Contra bass

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Not to be confused with Contrabass clarinet.

The contrabass is the lowest-pitched instrument in the drum and bugle corps hornline. It is to a drum corps what a sousaphone is to a marching band: essentially a tuba converted for ease of marching. It is different from the other members of the drum corps hornline in that it rests on the shoulder of the player, rather than being held in front of the body.

The first contrabass was developed in the 1960s by Whaley Royce, a Canadian instrument manufacturer who produced bugles for many drum corps of that era. The contrabass bugle is the only bugle that has never been produced in a valve-less style, as it was developed when the legal configuration for bugles included one horizontal piston valve and one rotor valve.

Today contras can be seen with three or four valves, as are common on tubas. They are also generally larger in modern times, although improved materials available in building instruments allows them to be made strong and relatively light, compared to some older models.

Other uses of the term

Tubas pitched in BB-flat and CC are referred to as contrabass tubas (whereas tubas in F and E-flat are called bass tubas). The string bass is also called the contrabass on occasion, often in German music (kontrabass). There are also contrabass trombones, clarinets and saxophones, although all are relatively rare instruments.

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