Everone knows the ubiquitous use of tuba music to promote an easygoing, comedic atmosphere in films, commercials etc. The sound of a tuba, especially soloed, can’t be taken seriously anymore, can it? I wonder if this is because of the fart-like output of the instrument. Musical farts would sound really similar to a tuba line.
When was the first recorded instance of tubas being used for comedic effect? There must be tons of serious tuba music out there, I guess - I’ve never heard it outside marching music. Who pioneered the funny tuba?
Be careful, here… You don’t want to piss off the Diva!
I think, though, that at least part of the humor is due to the size of the instrument, not just its sound. Wielding such a large horn makes the wielder look smaller, to comic effect.
Eh, anything you can play on a cornet, you can play on a tuba, and the sound is basically the same, aside from being lower-pitched. Taps or Reveille on a tuba will reach to the very ends of the camp, and I’ve even heard “Flight of the Bumblebee” on a tuba.
You should check out some of the stuff the University of Wisconsin Tubas do. I mean, yeah, it’s marching, but it’s incredible. The band itself does a lot of covers of more popular songs (a nice departure from Sousa!) and the tuba parts are incredible. They play with incredible tone, timbre, and overall quality. It doesn’t sound a darn thing like a fart or a fat person waddling. They know how to make music with the tuba!
I’d love to see what Tubadiva has to say about it!
A good friend of mine used to rip out the piccolo part of Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” on the tuba. Ya just had to stand up and applaud because he did it so well.
When I was in the marching band a decade ago (man, now I feel old), one of the sousaphone players was this five foot-nothing girl. I think she chose that instrument purely for the comic effect of the fact that she was significantly smaller than her instrument.
More comedy ensued if we got a good Oklahoma wind going, since she was trying to march with a giant sail.
Tubas couldn’t get comic till sometime after about 1935. Until then, just about every other pop band had one in the rhythm section and they didn’t mean a thing except “bass line.”
