Contrabass flute
Encyclopedia
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
family. It is used mostly in flute ensembles
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
. Its range is similar to that of the regular concert flute, except that it is pitched two octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
s lower; the lowest performable note is two octaves below middle C
Middle C
C or Do is the first note of the fixed-Do solfège scale. Its enharmonic is B.-Middle C:Middle C is designated C4 in scientific pitch notation because of the note's position as the fourth C key on a standard 88-key piano keyboard...
(the lowest C on the cello). 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 (music)
The trill is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill....
s and flautando, as found elsewhere in the flute world. Ease of arpeggiation is moderate and thus equivalent to the rest of the flute family. The upper registers (middle C and above) lack the strength of tone found in its cousins; the strongest register is arguably that between G1 and G2. Though the upper register can lack strength, its sensitivity and lyricism can be used to great effect; and a good instrument can readily reach the high A or B (above middle C). The 'haunting' low register (below G1) has similar qualities to the bassoon, and the low B (three octaves below middle C) can carry well with an experienced performer.
The contrabass flute requires much greater force of breath to produce sound than most other wind instruments, and composers who write for this instrument might consider more frequent breaks in phrasing than one would when writing for smaller flutes. The contribution that the addition of the contrabass flute has made to the composition of flute choirs is enormous, offering at last the grounding of a true and deep bass sound. A wider, slower air stream is needed to produce a solid tone.
Contemporary musicians using the contrabass flute include Madeleine Bischof, Pierre-Yves Artaud, Matthias Ziegler
Matthias Ziegler
Swiss flautist Matthias Ziegler specializes in contemporary music for various sizes of flute . His original works for these instruments feature numerous extended techniques...
, Stefan Keller
Stefan Keller
Stefan Keller is a classical and jazz flute player and composer from Switzerland. He plays all kind of flutes like Quartertone, Glissando, Bebe, alto flute, and bass flute. Most unusual is his contrabass flute made by Kotato and Fukushima. All these instruments are also electronic flutes. One of...
, Ned McGowan, Peter Sheridan
Peter Sheridan
Peter Sheridan is an Irish playwright, screenwriter and director. He lives in the north side of Dublin.His plays have a lyrical, vivid style amid tough dialog highlighting the difficulty and the promise of life in Ireland's capital. Awards include the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature...
and Vinny Golia
Vinny Golia
Vinny Golia 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....
who also plays all the other sizes of flute, and has recorded with it on the CD Music for Like Instruments: The Flutes, in a quartet with three other flutists.
The contrabass flute in C produced by the Japanese firm of Kotato & Fukushima sells for US$20,000http://www.oguraflute.com/kotato.htm, and that made by Eva Kingma sells for US$16,000. Christian Jäger from Munich has also designed and constructed a contrabass flute. Jupiter flutes has created a student model for flute ensembles.
Contrabass flutes have also been made from PVC
Polyvinyl chloride
Polyvinyl chloride, commonly abbreviated PVC, is a thermoplastic polymer. It is a vinyl polymer constructed of repeating vinyl groups having one hydrogen replaced by chloride. Polyvinyl chloride is the third most widely produced plastic, after polyethylene and polypropylene. PVC is widely used in...
pipe, by the Dutch flute maker Jelle Hogenhuis. It is reported that while it might be thought that an instrument made from PVC would be inferior, the PVC allows for a louder instrument if the wall thickness is kept small. PVC also permits more rough treatment, as the plastic instrument can be bumped without denting. Site
New solo and chamber music is being composed almost everyday for this instrument, and performer Peter Sheridan has commissioned numerous works from composers around the world, including: Alex Shapiro, Patrick Neher, Vinny Golia, Bruce Lawrence, Adrienne Albert, and Sheridon Stokes. As a virtuoso solo instrument, even a few concertos have been composed for the contrabass flute. In April 2008 the well structured concerto "Bantammer's Swing" for contrabass flute and chamber orchestra by Ned McGowan was premiered in Carnegie Hall. In 2010, the 'Lyric Concerto' for contrabass flute and strings was commissioned by Mr. 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
Andrew Downes (composer)
Andrew Downes is a British classical composer.Downes was born in Handsworth, Birmingham. In 1969, he won a choral scholarship to St. John's College, Cambridge, where he gained an MA degree specializing in composition, and in 1974 went on to study with Herbert Howells at the Royal College of Music...
, and Gunter Steinke, to name only a few.
Variations
Additionally instrument maker Eva Kingma produces two other flutes pitched below the bass flute. One is a "contrabass flute in G," pitched a fourth below the bass fluteBass flute
The bass flute is the bass member of the flute family. It is in the key of C, pitched one octave below the concert flute. Because of the length of its tube , it is usually made with a "J" shaped head joint, which brings the embouchure hole within reach of the player...
and an octave lower than the alto flute
Alto flute
The alto flute is a type of Western concert flute, a musical instrument in the woodwind family. It is the next extension downward of the C flute after the flûte d'amour. It is characterized by its distinct, mellow tone in the lower portion of its range...
; thus, this is technically, a contra-alto flute
Contra-alto flute
The contra-alto flute is one of the largest instruments in the flute family.It is in the key of G , pitched one octave below the alto flute, and a fourth below the bass flute...
. The other instrument is a "sub contrabass flute in G" pitched one octave below the contra alto flute, or two octaves below the alto flute in G. Kotato & Fukushima also produce a "sub contrabass flute in C", a large, deep instrument pitched a full octave below the contrabass flute in C.