UNUSUAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT

Flutes are usually thought of as high-pitched instruments, but there are many types of flute that are bigger and pitched lower. The subcontrabass flute plays a fourth below the contrabass flute. The pipe is 15 feet long, but doubled, so the instrument can fit into a eight-foot box. A rare variation is the The Kotato double contrabass flute, which has 18 feet of pipe. There are only four of these existing. Shown is the contraflutes of the Metropolitan Flute Orchestra in Kylemore Abbey, with the subcontrabass flutes in back