[Dixielandjazz] Re: Double Bass; helicon

[Dan Augustine]

Hans, Brian, & DJML--
    Hans asked what the 'double' in "double bass" means.  The OED (Oxford English Dictionary) says that the term 'double' in this context is simply another word for 'contra': "[f. DOUBLE a. 4b + BASS, after the Italian name CONTRABASSO.]". The term in English seems to date from about 1727.  Easy for me to say, say you; what does the term 'contra' mean?  My guess is that it means 'deeper' in this context, as 'contra' in Italian etymology means 'below'.  So the 'contrabass' or 'double bass' played even lower than another bass line.  This is not surprising when you consider that double (string) bass music is written an octave higher than it sounds.
    In researching this answer i found a number of good double bass websites, the first of which is:

"Bob Gollihur's Double Bass Links Page and Double Bass Luthier Directory Project"
http://www.gollihur.com/kkbass/basslink.html#history

which led me to:

"SLAP THAT BASS! NEW ORLEANS STRING BASS PIONEERS"
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/5135/bass.html

    Brian's remarks are also valuable, but the string bass is actually a member of the older 'viol' family, not the violin family.  And a helicon is not a bass trumpet, which basically plays in the trombone range, but the ancestor of the sousaphone.  Rich Matteson played the helicon with Louis Armstrong and the Dukes of Dixieland on an old Audio Fidelity recording, but not many others besides him and Jaffe (and me) still play it.

    Dan
**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------**
>From: TBW504 at aol.com
>Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 07:23:18 EST
>To: koerthchkz at zeelandnet.nl
>cc: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
>Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Re: Double Bass
>
>The term double bass (the terms double bass, bass violin, and contrabass are
>interchangeable) usually refers to the string bass, as opposed to the brass
>bass or tuba (note that a sousaphone is really a tuba adapted for marching)
>Whereas the string bass, the lowest pitched instrument of the violin family,  is normally of a standard size the tuba is found as a number of varying sizes
>ranging from the baritone horn or saxhorn, and including the bombardon - a tuba in Eflat, to the usually encountered Bflat tuba, and the huge double Bflat tuba.
>It is a technically complicated subject with endless instrumental variations,
>the orchestral tuba developed for Richard Wagner for instance. Personally, I
>use the term bass to denote the stringed instrument; brass bass for anything
>made of metal; and electric bass for the bass guitar in modern usage. Pedantry
>corner: Allan Jaffe played a helicon with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band as
>well as a more conventional tuba. By the way, I looked up helicon in a
>dictionary of music and it said that it was a bass trumpet. Now there's an opportunity
>to amaze your friends. Wait for a lull in the conversation before announcing,
>"Of course Alan Jaffe's walking bass on bass trumpet whilst technically
>anachronistic nevertheless underpins the temporal progress of any duple meter."
>Brian Wood.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Hans Koert" <koerthchkz at zeelandnet.nl>
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 12:49:32 +0100
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Doubkle Bass

Can someone explain me the different between a "Double Bass" a "contrabass"
or a "string bass"?
What is the meaning of the world "Double" in this combination?
Hans Koert
-- 
**----------------------------------------------------------**
** Dan Augustine - ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu             **
** Office of Admissions, University of Texas; Austin, Texas **
**----------------------------------------------------------**