Instruments
Tuba
The tuba is the bass instrument of the brass family and of the brass and the marching band. It consists of a wide tube bent into elliptical coils and flared at the end into a bell. There are valves (usually three) to permit the playing of full chromatic scales; other valves lower or raise the entire range of the instrument. Invented in Germany in the 1830s, its nearest ancestors were the much less elegant ophicleide and serpent. The tuba found an early champion in the composer Richard Wagner, who wrote for the instrument as early as 1840 and called for a tuba in the score of his 1843 opera The Flying Dutchman. The tuba became entrenched in bands across Europe and America, and the brass-band derivation of early jazz ensured it a presence in New Orleans-style jazz as well. Although jazz bands used other bass instruments as well, the tuba was used on most recordings made in the early 1920s because its gentle, non-percussive attack, unlike those of a piano or bass drum, would not cause tracking or distortion problems. As a result, the tuba became permanently identified with the "Dixieland" sound, and the music's abundant revivalists invariably include a tuba in performing groups.