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B♭B♭1 · concert pitchopen · 2nd partial
SongsHappy Birthday to You
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Melody "Good Morning to All", Patty and Mildred Hill, 1893. The lyric copyright was ruled invalid in 2016 (Rupa Marya v. Warner/Chappell) and the song is public domain in the US.

42 notes · C1–F4 · the pedal B♭0 on the ladder · 42 notes · The band tuba: 18 feet of tube in B♭, and a fourth valve that fills the gap above the pedal.

Tap a note, or slide along them to slur from note to note in one breath. On a keyboard the letters on the notes are the ones to press — Q is the low F on the BB♭ (the G on the CC) and they climb a semitone at a time.

TubaFree · printable · plays in your browser

Happy Birthday — Tuba Notes

Happy Birthday to You, written out for the tuba as written notes with the valves for each one and set up above on the BB♭ · 4 valves. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the tuba waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes25, 8 pitches
  • RangeF2–F3
  • Key hereB♭ major
  • Tempo108 bpm · about 16 s
  • LevelEasy

Can a tuba play Happy Birthday?

Yes — every one on this page plays it. The check is made note by note against what each one can actually sound. Where the tune does not fit as the library writes it, another key or octave is tried, and the table says which; where nothing fits, it names the notes that are missing.

  • BB♭ · 4 valves✓ Plays as writtenIn B♭ major, F2–F3 · loaded above
  • BB♭ · 3 valves✓ Plays as writtenIn B♭ major, F2–F3 · load it
  • CC · 4 valves✓ Plays as writtenIn B♭ major, F2–F3 · load it

Happy Birthday: tuba notes

The large line is the written note; the small line under it is the valves to press — 0 is none. A dash holds the note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and a dot beside a note makes it half as long again. Each line is one phrase.

▶ Play it above

Happy Birthday to You — tuba notes (BB♭ · 4 valves) · tonalics.com

The 8 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 8 and you can play the whole tune.

  • F0×8
  • G1-2×3
  • A2×2
  • B♭0×5
  • C1×2
  • D0×2
  • E♭1×2
  • F0×1

What to expect on a tuba

  • It runs from F2 to F3, an octave, using 8 different notes. That leaves 17 semitones unused below and 12 above.
  • 63% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is an octave, F2 to F3, at note 15.
  • It uses 4 valve combinations (open, 1-2, 2 and 1), and 16 of its 25 notes are played open.
  • The lips move across 4 partials of the harmonic series (3, 4, 5, 6).

About the tune

The tune was written by the sisters Patty and Mildred Hill, a kindergarten principal and a pianist in Louisville, Kentucky, and published in 1893 as a classroom greeting called “Good Morning to All”. The birthday words attached themselves to it in the following decades.

Melody "Good Morning to All", Patty and Mildred Hill, 1893. The lyric copyright was ruled invalid in 2016 (Rupa Marya v. Warner/Chappell) and the song is public domain in the US. More about Happy Birthday →

Happy Birthday on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the guzheng, handpan or ocarina, which do not have the notes.

More songs for the tuba

All 36 tuba songs · Christmas songs for tuba · The online tuba on its own

Playing it on a real tuba?

If it sounds wrong, check the instrument before the notes. The tuba tuner listens through your microphone and names what each note is actually sounding.

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