New member of the family: Metal Anaconda

[J.c. Sherman]

If any of you all are into old instruments, particularly the serpent, you may have heard of the famous Anaconda, or contrabass serpent in Edinburgh, made by the Wood bros. Made in 1840 (ish), it is more of a serpentine octave ophicleide than a serpent, but its sound is quite cool. It was recorded on Gordon Jacob's "Variations on Annie Laurie" on the Hoffnung music festival LP of long ago, and on recordings and performances by the London Serpent Trio.

Fast forward to 1990, and another "Anaconda" (George) is built by Christopher Monk for the 400th anniversary of the serpent. It's a true octave serpent, only six holes, covered by keys. It's currently owned (and well played!) by Douglas Yeo.

The third Anaconda was a copy of the above (George II), made by Keith Rogers. The main difference is that the keys are closed standing rather than open standing.

There have been a couple other contra-pents in varying forms: The "American Anaconda" (no longer extant) made of PVC plumbing parts, Patrick, an ingenious contrabass horn in hardwood plywood, and it's cousin Sylvester made from Patrick's plans.

After a moment of "aHA!" several years ago, I began planning a contrabass serpent in metal. Metal serpents are damn rare... there are only a handful in existence, and most survive due to their rarity, not their playabilty. This would be the first recorded octave serpent in metal.

I finished it last week.

Serpent Portrait-reduced.jpg

Gabriel is in 16' CC. It's only one of four contrabass serpents in the world. I'm a serpentist, and a biased maker, but also someone who has no example of a contra to try prior to making this. But I'm finding it consistent in most respects to "serpent tendencies" and an absolute HOOT to play... well, it's a low hoot, anyway

I'm getting used to it, but I will have to let it go to recoup the time. If you're interested, PM me. I'm going to enjoy every second I have with it though

Not much music written for it, of course, or arranged. But... the fun!

I'm hoping to try Nabucco with it shortly with some bone players. I can't see why this also wouldn't qualify as a "cimbasso"... sorta

J.c.S.

(let the snarky comments begin!)

[bisontuba]

Nice job!!!
Mark

[David Richoux]

The Hoffnung Festivals have been issued on CD - well worth seeking out! (much cheaper as mp3s from Amazon.)

[J.c. Sherman]

The Hoffnung Festivals have been issued on CD - well worth seeking out! (much cheaper as mp3s from Amazon.)

Holy cow! Time to shop!

[pgym]

The Hoffnung Festivals have been issued on CD - well worth seeking out! (much cheaper as mp3s from Amazon.)

Holy cow! Time to shop!

http://www.viki.com/videos/1019186v-the ... -episode-1" target="_blank

http://www.viki.com/videos/1019187v-the ... -episode-2" target="_blank

http://www.viki.com/videos/1019188v-the ... -episode-3" target="_blank

http://www.viki.com/videos/1019189v-the ... -episode-4" target="_blank

[David Richoux]

Those cartoons are great, but the festivals were live with a huge audience - sort of like PDQ Bach shows, just more British.

[pgym]

Those cartoons are great, but the festivals were live with a huge audience - sort of like PDQ Bach shows, just more British.

Yes, I realize that, but the vids are a nice intro for those who aren't familiar with Hoffnung's oeuvre.

[J.c. Sherman]

Wow! Beautifully done, JcS!

Thank you sir!

[Greg Lecewicz]

Could you post some details on the construction of the instrument, length, hole spacing, materials etc? And maybe a sound clip demonstrating various registers. You owe it to humanity !

[J.c. Sherman]

"Gabriel", this contrabass serpent/anaconda, is in 16-foot CC, and is made entirely from brass and related metals. As far as I know, this is the only instrument of this type made of metal, and one of only an exceedingly few metal serpents of any sort (short of bass horns, of course).

This instrument was a three-part exercise. 7 years ago, I had an "aha" moment with the part of a sousaphone body, as I had been studying the Serpent and Anaconda intensely... from the standpoint of a historian, not a player. But I searched the web after my "aha!" moment for any published dimensions of a serpent that I could then up-size to a double-sized instrument. I finally found information on the Edinburgh University website, and began doubling the area of cross section and length. I found pre-fabricated bends which suited my needs for the next several turns in, and came up with a general look for the instrument.

After meeting the noted historian, educator and serpentist Craig Kridel a year later, I tabled the project. I had no idea how to play serpent, and my confidence I could do so as an ophicleidist was destroyed by trying Craig's instruments!

Fast forward to 2013, and I had made many complete instruments and custom components, I manufacture serpent mouthpieces, and I own an excellent serpent and have been playing it for a few years in performances with orchestras, churches and brass quintet features. It was time to pull the anaconda back out and see if I could finish it.

The bocal was a tremendous challenge. I'd made a bocals for a bass horn, sarrusophones and ophicleides before, but this, calculated, would be 42 Inches long! That's a long, rather thin tube to make and bend. But after I made that from sheet brass, the rest went quickly, and the instrument made its first toots on St. Gabriel Day (September 29).

I wasn't entirely happy with the more historic-style key mechanism, and decided to make a more robust one. The hinges and part of the levers were indeed re-purposed from modern horns, but the cups were hand formed, as were the supports and connecting rods. I also, as maker of Rogers Serpent Mouthpieces, knew a proper mouthpiece would be needed, and followed the guidance of descriptions of the Wood brother's historic mouthpiece. Olive wood was used for that.

So I now have and instrument which seams quite functional, but an octave serpent with keys over the 6 holes does present some challenges to the performer, and I've only spent a little time learning it so far. I cannot half-hole, of course. And the 3rd octave has some very different fingerings from my Monk (but so did my former Harding instrument!). But listeners are entranced with what they call the tuba/contrabassoon/voice amalgamated tone.

I learned a great deal on this project! Between this, my Moravian Bass Horn completed early in 2013, and my experience with other instruments in the past few years, I think the next instrument to be built will be a metal church serpent... but other orders may take precedent. Regardless, I'm looking forward to the challenge!

Here're a couple videos of the first toots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3CGZ1DNep4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pERBzBBepGc

J.c.S.