tuba
tuba (to͞oˈbə) [Lat.,=trumpet], valved brass wind musical instrument of wide conical bore. The term tuba is applied rather loosely to any low-pitched brass instrument other than the trombone; such instruments vary in size, and are known by various names. The contrabass tuba, which is most common, plays in the same range as the double bass. The helicon and sousaphone are contrabass tubas used in marching bands; they coil around the player and rest on the left shoulder. The baritone and euphonium are small tubas, mainly band instruments, pitched the same as the trombone. Wagner secured the tuba's place in the orchestra in the mid-19th cent. He called for three differently pitched instruments for his Ring cycle. The Wagner tuba is a narrow-bore tuba with a French-horn mouthpiece. Tubas appeared first in Berlin in the 1820s, soon after the invention of the valve. They were soon accepted into the band and orchestra, displacing the serpent, ophicleide, and other such instruments of poorer tone quality and intonation.
Bibliography
See C. Bevan, The Tuba Family (1978).
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Tuba
a river in Krasnoiarsk Krai, RSFSR; a right tributary of the Enisei. The Tuba is 119 km long and drains an area of 36,900 sq km. Formed by the confluence of the Kazyr and Amyl rivers, it is located in the Minusinsk Basin and branches before emptying into Tuba Inlet of Krasnoiarsk Reservoir. Fed primarily by snow, it has a mean flow rate of 771 cu m per sec. The river freezes from late October to early December, and the ice breaks up in April or early May. The Tuba is used to float timber and is navigable for 99 km from its mouth.
Tuba
the lowest-pitched brass instrument. The tuba consists of cylindrical and conical curved tubes, a bell, a mouthpiece, and valves. The most common tubas are the E-flat bass and the B-flat contrabass.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
tuba
[′tü·bə] (meteorology)
A cloud column or inverted cloud cone, pendant from a cloud base; this supplementary feature occurs mostly with cumulus and cumulonimbus; when it reaches the earth's surface it constitutes the cloudy manifestation of an intense vortex, namely, a tornado or waterspout. Also known as pendant cloud; tornado cloud.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
tuba
1. a valved brass instrument of bass pitch, in which the bell points upwards and the mouthpiece projects at right angles. The tube is of conical bore and the mouthpiece cup-shaped
2. any other bass brass instrument such as the euphonium, helicon, etc.
3. a powerful reed stop on an organ
4. a form of trumpet of ancient Rome
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
TUBA
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