Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

contratubófono

English translation:

(bass) slap-o-phone / plosive aerophone

Added to glossary by Tony Isaac
Jun 19, 2015 15:25
8 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Spanish term

contratubófono

Spanish to English Art/Literary Music
This appears in a list of unconventional musical instruments. I've found an illustration of it on a page in Catalan (http://musicaieducaciofisicaheura.blogspot.com.es/2015/02/mu... but have no idea what it might be called in English. Any ideas?
Proposed translations (English)
3 +2 (bass) slap-o-phone / plosive aerophone
4 contratubophone

Proposed translations

+2
1 hr
Selected

(bass) slap-o-phone / plosive aerophone

Name doesn't exist in English? Au contraire.

Read it and weep, as they say:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/15640992/Bass-Slapophone-Building-...

This appears to be an existing type of instrument known as a slap-o-phone or perhaps slap-o-fone, made from various lengths of PVC or even cardboard pipes/tubes with one open end slapped with a paddle or the bare hand to produce its sound.

Try this search link:
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=slap-o-p...

You can click on the image version to see various examples, sometimes spelled without the hyphens.

You can even see an example of the slightly rarer bass slap-o-phone here:
https://sites.google.com/site/blscohen/home/bass-slapophone

Although it seems as though technically a bass slap-o-phone should have one end of the pipes closed to product the lower pitches:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/15640992/Bass-Slapophone-Building-...

Sorry Charles and Phil, but the asker's contratubófono ain't nothin' but a good ol' slap-o-phone. BTW, no, I hadn't already heard of this. I had a hunch and tried a search for pipe-o-phone...

I also included "plosive aerophone" just to cover my bases, since apparently this is sort of the more general technical term for this type of instrument.
See: https://windworld.com/products-page/books-cds/slap-tubes-and...




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Note added at 1 hr (2015-06-19 17:21:29 GMT)
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I just found this video too, and since in this case the name "slap tubes" is applied, I guess I better officially add that term just to cover all my bases (again). If anyone thinks this instrument is a joke, they should watch the video at this link. Notice the convoluted pipework below the "keyboard".
http://makezine.com/2010/12/01/theyre-called-slap-tubes/

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Note added at 6 hrs (2015-06-19 22:06:09 GMT)
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By the way, in retrospect I realize that the way I wrote this answer was a bit cheeky, as the British might say, but it seemed like kind of a whimsical subject and it came along at the end of a long day/week. However, I wasn't trying to offend any of the previous answerers. To me, the fact that I went so far as to use the phrase "au contraire" sort of indicates a tongue-in-cheek tone from the beginning, but that may be my own cultural bias.
Peer comment(s):

agree Adoración Bodoque Martínez : I think this one deserves more than 4 points! For all the research and the brilliant video.
1 hr
Yes, the video is pretty awesome, good TGIF material too. The guy's explanation about his bass slapophone is also pretty interesting (the link above at the scribd.com address), he's proposing it as a real bass instrument to be used with steel drum bands.
agree Charles Davis : Well done! You haven't actually established that a contratubófono is one of these, but I've found a YouTube video of someone playing a tubófono by slapping the ends of the pipes with a pair of shoes.
7 hrs
In the photo from the link Tony posted it's a little hard to tell, but this seems to be the very same contratubófono from Tony's link in action: http://www.burgostv.es/noticias/2015/05/14/mas-de-1-500-esco...
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks! Great answer - I'd give more points if I could!"
13 mins

contratubophone

It's a made-up name, so you should simply anglicize it.

At the moment the English word gets no Google hits, but hopefully, as a result of this question, it will now get one :-)
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