Marching brass 1980s and early 1990s, DEG Music Products commissioned Willson Brass of Switzerland to design a Euphonium bugle, and their design used a medium shank mouthpiece that is not regularly seen in the United States. The contrabass bugle, or "contra", is the bugle equivalent of a marching tuba and its variants (the sousaphone and helicon). This bugle was designed in the 1960s. The original design for a contrabass called for an instrument in CC (the equivalent tubing length of a CC tuba), carried in front of the marcher like the higher voices. This was quickly replaced with a shoulder carried variant
Roman tuba Gaul," The Pennsylvania State University. 2.John Ziolkowski, The Roman Bucina: A Distinct Musical Instrument? Roman tuba The "tuba" of ancient Rome is a military signal trumpet, quite different from the modern tuba. The "tuba" (from Latin "tubus", "tube") was produced around 500 BC. Its shape was straight, in contrast to the military "buccina" or "cornu", which was more like the modern sousaphone in curving around the body. Its origin is thought to be Etruscan, and it is similar to the Greek salpinx. About four feet in length, it was made usually of bronze, and was played with a detachable mouthpiece.