Oddwinds

From Oddwinds

Revision as of 20:05, 25 October 2006

The odd side of the wind instruments

There are wind instruments you see and hear all the time... and there are ones you don't. The odd ones.

Some instruments are born to oddness, while others have oddness thrust upon them. But there's a more useful way to categorize oddness.

And there are ways to classify instruments, too.

There are near-odd wind instruments, too, of which there's some discussion here; and odd string and percussion instruments, of which there isn't.

Odd instruments and instrument families

• Cimbasso
• Contrabasse à anche
• Heckelphone
• Keyed bugle (including ophicleide)
• Normaphon (including jazzophon)
• Octavin
• Rothphone
• Sarrusophone
• Saxhorn
• Tarogato
• Tubax

Near-odd instruments and instrument families

• Serpent

Mundane instruments and instrument families

(with odd members and instances)

• Bassoon
• Clarinet
• Cornet
• Flugelhorn
• Fipple flutes
• Flute
• Horn
• Oboe (including English horn)
• Saxophone
• Trombone
• Trumpet
• Tuba (including euphonium and sousaphone)

Oddbands

Miscellaneous links

• Contrabass Mania -- A web site devoted (mainly) to below-the-bass-clef instruments, most of which are odd. Some non-contrabass odd instruments creep in here and there.
• horncollector.com -- Eric Totman's Past & Present Brass Wind Instrument Collection. Lots of pictures of bizarre things.
• Oddmusic.com

Books

• This looks like a great one for oddwinds fans: "DULLAT, Guenter: Fast vergessene Blasinstrumente aus zwei Jahrhunderten; Vom Albisiphon zur Zugtrompete". I say "looks like" because I've seen it but haven't read it -- I don't know German! Google Language Tools translates the title as "Nearly forgotten wind instruments from two centuries; From the Albisiphon to the course trumpet". Quoting from a couple of posts to the Contrabass mailing list (archived here and here), "This book has a photograph or patent drawing on every right-hand page with details, bibliography, notes, etc. on each left hand page" and it covers "Albisiphon; Antilopenhorn; Balladhorn; Baroxyton; Bassalt; Bassetthorn; Bass - Euphonium; Bathyphon; Bimbonifono; Bombardon; Buccin; Chromatic Basshorn; Clarina; Clavicor; Contrabassophon; Cornophon; Duetton; Echocornet; English Basshorn; Fagottserpent; English Flageolets; Giorgi Flutes; Glicibarifono; Harmonic Trumpet; Heckelphonklarinette; Helicon and Herculesophon; Hibernicon; Jazzophon; Keyed Bugle & Keyed Trumpet; Klaviaturklarinette; Klaviaturkontrafagott; Melonie; Muellerphon; Musettenbass; Neophon; Oktavin; Omnitonic Horns; Ophibariton (Serpent Bassoon); Ophicleide; Orpheon; Pelittone; Phonikon; Rohrkontrabass (Contrabass ad Ancia); Rothphone; Russian Bassoon; Russian Horns; Sarrusophone; Saxhorns; Saxtrombas & Saxtubas; Schediphon; Swanneckclarinet; Sechszehnfuessiger Orgelbass; Serpent; Serpent droit; Serpent Forveille; Sonorophon; Walkingstickinstruments; Stopped Trumpet; Sudrophone; Tarogato; Tritinikon; Tuba-Dupre; Valved Ophicleide; Quarter-tone clarinet; Violoncel-Serpent; Slide Trumpet." The pictures are great fun to look at even if you are left somewhat boggled as to exactly what it is you're seeing! I borrowed a copy via Interlibrary Loan.