A Tuba Player's Role in the Orchestra

Hello All!
I am here to share with you my experiences in playing the tuba in different ensembles. I am a music education major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and I play the tuba. I am really interested in this topic because there are so many different expectations of tuba players. By expressing what I know through this blog, I am not only helping others learn about what a tuba player does, but I am expanding my own knowledge. I am excited to share with you all some of my experiences and what I know about tuba players roles in ensembles. 

 Today, I will be talking about what a tuba player is expected to do in an orchestral setting. 





You may not expect to find a tuba as a part of an orchestra because most people associate the tuba with the fat kid in the back of the ensemble wearing the sousaphone playing "Jaws". However, a tuba has many more roles than just that. Most people don't expect to see someone playing it other than the most stereotypical people. 




(Right - Me -Mikayla)
(Left -Carol Jantsch)
What a Tuba Does 

An orchestra usually has one tuba, though an additional one may be called for. Usually, the tuba provides support, doubling, or harmony for the lowest instruments such as the third trombone, the string bass, or the bassoon. The tuba can also double the timpani or the cellos at times in an orchestral ensemble.However, this does not mean that a tuba can not stand on its own. For example, when I was in high school, I got to play a few solos on my tuba in orchestra. It was a pretty neat feeling to not just be the background anymore. Most of the time though, I was playing a part that matched with the string basses or the third trombone. I remember once having the same part as my friend Marisa who played the timpani. A tuba player's role in an orchestra is mostly doubling another instrument or supporting the ensemble. 


What Key?

There are different kinds of concert tubas and as we age, more professional horns are played in ensembles. Usually at a high school level, students are  playing a tuba pitched in the key of Bb in their ensembles. When a student gets  to college, tubists level up to either horns pitched in C or F. C and F tubas are considered to be more professional and allow for better sounds and intonation to occur. This makes the orchestra better!



Fun Fact!

 The tuba was the youngest instrument added to the symphony orchestra.



 Famous Orchestral Works

 George Gershwin – An American in Paris
Mahler Symphonies
Gustav Holst - The Planets
Modest Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition or Night On Bald Mountain
Shostakovich - All symphonies, excluding the 14th





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