Klarinet Archive - Posting 000271.txt from 1994/03

From: "Roger J. Shilcock" <mlfl@-----.UK>
Subj: Bass clarinets
Date: Thu, 24 Mar 1994 14:22:06 -0500

On playing these monsters - (1) Most mouthpieces don't suit you; (2) Most reeds
are rubbish (but especially Vandoren); (3) Ignore most advice you are given
unless you've tried it and you're sure it works. There may well be better
advice over there than there is in the UK, of course. I was once told always to
use a soft reed. If you do that on the wrong mouthpiece, you will get
uncontrollable squeaks, however reputable a make it is. As you may well have
discovered, the transitions between the registers are much harder to manage
than on the B flat /A soprano instruments; this is one of the main problems if
you have to swap between sop. & bass instruments in the same work. I could go
on and on ... and so could plenty of other contributors (?), no doubt.
Roger Shilcock, MLFL, Oxford, UK]