contrabass flute

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. The contrabass retains the facility for trills, as found elsewhere in the flute world. The contrabass' ease of arpeggiation 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, 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. Contemporary musicians using the contrabass flute include Paige Dashner Long, Andy Findon, Laura Hyder, Madeleine Bischof, Pierre-Yves Artaud, Matthias Ziegler, Stefan Keller, Ned McGowan, Peter Sheridan, Patricia García, Sérgio Morais, David Lamont, Patrick Shaw Iversen, Vinny Golia and André 3000. Golia plays all flute sizes and recorded the CD Music for Like Instruments: The Flutes with a quartet of three other flutists. 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.

• Name — Contrabass Flute • Background — woodwind • Classification — * Wind • Woodwind • Aerophone • Hornbostel Sachs — 421.121.12-71 • Hornbostel Sachs Desc — Side-blown Aerophone with tone holes and keys • Range — { \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" } \clef treble \key c \major \cadenzaOn c'1 ^ \markup "written" \glissando c1 \tweak font-size #-2 g1 \finger \markup \text "poss." \hide r1 \clef bass c,1 ^ \markup "sounds" \glissando c'1 \tweak font-size #-2 g'1 \finger \markup \text "poss." }

One variation is a "contrabass flute in G," or a contra-alto flute technically, as it is pitched a fourth below the bass flute and an octave lower than the alto flute. Another instrument is the 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", or double contrabass flute pitched a full octave below the contrabass flute.

The contrabass flute is one of the unusual instruments that were chosen to create the signature sound of the Horizon game series.