Double bass: Dominica musical instrument

The double bass is the largest and the lowest pitched bowed musical instrument of the family of violin in the modern symphony orchestra, with the strings of the instrument always tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2. The double bass instrument is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string group in the western classical music. In addition, the musical instrument is used in other music genre like the jazz, the 1950s style blue and rock and roll, traditional country music, the bluegrass and the tango music. The player of this musical instrument t is also known as the bassist. The contrabass violin is the kind of the double bass that is used in the violin octet; it is bigger than the usual double bass and was traditionally intended to be tuned in the fifths C1-G1-D2-A2. Meanwhile, practical considerations have been granted to some players of the musical instrument to tune the instrument in fourths E1-A1-D2-G2, like the usual double bass. The musical instrument is a transposing music al instrument and sound lone octave lower than noted.

source: en.wikipedia.org

The musical instrument stands around 180 cm from the scroll to the endpin and is typically carved from many types of woods, including the maple for the instrument’s back, spruce for the instrument’s top and ebony for the fingerboard of the musical instrument. It not certain if the musical instrument is a descendant of the viola da gamba or the descendant of the violin, though it is traditionally aligned with the family of violin. While the musical instrument is nearly analogous in construction to the other instruments in the family of violin, it also exemplifies features found in the older viol family.

The double bass like other string musical instrument is performed either with the use of a bow or by plucking the strings of the instrument. In the orchestra repertoire and the tango music, the bow and plucking are very much in use. When playing the musical instrument, the player either stands or sits on a high stool and leans the musical instrument against his body with the bass turned a little bit inwards to reach the strings of the instrument more easily. The stance is also a crucial reason for the bass’s sloped shoulders that mark it apart from the other members of the family of violin, as the narrower shoulders facilitate performing of the instrument’s strings in their higher registers.

The double bass is commonly seen as the modern descendant of the string family of musical instruments that was fabricated in Europe in the 15^th century, and has been described to be a bass violin. Before the 20^th century, several double bass had only three strings on them, in contrast to the five to six strings typical of musical instruments in the string family or the four strings of musical instruments that are in the family of violin. The proportions of the musical instrument are not similar to those of the violin and the cello; for example, the instrument is deeper. In addition, while the violin has swollen shoulders, most double bass musical instruments have shoulders that are constructed with a more acute slope, like the members of the family of viol.

The double bass is the only modern bowed string musical instrument that can be tuned in fourths instead of fifths. The issue of the lineage of the musical instrument is still not clear, and the supposition that the musical instrument is a direct descendant of the family of viol is one that has not been resolved entirely.

Paul Brun opines with reference in his ‘A New History of the Double Bass, that the double bass instrument has origins as the true bass of the family of violin. He opines that, while the exterior of the musical instrument may resemble the viola da rumba, the internal construction of the musical instrument is almost identical to the musical instruments in the family of the violin and very different from the internal construction of the viols.

Larry Hurst, a double bass professor, opposes that the modern version of the musical instrument is not a true member of the either the viol or violin family of musical instrument. He opines that most likely, the first general shape of the musical instrument was that of the violone, the largest member of the viol family of instruments.

The player of the double bass is known as the bassist, a double bassist, contrabassist or bass player. In jazz music and some other genre of music outside of the classical music, this musical instrument is generally known as the upright bass or acoustic bass to differentiate the instrument from the electric version of the bass guitar. In bluegrass music and folk music, the musical instrument is also called bass fiddle or bass violin.

There are two main approaches to the design outline shape of the musical instrument; the violin form and the viol da gamba form. The less common design that is regarded as the third is the busetto shape, which can be found, as can the even scarcer pear shape. The back of the musical instrument can differ from being a round carved back that is analogous to that of the violin, to a flat and angled back analogous to the family of viol. The musical instrument features many parts that are analogous to the violin family of instruments, including the bridge of the instrument, f-holes, and the tailpiece of the instrument, a scroll and the sound post of the musical instrument. The double bass unlike the members of the family of violin, still reflects influence and can be considered partly derived from the family of viol musical instruments, especially the violone, the bass instrument of the viol family. The muysical instrument also varies from the members of the violin family of musical instrument in that the shoulders of the instrument are typically sloped, the back is usually angled and machine tuners are often fitted.

