle 21ft
Bb Tuba 18ft
C Tuba 16ft
Eb Tuba 13 3/4ft
F Tuba 11 4/5ft
G Baritone Bugle 10ft
Bb Euphonium 8 1/3ft
Here is how I see it.....According to "Raymond Elliot, Fundamentals of Music" the key names of a piano are as follows:
Starting on the left of a piano with 88 keys is the subcontra octave AAA, BBB then the contra octave CC, DD, EE, FF, GG, AA, BB, then the great octave C, D, E, F, G, A, B, then the small octave c, d, e, f, g, a, b,then middle c1 and if this is a standard then this is what the instruments would be called according to pitch maybe...??
FF Contra Bass Horn, GG Contra Bass Bugle, BBb Contra Bass Tuba, C Great Tuba, Eb Great Tuba, F Great Tuba, G Great Baritone Bugle, Bb Great Euphonium. I realize that due to small back bore in a F horn mouthpiece that it is tough to get a FF to sound but I have heard some really good players do it with the right rig. So what do ya think.... Food for thought or not..... latin name BBb Contratubus common name BBb Tuba.......C Greattubus common name C Tuba etc.......I remmeber seeing a BBBb Tuba in Boston while I was in High School so would this be a BBBb Subcontratubus?? or maybe BBBb BAT.....the world may never know.
Randy Mac