The tuba is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibration, or a buzz, into a large mouthpiece. Standard tubas have about 16 feet of tubing.
There is generally only one tuba in an orchestra and it usually plays harmony. You play the tuba sitting down with the instrument on your lap and the bell facing up.
The harp is a spectacular instrument. It’s part of the string family, but instead of using a bow, the notes are plucked.
Harps consist of a neck, resonator and strings. The harp can be found in early orchestral solo pieces in concerti by many baroque and classical compossers. It is also used regularly in opera and nowadays in Jazz and popular music.
A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys.
Timpani is the Italian word for kettle-drums, which are tuneable drums used in the symphony orchestra.
The tension of the skin membrane can be adjusted by the player, to tune each drum to a particular bass note.
There are usually three kettle drums in the orchestra, tuned to the tonic, dominant and sub-dominant notes for the key of the music being played.
There are 4 main sizes of kettle-drum, but the middle two (26 inch and 29 inch) are the most used.
