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,
Brass instrument are one of the major classical instrument families and are played across a range of musical ensembles. Orchestras include a varying number of brass instruments depending on music style and era, typically: Concert bands generally have a larger brass section than an orchestra, typically: British brass bands are made up entirely of brass, mostly conical bore instruments. Typical membership is: Quintets are common small brass ensembles; a quintet typically contains: Big bands and other jazz bands commonly contain cylindrical bore brass instruments. Mexican bandas have: Single brass instruments are also often used to accompany other instruments or ensembles such as