Cliff Bevan, (multi-instrumentalist, composer and music researcher) plays the Giant Tuba at the Horniman Museum in London.
Tina Southwell, a longtime employee of Boosey & Hawkes, acquired the Giant Tuba on its return to B&H just before the Edgware Factory closed in Aug 2001.
Currently, the Giant Tuba is on loan to the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill, South London, along with a collection of instruments from Boosey & Hawkes - part of an archive of its own instruments the company maintained while it was still manufacturing.
The Horniman's deputy keeper of instruments, Dr. Bradley Strauchen, has curated the collection, acquired by the museum with help from the the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Art Fund. |
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| Giant Tuba |
The Giant Tuba, was made in the early 20th century by Besson, London. The Giant Tuba has over 34 feet of tubing, weighs 112 pounds, and is nearly 8 feet tall.
The lowest playable note on this open valve instrument is the Bb three octaves below middle C, or the second lowest note on a modern piano (29.14 Hz).
This giant tuba was a London music business landmark for much of the 20th century. It was originally fitted to the wall of the Besson & Co. factory in 198 Euston Road as a shop sign.
The Tuba plays like an open valved instrument as the valves do not move. It was an outside display piece for the main Boosey & Hawkes Shop in the Edgware Road until 1948 when it moved to the B&H Factory in Edgware, North London.
It sat above the main entrance to B&H until the late 1990's when it was loaned to Normans (a chain of music shops) who stripped and renovated it.
The Giant Tuba at Edgware factory |
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