While I sit here waiting for my tuba to arrive and being a complete neophyte to wind instruments I've been trawling the web to get a better understanding of the instrument. I've put everything I've found out so far into this range and finger chart. Of course the result is that I now have a million more questions but here are the 4 I would most like to have answers to:

• The most complete finger chart I found didn't include a finger position for B0. Instead they had written "N/A" which normally means "not applicable" or "not available". Is there something special about B0?

• Most information I found gave the range of the Bb tuba as the three octaves from Bb0 to Bb3 which I coloured in blue. Notes outside this range I coloured black but I realise that the real range of the instrument is dictated by many factors, the most important of which seems to be the ability and experience of the player. I know this is subjective, but how much of this range would you expect a complete novice to achieve after a week, a month, a year, 10 years? Again I know this is a how-long-is-a-piece-of-string type question but maybe the teachers among you can give me a vague ball park estimate, based on your experience.

• At your best what is your range?

• Have I made any important errors on the chart?

Blue skies,

Thomas

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