Tuba

The tuba (UK /ˈtjuːbə/ or US /ˈtuːbə/;Italian pronunciation: [ˈtuːba]) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid 19th-century, making it one of the newer instruments in the modern orchestra and concert band. The tuba largely replaced the ophicleide.Tuba is Latin for 'trumpet'.

A person who plays the tuba is known as a tubaist or tubist. In the United Kingdom a person who plays the tuba in an orchestra is known simply as a tuba player; in a brass band or military band they are known as a bass player.

History

Prussian Patent No. 19 was granted to Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht and Johann Gottfried Moritz (1777–1840) on September 12, 1835 for a "basstuba" in F1. The original Wieprecht and Moritz instrument used five valves of the Berlinerpumpen type that were the forerunners of the modern piston valve. The first tenor tuba was invented in 1838 by Carl Wilhelm Moritz (1810–1855), son of Johann Gottfried Moritz.

Ṭūbā

Ṭūbā (Arabic: طُوبَىٰ‎ ṭūbā, lit. "blessedness") is a tree that Muslims believe grows in Jannah, or Islamic heaven.

The tree is only mentioned once in the Koran but its attributes can be ascertained from various hadiths and other writings. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 4:474 notes that the tree spreads over a distance that can be covered in a hundred years and that the gowns of righteous dwellers of heaven are made from the fiber of its blossoms. A sage in Sohrevardi's The Red Intellect says that "any fruit you see in the world will be on that tree". The tree is sometimes described as being inverted and having its roots in the air. Mehmed Yazıcıoğlu (Yazıcızade, Yaziji-Oglu) wrote of the tree in "The Creation of Paradise" in his 1449 Book of Muhammad (Muhammediye):

That a tree which hangeth downward, high aloft its roots are there: Thus its radiance all the Heavens lighteth up from end to end, Flooding every tent and palace, every lane and every square. Such a tree the Tuba, that the Gracious One hath in its sap Hidden whatsoe'er there be of gifts and presents good and fair; Forth therefrom crowns, thrones, and jewels, yea, and steeds and coursers come, Golden leaves and clearest crystals, wines most pure beyond compare. For his sake there into being hath he called the Tuba-Tree, That from Ebu-Qasim's hand might every one receive his share.

Tuba (chief)

Tuba (also Tuvi or Toova; c. 1810–1887) was a Hopi leader in the late 19th century. Tuba was the headman of the small Hopi village of Moencopi, roughly fifty miles west of the main villages on the Hopi mesas. However, he apparently was an important person in the village of Oraibi as well. Eventually, Tuba joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and later received his endowment in the St. George Temple. Tuba City, Arizona, was named in his honor.

Early life

Tuba was born in Oraibi, Arizona, as a member of the Short Corn Clan, or possibly the Pumpkin Clan. Hopi tradition does not record his birth name, but he told a Mormon missionary that said his Hopi name was "Woo Pah."

Tuba related to this same missionary that during the Mexican–American War (c. 1846), the Mexicans were in full retreat from the environs of the Hopi mesas. However, as they left they caused considerable trouble for the Hopis, and in fact one tried to steal a girl from Oraibi to take south with him. Apparently, Tuba's brother challenged the Mexican interloper to a kind of duel, and the pair fought with bowie knives in the village plaza. Tuba's brother was killed, but Tuba stepped in and killed the Mexican with a spear. This story seems of doubtful historical accuracy for several reasons. Among them, the story recounts that Tuba was eighteen years old when the duel occurred although he would have been in his mid-thirties at the time of the Mexican–American War.