What is that contraption on top of the basses?
It is a device often referred to as a “machine” that lowers the pitch of our lowest string from an “E” down to a “C”, with keys to play the half-steps in between. Up until the 20th century, the basses would generally double the cello part an octave lower (so they are “double-basses”). With a low “C” the basses can continue the lower octave in line with the cellos, which have “C” as their lowest string. This opens up all kinds of judgment calls about what the composers would have wanted who wrote before the 1890’s, when the machine was invented. There are also 5-string basses to provide these notes, also a more modern invention. I remember my first low “C” almost as fondly as I remember my first kiss! I was fourteen years old, and I had a rehearsal for Brahms’ 4th symphony right after I had my “machine” installed on my bass. We started the 3rd movement, and there it was- a glorious, fortissimo, gem of a low “C” just a few bars into the piece. It doesn’t get any better than this! Oh, I g
