Hyperbass flute

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The hyperbass flute (sometimes spelled hyper-bass flute) is the largest and lowest instrument in the flute family. It is pitched in C, four octaves below the concert flute (and three octaves below the bass flute, two octaves below the contrabass flute, and one octave below the double contrabass flute). Its tubing is over 8 meters in length and its lowest note is the C one octave below the lowest C on the piano, below what is generally considered the range of human hearing.

The inventor and primary performer of this unique instrument is the Italian flautist Roberto Fabbriciani, who calls it flauto iperbasso in Italian.[1] The only known example of the instrument is a prototype built for Fabbriciani by an unnamed Florentine craftsman. Fabbriciani has used it to record a composition, Con Fuoco (for hyperbass flute and 8-track magnetic tape) by the Roman composer Nicola Sani, at the electronic studio of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne, Germany.

Photos of the hyperbass flute suggest that it is made of PVC or a similar material.[2] There appear to be wide tone holes, made from standard tee fittings, but without keys; these perhaps are covered with the palms of the hands.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ (Winter 2003) "... infinite dimensions ... infinite futures ... infinite horizons". The Drouth no. 10. Retrieved on 2007-03-15. 
  2. ^ Photographs on web site of Roberto Fabbriciani: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3. Retrieved on 15 March 2007

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