Hyperbass 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, with tubing reaching over 8 metres in length. It is pitched in C, four 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 below the concert flute (three octaves below the bass flute
Bass 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...
, two octaves below the contrabass flute
Contrabass flute
The contrabass flute is one of the rarer members of the flute family. It is used mostly in flute ensembles. Its range is similar to that of the regular concert flute, except that it is pitched two octaves lower; the lowest performable note is two octaves below middle C...
, and one octave below the double contrabass flute
Double contrabass flute
The double contrabass flute is the largest and lowest pitched metal flute in the world...
), with its lowest note being C0), one octave below the lowest C on a standard piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. At 16 Hz
Hertz
The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
, this is below what is generally considered the range of human hearing (20 to 20,000 Hz).
The hyperbass flute is made of 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...
and wood. There appear to be wide tone hole
Tone hole
A tone hole is an opening in the body of a wind instrument which, when covered by a key, alters the pitch of the sound produced.The resonant frequencies of the an air column in a pipe are inversely proportional to the pipe's effective length. For a pipe with no tone holes, the effective length is...
s, made from standard tee fittings, but without keys; these are covered with the palms of the hands.
The first known example of the instrument was built by Francesco Romei, a Florentine
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
craftsman, for Italian flautist Roberto Fabbriciani. Fabbriciani is the inventor and primary performer of this instrument. He calls it flauto iperbasso in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
.
Low flute specialist Peter Sheridan commissioned the first fully chromatic hyperbass flute from the Dutch maker Jelle Hogenhuis in August 2010. The instrument, though reputedly sluggish in response, plays lower than the concert piano (C0). This prototype model is still under research with Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Hogenhuis, as the new direction of the low flute partials create numerous problems with the air stream and dilemmas for basic tone production. This said, the instrument truly is innovative in its approach to distribution of partials, as if blown in the correct manner a three to four voice chord will sound.
The instrument can produce an edgy, growling tone, as well as support a large ensemble of flutes and winds on a handful of notes (C1-F1). The 32 feet of piping, required to produce the fundamentals, permits creative exploration. Composers in Australia and America have already begun to compose for the instrument.
Repertoire
The first composition for the hyperbass flute with live electronics and magnetic tape is Persistenza della memoria by Alessandro Grego, published in 2001 by the ARTS label on the CD Flute XX vol.2.In 2002, the Roman
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
composer Nicola Sani composed Con Fuoco (for hyperbass flute and 8-track magnetic tape), which Fabbriciani recorded at the electronic studio of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD...
(WDR) in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The track was released on a CD entitled Elements.
In March 2005 Fabbriciani released an entire CD of music for hyperbass flute and tape, entitled Glaciers in Extinction, on the Col Legno label.
In 2010, Fabbriciani released another hyperbass flute CD entitled "Winds of the Heart", this time with tárogató
Tárogató
The tárogató refers to two different Hungarian woodwind instruments: the ancient tárogató and the modern tárogató...
player Esther Lamneck, on the Innova label.
Peter Sheridan has recorded an album for MOVE RECORDS 2011(Melbourne Australia) titled "Monologues and Dialogues," that will feature the hyperbass flute on two tracks. "Differing Dialogues" by Monash University composer Vincent Giles, is set for solo bass flute with pre-recorded low flutes.