The reed contrabass in C, otherwise known as the it, contrabbasso ad ancia or french: contrabasse à anche, is a type of
woodwind instrument
Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and r ...
. It is reminiscent of an
ophicleide in appearance but, unlike the ophicleide, employs a
double reed (akin to that of an
oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range.
...
or
Bassoon) for the purpose of sound production. It was developed by the Belgian maker
Mahillion in the 1860s based on a slightly earlier design by the Czech maker
Červený.
The instrument is typically of metal construction, with a conical and unusually wide
bore. This width allows each note to be produced by opening only one tone hole, whereas, in other woodwind instruments, several tone holes must be opened to produce most notes (for this reason, all keys but that for the lowest note remain normally closed). This property greatly simplifies the fingering of the instrument, in that no alternative fingerings for individual notes or trill keys are needed, nor exist. The lowest note that the reed contrabass may typically achieve is D1 (DD) - the lowest D on a standard grand
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
.
Although obscure, the instrument may still be procured, on request, from the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
instrument manufacturer Orsi. The reed contrabass is sometimes confused with the
contrabass sarrusophone
The contrabass sarrusophone is the deepest of the family of sarrusophones, and was made in three sizes. The EE version was the only sarrusophone that was ever mass-produced in the United States. It was made by companies such as Gautrot, Couesnon, ...
, to which it bears some superficial resemblance.
External links
A larger article with pictures(contrabass.com)
{{Double reed
Contrabass instruments
Double-reed instruments