Posted by Gus Pratt on October 14, 2002 at 14:05:05:
In Reply to: Novice question posted by Mark on October 14, 2002 at 13:24:05:
All tubas regardless of the key are nontransposing. The note you read is the note you hear. Instead on tubas you change the fingering you play. A concert C on a CC tuba is open, on BBb is 1 and 3 (or 4), on Eb 1 and 2. For dixieland gigs I'd suggest a BBb. They are more readily available, the used tubas are cheaper, and in the future if you decide you need a sousaphone (which are only made in BBb, with a few exceptions) for outdoor gigs you won't have to change fingerings.
Note: Bass is actually a transposing instrument. It transposes a full octave. When you see a bottom line of the staff G, for tuba it will be written below the third ledger line. So when reading tuba music you need to take that into consideration.