Now we're going to meet a tubist on our symphonic safari adventure.

Let's go.

Hello.

Hello.

I'm Roger, Roger Rhythm and you are Chris.

Yes, I am Chris.

I play the tuba.

That's a nice small estimate, I see, yes.

And it's one of the largest of the brass instrument is that correct?

Yes, it is.

Yeah, it's the largest instrument in the brass family.

Oh, and Chris, tell me.

What led you to play the tuba?

It's kind of a funny story, actually.

When I was when I was in middle school, I started out playing the saxophone and I got tired of carrying my saxophone home on the bus with me every day after school.

And I saw the tuba just always stayed in the classroom, and all I had to carry around was this little mouthpiece.

That's changed a little bit now.

Yes, and now I have to carry the whole thing everywhere I go.

And was music a part of your childhood growing up?

Chris?

Yeah, my parents aren't really musicians, but there was there was a lot of singing that happened in my house.

My mom loves, loves to sing all kinds of different music.

And where did you grow up?

I'm from Pennsylvania.

Oh, yeah, nice state.

Yeah.

What or who was your inspiration in music?

Probably my first, my first band director when I was in high school, he always inspired us to be our best, our best selves and make our most beautiful sounds and and really be a motive in our music making.

And you carry that on to this day.

Yes.

Oh, so is music, We hear from a lot of musicians, that it's such a connection.

Yes, Tell me more about your connection to music.

Yeah.

The thing about, that I really love about playing music is how many different emotions I can feel.

There's always a piece of music I can play, no matter what emotion I'm feeling, whether I'm having a good day, a bad day.

But the sun is shining or it's pouring down rain.

There's always something I can go to to make me feel the way that I'm feeling.

So it has the power to change the emotion.

Yes.

Alright now, Tell me this when it comes to your first song on the tuba.

I'm sure it was a few years ago, but do you remember the first thing you played as a first song?

Yeah.

The first real song I ever played is from an a tune book by an Italian vocalist, Julio Marco Bardonii And they were originally voice pieces that were written for the tuba for us to really just make our most beautiful sound.

Could you play for us?

Of course.

That was so beautiful.

Thank you.

It's like very serene and everything like that.

I noticed you were pressing these keys.

Yes, the keys were going up.

Tell us more about what's going on there.

Yeah.

So these are the valves and and the valves are what changed the pitch on the tuba.

So if I play with no valves and then I press one down, the pitch goes lower.

So with each valve, the pitch will keep going down.

All right.

So the question I have is how low can you go?

Yeah.

That is very low.

Yeah, that's actually lower than you can play on a piano.

Wow.

And how high can it go?

Yeah.

Oh, and and the sound like what happens when you blow in and all of those things are going all over the place?

Yeah.

So the sound is really, really starts with the lips, the lips like you blow air across the lips and they vibrate against the metal of the mouthpiece .

And those vibrations are amplified through all these loops in the tuba.

And then it comes out the bell.

Now the tuba from understanding is that is one of the newest brass instruments in the orchestra.

Is that true?

Yes, it is the newest, the youngest brass instrument.

It was actually the original brass instruments were created before the valve was invented.

So they, And then the tuba was invented after the valve.

It's a sweet little baby.

Yes.

And tell me what is unique about the tuba?

I think the thing that's most unique about the tuba is, you know how low we get to play.

But you also heard that it can play pretty high, too.

It's a very large range, and it's one of the loudest instruments in terms of How loud it can really be to support a full orchestra.

So it's like the backbone of an orchestra.

It really is.

Tell me more.

Yeah.

So I kind of see the orchestra as like a pyramid.

And if the bottom of the pyramid has cracks in it, it'll sort of fall.

That's the tuba.

The tuba is the bottom of the pyramid, and it's sort of just creates this nice foundation for the rest of the orchestra to sit on top of.

Amazing.

Of course, I can see a lot of your passion as you're talking about tuba.

So could you play a piece that shows that passion that you have?

Amazing.

It feels so powerful as you are playing.

Thank you.

Do you like that sound?

Yes, I love and this is a it's such a great, great time to play low.

I love playing low on the tuba.

Oh, and tell me, how much do you practice now?

I usually try to practice about four to five hours a day.

Hmm.

Good.

Yeah, it's a lot time.

What is it like practicing by yourself and practicing with an orchestra?

What's the difference for you when I'm practicing by myself, I'm really just focused on on myself and what I'm playing, and when I'm playing with the orchestra, I'm really trying to open up my ears and really listen to everything that's going on around me.

So we can all as a group create a really a really great product for the for the listener.

And do you have a favorite era of music?

Chris, I really love baroque music.

Actually, Johann Sebastian Bach is my favorite composer.

That's what I just played for you.

The thing that I love about Bach's music is there's always something that I can play that is really how I'm feeling that day.

It's really something really inspiring about his music for me.

Oh, Bach, I love him.

Yeah.

Now, if your instrument was, let's say, an animal, what animal would it be?

I would probably have to say something large, like an elephant.

That makes sense.

A small elephant that can fit on your lap.

Yes.

All right, Chris.

one more, two more questions I have for you.

one has to do with.

When you are playing with an orchestra.

And the music is going and everyone's enjoying themselves.

Your part, could we hear your part of that piece?

Of course, that you're going to play.

It has so much power and it keeps building and building I can see the enthusiasm you have for that, you love it Alright now it's time for rapid fire.

Ok.

Here it goes Woodwind or brass?

Brass.

Ok, Water surfing or channel surfing?

Water surfing.

Yes!

Chicken wings or chicken nuggets?

Chicken wings.

Alright, west coast or east coast?

East coast.

Here's a tricky one, for you: Captain America or Captain Crunch?

Captain Crunch.

Oh I like it!

Thank you so much Chris.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you, we've enjoyed it here on Symphonic Safari Adventure!

And thank you, for joining us.

Good job.