The contrabass flute is one of the rarer members of the
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
family. Typically seen in
flute ensembles, it is sometimes also used in solo and chamber music situations. Its range is similar to the regular concert flute, except it is pitched two
octave
In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
s lower; the lowest performable note is two octaves below
middle C
C or Do is the first note and semitone of the C major scale, the third note of the A minor scale (the relative minor of C major), and the fourth note (G, A, B, C) of the Guidonian hand, commonly pitched around 261.63 Hz. The actual frequen ...
(the lowest C on the
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
). Many contrabass flutes in C are also equipped with a low B (in the same manner as many modern standard-sized flutes are). Contrabass flutes are only available from select flute makers.
Sometimes referred to as the "gentle giant" of the flute family, the contrabass retains the facility for
trill
TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) is an Internet Standard implemented by devices called TRILL switches. TRILL combines techniques from bridging and routing, and is the application of link-state routing to the VLAN-aware cus ...
s, as found elsewhere in the flute world. The contrabass' ease of
arpeggiation
A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves.
An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...
is moderate and thus equivalent to the rest of the flute family. The contrabass flute requires a much greater air volume to produce sound than most other
wind instruments
A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitc ...
, and a broader, slower air stream is needed to produce a solid tone. The upper registers (middle C and above) lack the tonal strength found in its cousins; the strongest register is arguably between G
2 and G
3. The low register (below G
2) has similar qualities to the
bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...
.
Contemporary musicians using the contrabass flute include Paige Dashner Long,
Andy Findon, Laura Hyder,
Madeleine Bischof
Madeleine may refer to:
Common meanings
*Madeleine (name), also Madeline, a feminine given name
*Madeleine (cake), a traditional sweet cake from France
*Mary Magdalene, also called the Madeleine
Arts and entertainment
* ''Madelein'' (1919 fi ...
,
,
Matthias Ziegler,
Stefan KellerNed McGowan Peter Sheridan, Patricia García,
Sérgio Morais,
David Lamont
Colin David Lamont (born 24 August 1953) is an Australian politician and was a member of the second Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, elected to the multi-member single constituency Assembly for the Labor Party in 1992. Lamont ...
, and
Vinny Golia
Vinny Golia (born March 1, 1946) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist specializing in woodwind instruments. He performs in the genres of contemporary music, jazz, free jazz, and free improvisation.
Career
As a composer, Golia fuse ...
. Golia plays all flute sizes and recorded the CD ''Music for Like Instruments: The Flutes with a quartet of three other flutists''. Due to the price and rarity of this instrument, few people have explored this instrument.
The contrabass flute in C is produced by Jean-Yves Roosen (France),
by the Japanese firm Kotato & Fukushima, Eva Kingma, Pearl, Di Zhao, and Christian Jäger from Munich. Jupiter flutes has created a student model for flute ensembles. Kotato & Fukushima is one of the few sellers of double contrabass flutes.
Contrabass flutes have also been made from
PVC pipe by the Dutch flute maker Jelle Hogenhuis. If the wall thickness is kept small, the PVC creates a louder contrabass. PVC can also sustain more rough treatment.
Repertoire
New solo and chamber music is being composed for this instrument, and performer Peter Sheridan has commissioned numerous works from composers worldwide, including Alex Shapiro, Patrick Neher, Vinny Golia, Bruce Lawrence,
Adrienne Albert
Adrienne is the French feminine form of the male name Adrien. Its meaning is literally "from the city Hadria."
* Adrienne Albert (born 1941), composer
* Adrienne Ames (1907–1947), American actress
* Adrienne Armstrong (born 1969), wife of Gr ...
, and Sheridon Stokes. As a
virtuoso
A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'' or , "virtuous", Late Latin ''virtuosus'', Latin ''virtus'', "virtue", "excellence" or "skill") is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as ...
solo instrument, some concertos have been composed for the contrabass flute. Catherine McMichael composed a concerto for low flutes and orchestra in 2006 entitled 'Three Philosophies', in which one of the movements features the contrabass flute. In April 2008, the well-structured concerto "Bantammer's Swing" for contrabass flute and chamber orchestra by Ned McGowan premiered in Carnegie Hall. In 2010, the 'Lyric Concerto' for contrabass flute and strings was commissioned by Sheridan from the late Australian composer Bruce Lawrence. 'Nola' by composer Benjamin Yusapov was commissioned by the international soloist Matthias Ziegler for multiple low flutes and orchestra. Numerous composers have written for the contrabass flute, including Wil Offermans, Robert Dick, Thomas Seelig,
Andrew Downes, Catherine McMichael,
Phill Niblock
Phill Niblock (born October 2, 1933 in Anderson, Indiana) is an American composer, filmmaker, videographer, and director of Experimental Intermedia,Alan Licht, ''Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995-2020'', Blank Form ...
,
Günter Steinke, Juan Cerono, Nicolás Medero Larrosa, Fernando Curiel, Mariano Rocca, Angeles Rojas, Jorge Chikiar, Esteban Sebastiani, Valentin Pelisch, and Ezequiel Menalled.
Furthermore, the contrabass flute is utilized more in the
flute choir A flute ensemble is an instrumental chamber ensemble consisting of members of the flute family.
Flute quartet
In a more traditional sense, a flute quartet consists of a flute and a string trio (i.e., a violin, viola, and cello). This arrangement ...
, with most newer pieces including a part for the instrument. Though the part is either a duplicate or simplification of the bass flute part for many pieces, some of the newest repertoires include an independent contrabass flute part. Composers of such pieces include Peter Senchuk, Toby Caplan-Stonefield, Lawrence Ink, Phyllis Avidan Louke, and Judy Nishimura, among others.
Variations
One variation is a "contrabass flute in G," or a
contra-alto flute
The contra-alto flute is a large member of the flute family, pitched between the bass and the contrabass. It is a transposing instrument either in G (a perfect fourth below the bass and one octave below the alto) or in F (a perfect fifth below th ...
technically, as it is pitched a fourth below the
bass flute
The bass flute is a member of the flute family. It is in the key of C, pitched one octave below the concert flute. Despite its name, its playing range makes it the tenor member of the flute family. Because of the length of its tube (approximate ...
and an octave lower than the
alto flute
The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, the second-highest member below the standard C flute after the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the ...
. Another instrument is the
subcontrabass flute
The subcontrabass flute (also double contra-alto flute) is one of the largest instruments in the flute family, with tubing measuring over long. The instrument is made either in the key of G, pitched a fourth below the contrabass flute in C and t ...
in G, pitched one octave below the contra-alto flute or two octaves below the alto flute in G. Kotato & Fukushima also produce a "subcontrabass flute in C", or
double contrabass flute
The double contrabass flute (also octobass flute; subcontrabass flute) is the largest and lowest pitched metal flute, with of tubing (the hyperbass flute, an octave lower, is made from PVC and wood). It is pitched in the key of C, three octaves ...
pitched a full octave below the contrabass flute.
References
External links
Contrabassflute.com Ned McGowanContrabass flute by Jelle HogenhuisLowflutes.com Peter SheridanHome
{{Authority control
Side-blown flutes
Contrabass instruments