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M a r k F a b u l i c h
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T u b a & S o u s a p h o n e ______________________________________________
The Tuba is the largest and lowest-sounding brass instrument, thus it plays the bass parts of band music. Tubas are very important to the success of any music program, since the bass voices must be the most prominent in the sound of the band to have a good, balanced sound. Tubas are used in almost every instrumental ensemble, including symphony orchestras, symphonic bands, brass bands, brass quintets, Dixieland bands, jazz bands, and even a few rock bands.
In order to make the tuba easier for the players in a marching band to carry, the sousaphone was developed in the early 1900s. Named for bandmaster John Philip Sousa, the sousaphone is a tuba coiled in a big circle. The player gets inside the circle and rests the weight of the instrument on his or her shoulder as s/he marches. A metal sousaphone might weigh as much as fifty pounds, but many are now being made of fiberglass and are much lighter.
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