The Edinburgh University collection of historic musical instruments houses what is believed to be the oldest surviving contrabass serpent. It’s called ‘Anaconda’ and was made by Joseph and Richard Wood, of Huddersfield, UK c.1840. It’s pitched in 16-ft C, a full octave below a standard serpent, which only manages a comparatively lightweight 8-ft C. The […]
Tag: musical
Elephant Trumpets, the Acoustics of
“Because trumpeting is often associated with intensely social events, expressing the very high level of excitement and importance of the event, it is not easy to ask elephants for trumpet calls!” But that did not deter a research team at the Laboratoire d’Acoustique de l’Université du Maine, Le Mans, France (assisted by the Zoo de […]
Lowdown update for contra enthusiasts: a mega-saxophone
Jim Cowdery writes: No doubt your followers have been clamoring for updates to the contrabass/contrabassiphone post from several years ago. I am happy to provide this demonstration of the subcontrabass saxophone; the lowest note seems to be A-flat, a major second lower than a contrabassoon and a major third lower than a double bass with a […]
Contrabassophone and such
Investigator Jim Cowdery writes: People who found their lives enriched by Jay Easton’s gallery of big instruments are doubtless yearning for more. They will be relieved to learn of the Contrabass Mania website, which provides links to such enlightening materials as “The Encyclopedia of Really Big Wind Instruments”, “Warning Signs That You Might Be a […]