Tuba after American bandmaster John Philip Sousa, resembles a hélicon with the bell pointed up (in the original models as the J. W. Pepper prototype and Sousa's concert instruments) and then curved to point forward (as developed by Conn and others). Some ancestors of the tuba, such as the military "bombardon", had unusual valve and bore arrangements compared to modern tubas. During the American Civil War, most brass bands used a branch of the brass family known as "saxhorns", which, by today's standards, have a narrower bore taper than tuba—the same as true cornets and baritones, but distinct from trumpets, euphoniums,
Pitch of brass instruments valve that puts it into E, and when combined, these put the instrument into the key of B. The B contrabass is often fitted with a valve in F and has been fitted with both a valve in F and G, so that it matches its bass trombone counterpart, but is pitched an octave lower. See Types of trombones The bass tuba is commonly available in F and E, while contrabass tubas are available in C and B. Pitch of brass instruments The pitch of a brass instrument is determined by its vibratory length, which determines the fundamental frequency of