You've Probably Never Heard Of This Enormous Instrument, And Sometimes You Can't Hear It

by N/A, 10 years ago | 1 min read

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make a sound?Â

If an ancient instrument is able to produce frequencies so low that the human ear cannot hear them...well, does THAT make a sound?Â

The answer to both, of course, is yes, and the latter question is actually in reference to one particular ancient instrumentâ€”the Octobasse, invented by French musician Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume.Â

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The Octobasse was invented in 1850 and it is freaking ENORMOUS. It was ultimately a very, very large cello that played at a range several octaves below the cello, and could hit notes at 16 Hz...below that which we can physically hear!

This is Colin Pearson, a curator at theÂ Musical Instrument MuseumÂ in Phoenix, Arizona. Pearson is playing a more recently constructed version of the instrument, aÂ replica that is actually playable. This particular replica is tuned exactly two octaves below the modern cello.Â

If you're wondering what some goofy modern song would sound like played on such a beastly instrument...say, the Jaws theme...look no further!

These are more musicians at the MIM, just having some fun on a crazy big instrument!