What is octobass and how to play it?

The main stringed musical instrument that makes it possible to extract extremely low sounds is the contrabass. However, few people know that in the 18th century violin makers made an attempt to obtain the lowest sounding by increasing its dimensions - this is how the octobass, the largest stringed instrument in the whole world, arose. It is possible to extract melodies from it, the lower limit of the frequency range of which is not even perceived by the human ear.

The history of the appearance of this stringed instrument began several centuries ago. Its roots go back to the 18th century. At that time, violin makers decided that the volume of a standard double bass was not enough for the deepest sound. This is how the giant contrabass was created, called the octobass. This instrument is also known as octave contrabass and sub-contrabass. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses one of the most popular examples known as the Goliath. Its length is 2.6 m. Playing on it was a very laborious process and involved the participation of two performers. One musician stood on the step and clamped the strings, while the other tried to extract the melody with the help of a bow.

Due to its impressive size, it was only possible to play on it with the help of special devices. The musician had to climb onto a specially equipped area and work with massive pedals and levers.

The need to clamp the strings with various devices significantly limited the possibilities of playing and made the performance of impetuous passages inaccessible. The masters did not manage to achieve the desired effect and did not get the required depth of saturation and power of sounding power. The stringed instrument reached its maximum range in low frequencies, but this was the only advantage over the simple double bass. These shortcomings prevented the subcontrabass from gaining widespread acceptance. Today it is used in large orchestras only if the composer composes a separate part for it.

The main difference between an octave bass and a double bass is its size: an octave double bass is much larger than usual. Its height reaches 4.5 m, so it cannot be installed in every room. Playing an oversized instrument is more difficult in comparison with a double bass from a technical point of view. In addition, the octobass is significantly inferior to the double bass in sound quality - its melodies lack depth, brightness and saturation.

Unlike its smaller brother, the octobass never got widespread. The craftsmen realized the groundlessness of their idea and stopped bold experiments with the dimensions of the case. They again threw their energy into improving the contrabass - working on it made it possible to achieve a low sounding by adding one more string in the tuning in the "C" tuning of the controctave.

The lower sound of the octobass corresponds to the border of the possibilities of human auditory perception. If it were possible to make sounds even lower, then the human ear simply would not perceive them. Even now, not everyone can hear the sound of the lower string, most often the sound is felt only by vibrations reflected by the chest. The octobass scale defines three basic notes - "C", "G" and "A". The sound of the melody is muffled, the frequency "C" is distinguished by a super-octave of 16 Hz. In musical practice, a very limited range is used, ending with the "la" of the controctave.

In general, the inventors were disappointed with the sound of the octobass: it turned out to be less saturated in comparison with the usual double bass. That is why no attention is paid to the improvement of its structure in our days.

Modern octobasses are not as large as the very first models. Nevertheless, they have impressive dimensions, so playing them becomes a difficult task for the performer. So that they can extract the melody, special stands are used. Clamping of the strings in the sub-bass is carried out by the action of a specialized hand-held device. The sub-bass has 7 built-in levers, so you can clamp all strings at the same time on each fret. In all other respects, the technique of playing the sub-bass is no different from playing other violin instruments. The limited work on it is associated only with the uncomfortable position of the bow and the impressive size. That is why the pace of playing all kinds of din is often distorted.

Today, the sub-bass can be found in symphony orchestras. Some composers use this unusual instrument to maximize the power of their musical composition. The most popular contemporary pieces for octobass are the works of the American musician Adam Gilberty. These days, attempts to create an instrument with a low frequency sound do not stop. Today, there are also some other dimensional musical instruments, made according to the scheme of increasing their counterparts. These include the contrabass trombone, the contrabass flute, as well as the bass tuba and some others.