TubeNet

bloke wrote:

tuba widest range?

I have yet to encounter a tuba that did not fit through a standard doorway.

Some tubists, on the other hand...

sloan wrote:

bloke wrote:

tuba widest range?

I have yet to encounter a tuba that did not fit through a standard doorway.

Some tubists, on the other hand...

Fortunately for me, I am a tuba player. Not a tubist. Whew!

As a former horn player I will tell you that horn players ( can ) have a similar 4+ octave range.

Really, there are two questions: How high or low a pitch can you make your lips vibrate at, and what are the highest and lowest resonances of a tuba?

There is no particular limit on the pitches of lip vibrations, and, although a resonant instrument helps a lot, it doesn't depend on that. For example, look at free-reed instruments, like the harmonica or accordion -- they don't have any resonators at all.

Tubas, like all brass instruments, have a series of resonances (called partials) approximately corresponding to the harmonic series. The second partial would be your ordinary low open note below the staff. Using a BBb tuba as an example, that would be the first Bb below the staff. The Bb just below middle C is the eighth partial. What we call the first partial (pedal Bb) has no corresponding resonance in the instrument. The reason we feel a slot there is because the harmonics of that note line up with all of the other resonances (partials) of the instrument. The real bottom resonance of a tuba is the "false" tone (typically Eb on a BBb tuba). That note doesn't slot well because not many its harmonics line up with the instrument's resonances. My observation is that tubas seem to have good resonances from about the second partial to the twelfth partial. Above that, the instrument acts like a non-resonant megaphone. Below the second partial, the instrument gives you less and less resonant help, but some players sure can flap their lips slowly.

Regarding low notes, as you go lower and lower, there is less and less fundamental pitch content in your tone. The very lowest "notes" are merely a slow series of sound pulses -- that is not the same thing as a low fundamental note. Tuben is in no danger of losing his $100.

Allen

This thread has been some what hijacked, but could a true sub contrabass tuba hit a true double pedal Bb?

danzfat wrote:This thread has been some what hijacked, but could a true sub contrabass tuba hit a true double pedal Bb?

Yes - except that on that instrument it would not be a double pedal!!!

dgpretzel wrote:s there another instrument with a range (roughly 4 - 5 octaves) that exceeds the tuba? (Pipe organ excluded, of course.)

Five string contrabass: B0-D7 (not including flageolets).