Posted by Joseph on January 16, 2002 at 08:10:05:
In Reply to: Size of tuba posted by IG on January 14, 2002 at 11:09:57:
I'm not familiar enough with the mathmatical equations involved to know that this makes a huge difference. However, I do know that when a CC tuba, for example, gets bigger/thicker that it also needs to get shorter in order to still remain in the key of CC. Sound does not travel in a straight line but rather bounces off the sides. A 6/4 horn is thicker but will actually be a bit shorter than a same pitch 4/4 horn. Also, bell rim width can affect the acoustical length in the same way. Keeping the horn the same length and adding a wider rim will make an instrument acoustically longer.
Since all we are really doing when we play tuba is vibrating a collumn of air it wouldn't surprise me to discover that the volume(size of the collumn) inside a tuba is essentially the same between a 3/4 and a 6/4.
anyone care to rip these ideas apart?
joseph