When putting together alto, bass and contrabass flutes, care should be taken to avoid any interference with the operation of the keys. Now I understand. Only some flutes are played in the world. Make sure to adjust the head joint segments so that the instrument is well balanced, otherwise it may tend to twist to one side, making it uncomfortable to play. It was invented in 1850 by luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume. In addition, a repertoire list is available on Chris Potter’s website, compiled by Christine Potter and Carla Rees at http://altoflute.net/html/repertoire.html, An Artist’s Guide to Alto and Bass Flute Irene Maddox ALRY Publications, Alto and Bass Flute Resource Book Chris Potter Falls House Press. All Rights Reserved. The biggest instruments can provide rich, full, low notes, but those often come at the expense of portability. While some alto flutes might be available in solid silver, basses and contrabasses generally are not because of the excess weight. $17.97 $ 17. The contrabass flute is played standing up because of the size of the instrument—when assembled it stands over 6 feet tall. The best-known Tesla coil band is ArcAttack. Your flute will sound this way for you when you play it at home. This helps the player to reach the keys. Erwin Schoonderwaldt via Flickr // CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. In addition, the player may experience fatigue in the right hand when playing for long periods of time. The contrabass flute is one of the rarer members of the flute family. Hit it! Built by Peter Richards and George Gonzalez and completed in 1986, the Wave Organ covers several levels of a seaside jetty in order to work with both high and low tides, although the sound is best at high tide. The footjoint can be adjusted if needed. The pipes are activated by the action of the waves splashing against them. Alignment of Big Flutes. The diameter of this flute is wider than average to make it sound so low. If the contrabass is set up a little too high, the player can take a step back from the instrument and tip the instrument slightly towards them, using the peg as a pivot point. Its sound is pitched between the contrabass flute and bass flute. To complete our range of instruments, we have developed the Pearl Contrabass Flute. Designed by Elegant WordPress Themes | Powered by WordPress, http://home.hetnet.nl/~jelinbama/index.html, http://altoflute.net/html/repertoire.html. It is over 15 feet long, and it is rarely used outside flute ensembles. The group uses two homemade Tesla coils to send arcs up to 12 feet long between them, and they sometimes include humans wearing Faraday suits (to protect them from electricity) in their performances. Contrabass flutes are currently being manufactured by Eva Kingma in The Netherlands and by Kotato in Japan. 7. At least one manufacturer’s instruments (Eva Kingma) are not generally built with a crutch, and another manufacturer (Kotato) uses a rod that attaches to the center of the bass flute supporting much of the weight of the instrument by resting between the player’s legs on the chair as the player sits. Start Playing Subcontrabass flute Today! The upper octaves of many big flutes can be notoriously out of tune and require the player to listen carefully and adjust individual notes to correct the pitch. ♪ Another big flute sounds like a bassoon ♪ ♪ The subcontrabass can carry a tune ♪ ♪ The contrabass flute is the smallest fellow ♪ ♪ It sounds just like a cello ♪ - [Narrator] Wow, thanks! Since the embouchure hole and tube diameter are larger than those of the concert flute, and the instrument is almost 8 inches longer, a slightly wider aperture in the embouchure is necessary to provide a sufficient volume of air to play the alto flute. When playing an alto flute with a straight head, the flute is balanced above the first joint of the left index finger, the chin, and the right thumb. Contrabass Flute Player Mug Musician Funny Gift Idea Gag Coffee Tea Cup 15 oz. Flutes are usually thought of as small, higher-pitched instruments, but there are other types of flutes that are larger and produce lower notes. The subcontrabass flute plays a fourth below the contrabass flute, and the pipe is over 15 feet long. Alto flutes are pitched in the key of G, a perfect fourth below the concert flute. Players with smaller hands might feel comfortable turning the foot joint slightly toward themselves to lessen the reach to the D# key, rather than lining up the rod of the foot joint with the center of the D key. - [Paige] In … 97. Basses and contras from some manufacturers, as well as altos, are available with a solid silver head or a solid silver lip plate on the head joint. What a cool sound that must make! The instruments’ large size renders the keys on the center section of these flutes too large and too far apart for the hands of a normal size flutist to depress all of them