Double bass: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:15, 21 April 2006

Revision as of 06:17, 21 April 2006

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In his ''A New History of the Double Bass'', Paul Brun asserts, with many references, that the double bass has origins as the true bass of the violin family. He states that, while the exterior of the double bass may resemble the viola da gamba, the internal construction of the double bass is nearly identical to that of other instruments in the violin family, and is very different from the internal structure of viols.

== Terminology ==

The instrument's standard English name, "double bass," comes from the instrument's Italian name ''contrabbasso'' (contrabass). Because it is approximately twice as large as the [[cello]] (the bass member of the violin family), and because the double bass was originally used to double the 'cello part an octave lower, it is properly called "double bass."

The instrument is known by several other names (especially when used in [[folk music|folk]], [[Bluegrass music|bluegrass]], and [[jazz]] music), including ''string bass'', ''upright bass'', ''standup bass'', ''bass fiddle'', ''acoustic bass'', ''bass viol'', ''contrabass viol'', ''bass violin'', ''doghouse bass'', ''dog-house'', ''bull fiddle'', ''hoss bass'', and ''bunkhouse bass''.

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The double bass, unlike the rest of the violin family, still reflects influence and can be considered partly derived from the [[viol]] family of instruments, in particular the [[violone]], the contrabass member of the viol family.

The violin, viola, and cello are tuned in fifths but the double bass is generally tuned in fourths to avoid too long a finger stretch (known as an "extension"). Other differences with the violin, viola and 'cello are the (sometimes) sloped shoulders of the instrument, the often angled back (both to allow easier access to the instrument, particularly in the upper range) and the near-universal use of [[machine head]]s for tuning.

[[Image:busettosolano.jpg|thumb|left|Example of a Busetto-shaped bass: Copy of a Matthias Klotz (1700) by Rumano Solano]]

Lack of standardisation in design means that one double bass can sound and look very different from another. To see some of the variations and construction approaches discussed above visit the websites quoted below.

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== Strings ==

<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:IMG_3268.sized.jpg|thumb|right|Chromatic low C double bass extension by Chris Threlkeld-Wiegand]] -->

Many four-string basses have a "C extension" which extends the lowest string down as far as low C, a note an octave below the lowest note on the cello, though some have strings that go down to the lower B. This may take the form of an extra section of fingerboard mounted up over the head of the bass, which requires the player to reach back over the pegs to play, or of a mechanical lever system where keys are positioned next to the neck in the positions which the corresponding notes would occupy if the instrument had a fifth string. The extension is invaluable in classical music, because the bass often does not have a separately written part but is told to play the 'cello part an octave lower. This practice known as "doubling" an octave lower.

Historically, strings were made of [[Catgut|gut]], but since the 20th century steel has largely replaced gut due to its better playability. Gut strings are nowadays mostly used by individual players who prefer their tone. Some bassists who perform in [[Baroque music|baroque]] ensembles use gut strings to get a lighter, "warmer" tone that is more appropriate for music composed in the 1600s and early 1700s. In addition, bassists in [[rockabilly]], traditional [[blues]] bands, and [[bluegrass]] groups often use gut strings, because they produce a "thumpy," darker tone when they are played pizzicato (plucked), which better approximates the sound heard on 1940s and 1950s recordings. Rockabilly and bluegrass bassists also prefer gut because it is much easier to perform the "slapping" upright bass style (in which the strings are percussively slapped and clicked against the fingerboard) with gut strings than with steel strings. (For more information on slapping, see the sections above on [[#Playing_styles|Playing styles]], or below on [[#Double_bass_in_bluegrass_music|Double bass in bluegrass music]]).

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== Playing styles ==

When playing the extreme upper range of the instrument (above the G below middle C), the player will shift his hand out from behind the neck and flatten it out, using the side of his thumb as a finger. This technique is called ''thumb position'' and is also a technique used on the [[cello|'cello]]. While playing in thumb position, the little finger is not used because its range is inefficient.

Two advanced techniques should also be mentioned that extend the harmonic and textural range of the instrument. These being the use of natural [[harmonics]] (a technique often used by [[Giovanni Bottesini]]) and sometimes even "false" harmonics where the thumb stops the note and the octave or other harmonic is activated by lightly touching the string at the relative node point.

