The Whole Horn
A transposing instrument is one whose written notes do not match the concert pitch that sounds. The tuba is not one of them. Read a written C and the audience hears concert C — the two are the same thing.
Instruments that read at concert pitch are sometimes called “C instruments,” and they are the ones a pianist can read alongside without converting anything.
For a concert-pitch instrument the table is the least interesting one in the band, and that is exactly the point — every row is the same note twice:
| Concert pitch (sounds) | Tuba reads |
|---|---|
| Concert B♭ | B♭ |
| Concert E♭ | E♭ |
| Concert F | F |
| Concert C | C |
| Concert A♭ | A♭ |
| Concert G | G |
| Concert D | D |
This is why the tuba is the instrument a director will ask to sound a tuning note or demonstrate a passage: what it plays is what everyone else has to match, with nothing to convert.
The tuba reads at concert pitch in bass clef no matter which size the player owns. A BB♭ tuba, a CC, an E♭ and an F are four different instruments with four different fingering patterns, and the player learns those fingerings — the written note stays concert pitch in every case. As with the trombone, British brass-band parts are the exception and are written transposed in treble clef.
The standard written range of the tuba is D1 to F4, written and sounding the same. That is the range parts are scored in and the range these pages and the app both use.
The tuba reads at concert pitch, which makes it the reference the rest of the band tunes and transposes against. The fastest way to build fluency is to practise the twelve major scales in the instrument’s own written pitch, hearing each note as it truly sounds. See the full tuba fingering chart — every note with its written and concert pitch — or read the method behind mastering all twelve keys.
The tuba is in C. It is a concert-pitch instrument, so a written C sounds concert C.
No. Written pitch and sounding pitch are the same, so no transposition is needed to play from a concert-pitch part.
A written B♭ — the same note the director names, because the tuba reads at concert pitch.
Yes, as far as pitch goes: piano music is written at concert pitch and so is the tuba part. Only the range and the clef need checking.
The standard range is D1 to F4, written and sounding the same.
The Whole Horn plays all twelve major scales in the tuba’s own pitch, with the fingering for every note.
Get the app → The full transposition chart