directly. The alto flute is notated a fourth above its actual sound. Hear what the subcontrabass flute sounds like in this video. As flute choirs get more and more popular, more flutists are purchasing alto, bass and contrabass flutes than ever before, both to play in flute choirs, as well as to explore the expanding repertoire written for the larger flutes. Within instruments from the same manufacturer, instruments made with any solid silver will be higher priced with those that are only silver-plated. Even though the instrument is played in front of the body rather than off to the side like other members of the flute family, the flute is balanced similarly to other flutes with most of the support coming from above the first joint of the left index finger, the chin on the embouchure plate, and the right thumb. While the balance points on an alto flute are quite similar to those on a concert flute, those on bass and contrabass flutes are quite different. The contrabass flute was designed to perform as a solo instrument as well as a bass instrument in choirs. The Subcontrabass Flute The subcontrabass flute can be made in the key of G or C. The subcontrabass Flute in G, ranges ½ octave below the contrabass flute, and two and ½ octaves below the concert flute. Then play octaves to determine proper air speed and angle of the air stream–F1 and F2, G1 and G2, and A1 and A2 are good notes to start with. The alto flute is a transposing instrument, meaning that music written for it is in a different pitch than it's actual sound. On the contrabass flute, the peg is attached to the foot joint. The instrument can be made in the key of G, pitched a fourth below the contrabass flute in C and two octaves below the alto flute in G; which is sometimes also called double contra-alto flute, or in C, which will sound three octaves lower than the C flute. The Zadar Sea Organ in Croatia is a similar project. It may be made out of PVC or metal. The subcontrabass flute is one of the largest instruments in the flute family, measuring over 15 ft (4.6 m) long. When buying an alto, bass or contrabass flute, the price can vary depending on many factors, including whether the instrument is silver plated or solid silver. Most alto flutes can be purchased with a straight head joint, a curved head joint or both. The subcontrabass flute is one of the largest instruments in the flute family, measuring over 15 feet (4.6 m) long. The Wave Organ, part of the Exploratorium in San Francisco, is a seaside sculpture that includes 25 organ pipes. Enjoy this wonderful video of Italian jazz musician Attilio Berni, a graduate of the Santa Cecilia Conservatory, performing ‘Cute’ on the biggest playable saxophone in the world and the smallest: the subcontrabass saxophone and the soprillo.The ensemble is the Moonlight Big Band. Free Shipping on most orders over $250. Most bass flute crutches consists of a T-shaped piece of metal with adjustable length that fits in the crook of the left hand on the soft tissue between the thumb and the first finger. We’ve been alerted to the excellence of the subcontrabass flute, an insanely huge and low member of the flute family, and we want one to play with please. © Copyright 2004 Phyllis Avidan Louke. When a hydraulophone is not being played, it serves as a water fountain. What a cool sound that must make! Also, the spatula of the D# key of many bass flutes is shaped such that it extends past the joint connecting the foot joint with the center section of the instrument. Like the contrabass, the footjoint can be adjusted. The sound production technique is unique as it requires large quantities of air to be blown but with a very slight pushing pressure. It is sometimes called the "gentle giant" of the flute family because of its gentle sound. All measurements are for instruments with a c-foot. This is really a lot of flute. What a cool sound that must make! 99. On a search for the wonderful world of Sub-Contrabass, we found this! So Paige, what do you like about these giant flutes? Cahill’s first telharmonium required 12 railroad cars for transport. When setting up the head joint of the contrabass flute with its three sections that are shaped like the number 4, the straight head joint section should be perpendicular to the plane formed by the keys on the center section of the flute. To achieve this the diameter of the flute is wider than average. Although the basic fingerings and written range are the same in all members of the flute family, the larger diameter of the tubing in alto, bass and contrabass flutes require the player to make adjustments in air management, hand position and alignment of the instrument that differ from those used when playing concert flute. The alto, bass and contrabass being successively larger than the concert flute, both in diameter and in length, require successively larger volumes of air to play along with proper support of the air