[Dixielandjazz] Re: Double Bass

[Ron L'Herault]

The reason "double" comes in is because the cellos are also bass instruments
in the viol family but not the lowest bass instrument, which is the bass
viol or "double bass".

Ron
-----Original Message-----
From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
[mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com]On Behalf Of
TBW504 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2003 7:23 AM
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.
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