The double bass has almost the same construction with the violins, but has some notable differences to the violone, the largest and the lowest member of the viol family. The fingerboard of the musical instrument is unfretted unlike the violone and the double bass has fewer strings. A crucial difference between the double bass and other members of the violin family is the construction of the instrument’s peg box. While the violin, the viola and the cello all use friction pegs for the gross tuning adjustment, the double bass instrument has metal machine heads. The key on the machine for tuning turns a metal worm that drives a worm gear that winds the string of the instrument. The materials that are used for the construction of the double bass are maple, the spruce and the ebony.  The sound post and the bass bar are components of the internal construction. All the parts of the musical instrument are gummed together, except the sound post, the bridge and the tailpiece of the musical instrument that are held in place by string tension. The metal tuning machines are fixed to the sides of the instrument’s peg box with the use of metal screws. While tuning mechanisms generally vary from the higher-pitched orchestral stringed musical instruments, some basses possess non-functional, ornamental tuning pegs projecting from the side of the instrument’s peg box, in imitation to the tuning pegs on the violin or the cello.

The history of this musical instrument is tightly attached to the development of string technology, as it was the arrival of the overwound gut strings that first rendered the musical instrument more commonly practicable as the overwound strings accomplish low notes within a smaller overall string diameter more than the non-wound strings. Before the mid-20^th century, the strings of the double bass were often produced of the gut, but since that time, steel has replaced it largely, because the strings that are made of steel hold their pitch better and yield more volume when they are performed with the use of bow. Gut strings are also susceptible to changes of humidity and temperature and they break much more easily than the strings of the steel. In the modern days, the bassist commonly use the gut strings to perform in the baroque ensemble, traditional blues bands, the bluegrass bands and the rockabilly bands.

The change from the gut strings to the steel strings has affected the playing style of the musical instrument over the last 100 years, because steel permits the strings of the instrument to be set closer to the fingerboard of the double bass and strings can be performed in higher positions on the lower strings and still manufactures clear sound.

The bow of the double bass comes in two different forms. The French or overhand bow is analogous in shape and implementation to the bow, which is used on other members of the orchestral strings musical instrument family, while the German or butler bow is typically shorter and broader and can be held in a hand shake position by the player.

These two bows make available different ways of moving the arm and distributing force on the strings of the musical instrument. Proponents of the French bow argue that it is more operable, because to the angle at which the player of the musical instrument holds the bow. Advocates of the German bow argue that it permits the player of the double bass to apply more arm weight on the strings of the instrument. The difference between the two bows is a minute for a proficient performer and the modern performers in major orchestras use both bows.

The lowest note on the double bass is a B0 at approximately 31Hz or an E1 at approximately 41Hz, within about an octave above the lowest frequency, which the average human ears can perceive as unique pitch. The top of the double bass’ fingerboard typically range near the D two octaves and fifth above the open pitch of the G string od the instrument. Performing beneath the extreme of the fingerboard can be accomplished by pulling the strings a little bit to the side. Five string musical instruments have an additional string that is tuned typically to a low B below the E string. Four string musical instruments may feature C extension extending the range of the E string downward to the C string. The double bass traditionally is a transposing musical instrument. Since much double bass’ range lies beneath the standard bass clef, it is notated an octave higher that the sounds it produce. The transposition of the musical instrument is functional when reading the tenor and the treble clef that are used to prevent excessive ledger line when notating the upper range of the musical instrument.

The musical instrument is commonly tuned in 4ths, in contrast to the other members of the orchestral string family of musical instrument that are tuned in 5ths. The normal tuning of the instrument in E-A-D-G; beginning from the E below second low C. This is the same with the standard tuning of the bass guitar and in one octave lower than the four lowest-pitched strings of tuning the standard guitar. In the 19^th century, some versions of the musical instrument had three strings on them.

Throughout the classical collection, there are notes that fall below the range of a standard bass. Notes beneath low E show up regularly in the parts of the double bass found in later interpretations and arrangements of the Baroque music. These parts are transpositions of the parts that are written for other bass musical instruments used before the modern version of the double bass became the most common and may actually lower the part an octave. In the classical period, double bass doubled the cello part an octave below typically, occasionally needing descent to C below the E of the 4-string version of the musical instrument. In the romantic period and the 20^th century, composers like Busoni, Wagner, Mahler and Prokifiev as well requested notes that are below the low E. only small number of composers tunes their strings in 5ths, like the cello but to an octave lower. Many modern day composers specify highly specialized scordatura. Berio, for example tells the player to tune his string to E-G#-D-G in sequenza XIVb.