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Tuba

What is a Tuba?

The tuba is the largest and lowest pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or “buzzing” the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century. There are many configurations of tubas so they can be in Bb, Eb or in C. Most tubas with the bell pointing forward are called recording tubas because of their popularity in the early days of recorded music, as their sound could more easily be directed at the recording instrument.

An orchestra usually has a single tuba, though occasionally a second tuba is required. It is the principal bass instrument in symphonic and military bands, and many ensembles. It serves as the bass of the brass section of symphony orchestras, brass quintets and choirs, as well as reinforcement for the bass voices of the strings and woodwinds, and even a solo instrument.  In modern jazz and band applications a version of the tuba, the sousaphone had been and still is used in New Orleans style brass bands.  The tuba has also played a large role in ragtime music, and in early big band music where the tuba (usually the bass tuba pitched in E-flat) would provide a walking bass similar to that of a double bass.

Source: “Tuba.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

Teaching Philosophy

Travis Anderson teaches the Tuba at the Fabulous School of Music.  He will take students starting at age 8.  His goal is to guide the growing musician to a level of excellence on their instrument, not only playing the instrument well, but to become well rounded musicians.  All of Travis’s students will receive instruction on the fundamentals of music theory, reading staff notation (Bass clef for the tuba), and history of the instrument. 

His Tuba teaching method involves a rich education in classical solo literature and band or orchestral excerpts.  Some of the books and media sources Travis uses for his brass students are “The Standard Book of Excellence” ,  “Practical Theory Complete: A Self-Instruction Music Theory Course”, “Canadian Brass Master Class” video and websites including http://www.musictheory.net .  The Tuba method books used are, “Arban’s Complete Method for Tuba and “43 Bel Canto Studies for Tuba” (or Bass Trombone) by Marco Bordogni.