The subcontrabass tuba is an extension of the tuba family below the modern contrabass tuba. At least five known examples have been created, all pitched in BBBb, sounding a full octave lower than standard BBb contrabass tubas. Music for them is written in bass clef sounding a full octave lower than notated.
The first existence of an instrument of this sort was designed by the Parisian instrument innovator Adolphe Sax (1814-1894), the inventor of t...
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The subcontrabass tuba is an extension of the tuba family below the modern contrabass tuba. At least five known examples have been created, all pitched in BBBb, sounding a full octave lower than standard BBb contrabass tubas. Music for them is written in bass clef sounding a full octave lower than notated.
The first existence of an instrument of this sort was designed by the Parisian instrument innovator Adolphe Sax (1814-1894), the inventor of the saxophone, who dubbed it the subcontrabass saxhorn. These instruments were all very rare and never received a great deal of attention. The first two modern instruments were built by Besson on the suggestion of American Bandmaster John Philip Sousa who toured using one in his band from 1896-1898. Later, in the 1950s, British musician Gerard Hoffnung commissioned the London firm of Paxman to create a subcontrabass tuba for use in his comedic music festivals (photo), and also commissioned a work: Variations on "Annie Laurie" (1956) by Gordon...
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