column to achieve a pleasing and projecting tone. Alto flutes weigh more than concert flutes, and may cause a player to tire more quickly because of the extra energy required to support the weight of the instrument. Since then, the 14 Berlin flautists, who cover the entire sound spectrum from the piccolo flute to the concert flute, and from the alto flute to the double bass and subcontrabass flutes, enthral audiences with their gentle, nuanced and brilliant flute sound. Double Contrabass Flute (In C) The Subcontrabass Flute The subcontrabass flute can be made in the key of G or C. The subcontrabass Flute in G, ranges ½ octave below the contrabass flute, and two and ½ octaves below the concert flute. The Contrabass Flute is the same pitch as the Contrabassoon. All measurements are for instruments with a b-foot. Tube length is about 5 meters. If the airspeed is too fast when playing a high note on one of the larger flutes, it may result in a harmonic instead of the desired note. Once the curve of the head is adjusted, the embouchure hole should be set up parallel to the keys of the flute, or turned in slightly toward the player. The term "zeusaphone" is trademarked by a company that sells and rents singing Tesla coils. Bass flutes fall into three distinct price ranges: $2300-$4500 (Jupiter, Emerson, Jupiter DiMedici, and Gemeinhardt); $6800-$8000 (Altus, Yamaha, and Eva Kingma); and $10,000+ (Kotato and Sankyo). Both names are puns made by applying mythological gods' names to earlier instruments (sousaphone and theremin, respectively). If purchased with both heads, a larger case that will accommodate both heads will be provided with the flute. While the crutch is responsible for much of the balance of the bass flute, the length of the instrument puts most of the weight of the flute on the thumb of the right hand. $19.99 $ 19. The double contrabass flute (sometimes also called the octobass flute or subcontrabass flute) is the largest and lowest pitched metal flute in the world (the hyperbass flute has an even lower range, though it is made out of PVC pipes and wood). THE SOUND. The Great Stalacpipe Organ is billed as the world's largest musical instrument, located deep underground in Luray Caverns in Virginia. Contrabass flutes sound two octaves lower than the concert flute and are approximately twice as long with a larger diameter than the bass flute, requiring even more air and a slightly wider aperture. At present, the subcontrabass flute is an instrument that must be custom ordered. The Subcontrabass / Double Contrabass / Hyperbass Flute Bass flutes are fairly common, and then there’s the less common contrabass flute — the so-called “gentle giant” of the flute world, which is pitched two octaves lower than a regular concert flute. Shown here is the FUNtain, a hydraulophone that is part of the Teluscape at the Ontario Science Center. Some bass flutes are available with a b-foot, and some higher end manufacturers have other options such as open holes or customized fit. Although the higher notes have a beautiful and ethereal quality in alto, bass and contrabass flutes, finding the proper air speed and angle for the air stream to play these notes accurately requires finesse, as they can be overblown easily—the larger the flute, the easier it is to over blow the higher notes. Some players with smaller hands and shorter arms might find it difficult to reach the foot joint keys and would prefer to play an alto flute with a curved head. On the left is a double contrabass flute; both instruments are played by flutist Maria Ramey. There is no standardized design of alto, bass and contrabass flutes among manufacturers. The contrabass flute is designed a full two octaves lower than a soprano C-flute, which has gentle and warm tone. Subcontrabass Flute (In G) Typical Range: G1 to G4 Transposition: The pitches it reads on the page are sounded two octaves plus a perfect fourth lower. At present, the subcontrabass flute is an instrument that must be custom ordered. The subcontrabass flute plays a … I look at the low flutes and see how many different pages there are for all the different large flute subspecies (contra-alto, contrabass, sub-contrabass, hyperbass flutes, etc.) To generate enough power to play music, the instrument included a huge electric motor, 12 dynamos, 145 tone wheels to recreate various notes and instruments, and a two-person keyboard to control it. Foot joint keys and the G# key are generally oversized and elongated so that the player can reach them. Once the player finds a good set up position, the head joint sections can be marked with a spot or line of ink from a permanent marker, or a spot of nail polish on adjoining sections to aid in more quickly finding the optimum position when putting the instrument together. Buying an Alto, Bass or Contrabass Flute. The alto flute is about 86cm long. 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