Exciting news – we now have the contrabassoon! Guntram Wolf, the makers of our new contrabassoon, have been working away and the really excellent news is that they have managed to find a way to accommodate our wish to be able to use the instrument at both A=415 (Baroque pitch) and A=430 (Classical pitch). Initially Peter Wolf (the maker of our instrument) thought that this would be impossible, so we are delighted that he has been able to find a way to do this. As you probably know the contrabassoon only truly came into its own in the Classical period as a featured part of the orchestra (Haydn’s Creation is the most famous example of the use of contrabassoon from that period). By commissioning a 415 only instrument we were restricting the possible uses of the contra, so we really wanted to explore ways in which it could be used as a 430 instrument as well, as it will be the only period contrabassoon in the southern hemisphere (that we know about). The difference in pitch is achieved by adapting the bocal (what we would call the crook) and the reed to bring the instrument up to 430 (about a quarter of a tone above baroque pitch). As the bore of the instrument (the length of the tube inside the contra) is very long the fingerholes don’t need to be repositioned between the two pitches, which is what makes this possible. Peter Wolf has worked with Stefan Pantzier, a leading expert in period bassoons and contrabassoons in Germany, on this and they have found a way to do this. Hooray!