Q&A for How to Play a Tuba

Get a tuba stand. They're rather inexpensive, and easily adjustable. My high school has some for shorter players, and they are really nice if used correctly.

Low but rich. It has a warm quality in the tone.

Practice playing down the scales a note at a time. Pay attention to how you drop your jaw for low register.

Play with more force. It feels similar to singing loudly verses softly: just have more air behind it.

Move your lips up and down in the desired vibrato pattern. This will cause patterns in the sound to emulate vibrato.

Sure, as long as you can play it that way. If a part of your tuba is bent so it won't reach, I'd recommend getting it fixed, though.

The tuba takes the most air of all the concert instruments, other than piccolo. The buzzing style is slightly different because of the size of the mouthpiece. On the tuba, breath support is extremely important for hitting low notes.

It is not so much frowned upon, but more of an unpopular and not thought about instrument. When most people hear "instrument", they usually think of a flute, clarinet, or trumpet rather than a tuba.

A standard polka band usually has accordion, bass, trumpet, clarinet, saxophone, and drums, but there are many ways to play polka. The great thing about music is that there aren't many rules, and if you want to, of course, you can use the tuba.