Uni has brass to put double tuba on show

AN unusual two-headed tuba is one of many musical curiosities on show at Edinburgh University today.

The double bell euphonium will be on display with other unusual and exotic instruments in the university's musical instruments museum.

Also on show will be a helicon - a large tuba-style instrument that wraps around the body - and a selection of serpents, which are jet black snake-like brass instruments, which date from the 1850s.

The university is in the final stages of digitising its collection, housed in St Cecilia's Hall and Reid Concert Hall Museum of Musical Instruments.

The Edinburgh collection will be at the centre of Europe's first digital archive of major musical instruments.

Norman Rodger, of the university, said: "We hope the exhibition serves as an introduction to the fascinating world of musical instruments."