Hole in the Clouds


Tag: horns

Low and Lowest

Nov 22, 2014

The musical instrument in the 1928 photo above is a contrabass tuba, considerably larger and lower-pitched than a regular tuba. It is designed to be strapped onto a musician in a marching band and played in its strapped-on position, without need for lifting or rearranging.

The extremely rare instrument in the photo below from Greenwich, England, is a sub-contrabass tuba, which emits sounds an octave lower than those produced by the contrabass tuba. It is probably not intended for use in a marching band.

music   1928   tubas   horns   instruments   Harris & Ewing via Shorpy; below   Greenwich Int'l Early Music Exhibition)   (Image credits: above