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[[Giovanni Bottesini]], a 19th century virtuoso on the instrument, was sometimes called the [[Niccolo Paganini|Paganini]] of the double bass. He wrote a number of concert pieces for the instrument, including 2 concertos for the double bass and various pieces for double bass and piano. In addition to being a double bass player he studied composition with [[Verdi]] and gave the premiere of his opera ''Aida'' in Cairo in 1871. Other compositions include 7 operas, 11 string quartets, an oratorio ''The Garden of Olivet'', a [[Requiem]], and a double concerto entitled ''[[Gran Duo Concertante]]''.

Later pieces with solo parts for the bass include a duo for [[cello|'cello]] and double bass by [[Gioacchino Rossini]]. Popular with bassists is [[Niccolo Paganini]]'s ''Fantasy on a Theme by Rossini'', a 20th-century trancription of the violin original. The famous ''[[Trout Quintet]]'' by [[Franz Schubert]] added the double bass to the traditional piano quartet, creating an ensemble consisting of all four members of the bowed string family plus piano. [[Antonin Dvorak]] wrote a much less well known quintet in which the standard string quartet is augmented by adding a double bass. Other pieces written for string quintets with a double bass added onto a string quartet exist by [[Darius Milhaud]], [[Murray Adaskin]], [[Giovanni Bottesini]], [[Domenico Dragonetti]], and [[Edgar Meyer]]. Probably the most famous classical piece featuring double bass is "The Elephant" from [[Camille Saint-Saëns]]' ''The Carnival of the Animals''. Also worthy of note is the passage which begins the third movement of [[Gustav Mahler]]'s [[Symphony No. 1 (Mahler)|1st symphony]] where a solo double bass quotes a minor key version of the children's song "Frere Jacques."

In the [[20th century]] the bass has been somewhat better served in classical music, although it is still only rarely used as a solo instrument. One of the very few double bass [[concerto]]s is by [[Serge Koussevitzky]] (better known as a [[Conducting|conductor]]), a piece written in 1905. Koussevitzky's classmate while studying with Oskar Fried, [[Reinhold Glière]], composed four short pieces for double bass and piano (Intermezzo, Op. 9.1, Tarantella, Op. 9.2, Preladium, Op. 32.1, and Scherzo, Op. 32.2). The [[Estonia]]n composer [[Eduard Tubin]] wrote a concerto for double bass in 1948. Other works for double bass and orchestra include [[Gunther Schuller]]'s Concerto (1962), [[Hans Werner Henze]]'s Concerto (1966), [[Einojuhani Rautavaara]]'s ''Angel Of Dusk'' (1980), [[Gian-Carlo Menotti]]'s Concerto (1983), and [[Christopher Rouse]]'s Concerto (1985). Other pieces to feature the instrument include [[Luciano Berio]]'s ''Psy'' (1989), for solo bass; ''Composition II'' (1973) by [[Galina Ustvolskaya]], for eight double basses, [[drum]] and [[piano]]; and a [[sonata (music)|sonata]] for double bass and piano by [[Paul Hindemith]] (who also wrote a number of other pieces for unusual solo instruments). Additionally, in recent years there has been a rise in works for solo double bass. From 1975-1976, ''Theraps'' for solo double bass was composed by [[Iannis Xenakis]]. Other composers that have written for solo double bass include [[Christian Wolff]], [[Hans Werner Henze]], Emil Tabakov, [[Vincent Persichetti]], Henrik Hellstenius, Hans Fryba, Ase Hedstrom, Tom Johnson, [[Arne Nordheim]], and Asmund Feidje.

Over the last thirty years or so players such as [[Bertram Turetzky]] and [[Gary Karr]] have commissioned a large number of new works. Player and composer [[Edgar Meyer]] has written 2 concertos for solo double bass and a double concerto for double bass and cello for the instrument and had made arrangements of [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]]'s [[Cello Suites (Bach)|unaccompanied 'cello suites]]. Meyer also includes the double bass in the majority of his [[Chamber music|chamber music]] compositions. Many publication companies run by bass players have come into being in the last few decades to get new music out to double bassists. Player and teacher [[Rodney Slatford]], via his company ''Yorke Edition'', has done much to publish both old and new music for the double bass. Frank Proto, former bassist of the [[Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra]], has published a large number of his own compositions via his company ''Liben Music'' that mostly incorporate the double bass as well as new editions of classic double bass repertoire. George Vance, noted teacher and author of "Progressive Repertoire for Double Bass", provides numerous publications from his company ''Slava Publishing''.

==Double bass in jazz==