What ’s intimately 12 feet tall , made of Natalie Wood , and open of producing a sound so down that most human organism ca n’t even hear it ? That would be the octobass , the largest string cat’s-paw ever land into existence . Though its curves and angle follow the familiar silhouette of its smaller stringed relatives ( violin , viola , cellos , etc . ) , the octobass stands at a giant 11 feet , 5 inch — so high , even a professional basketball player would have to put up on a platform to reach the instrument ’s neck .
In addition to its recognizable shape , the octobass shares with other string instrument the same mechanisms for grow sound ; a player holds down certain strings in a particular pattern to modify their rake , then draws out the bill by plucking , strumming , or bow those strings . However , whereas a violin can be scale down to half- or three - quarter - size for a small child ineffective to stretch their finger to reach all the Greek fret , no aim octobass player can surmount themselves up to accommodate the full distance of its fingerboard . or else , the octobassist must become familiar with a series of lever attached to mechanics that press the strings down , which they manoeuvre while at the same time plow a bow that ’s short , but much great than a typical bass curtain call . When legendary Gallic luthier Jean - Baptiste Vuillaumeconstructed the original “ octobasse ” in 1850 , it was considered a two - musician pawn , with one musician delegate to the lever and another to the bow , both working to bring about a single strait .
It tunes to two full octaves below a cello and one octave below a received double basso or the low-spirited note on a piano , and its range stretch down to a C eminence pitch at 16 hertz — lowly than the normal human audition compass , which penetrate out at about 20 cycle per second . Colin Pearson , conservator of the Musical Instrument Museum ( MIM ) in Phoenix , Arizona , explain the value of such an apparently un - melodic musical instrument in a style that establish it seem like a very expensive science fair project : “ It ’s wonderful for demonstrating how sound wave work , and how a string vibrate . These strings are so large and so monumental that the vibrations are slow enough for us to actually see them . ”
Despite Vuillaume ’s intention for the octobass to take its lawful billet among other appendage of a traditional orchestra , advanced use of the cat’s-paw are few and far between , in part due to its scarcity . Vuillaume built three models of his monumental excogitation , and today , only three playable replication survive around the world : the one in Phoenix , another inParis , and a third newly build in 2015 , whichdebuted with an original compositionfor octobass and violin at Oslo ’s Only Connect Festival of Sound . Nico Abondolo , master bass musician of the LA Chamber Orchestra and favour bassist of Hollywood composers like Hans Zimmer , say that his time try out with MIM ’s octobass was “ a dreamlike experience . ”
While it hold a certain enthrallment , the octobass wo n’t be making a revitalization in popularity anytime before long . It is , however , absolutely suited for play one song in particular : thetheme songfrom 1975 thrillerJaws .
[ h / tOpen Culture ]
streamer image via YouTube .
