Klarinet Archive - Posting 000370.txt from 1994/05

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Selmer Bass Clarinet (low C)
Date: Sat, 21 May 1994 17:31:54 -0400

Dawn Anthes indicates that she is having trouble with her Selmer bass
and asks what might be the problem. Several people who own that
particular instrument have responded to her and I'll add my comments
to theirs.

Dawn, it would be helpful to have a little more information. Is this
a new instrument or did you purchase it from someone else who had used
it for some time?

When I got my low C bass - also a Selmer - I had the devil's own time
playing it and I offer the three things that were giving me problems.
They might be yours in whole or in part.

1) All clarinets need to be in good adjustment, but the bass clarinet has
been, in my case at least, a real monster if it is not in first class,
grade A condition. Subtle, tiny leaks here and there can render the thing
useless. To avoid this problem, I take my instrument into a repairperson
ever 3 months, EVEN IF I CAN DETECT NO PROBLEMS AT ALL. Clark Fobes who
does my work for me, is very used to examining an instrument in perfect
shape every three months. Sometimes it is not in perfect shape, and then
he fixes it. But most of the time, I get it looked at for preventive
maintenance anyway.

2) The mouthpiece is equally critical to the proper functioning of a
bass clarinet and if you don't have a very good one, you are in trouble
before you start.

3) Certain notes on a bass clarinet take time to get right. They are the
written e, f, and particularly f#. On the treble clef staff, that is
the 4th space and the 5th line from the bottom. Those notes took me
ever so long before I could pop them out without soiling myself. And even
today, I am still shy of them. Let the instrument be slightly out of whack,
and that f# will eat your lunch if you must hit it right off the bat. And
even if your horn is in perfect shape, it will take you some time to get
your mouth where it feels those notes. In Till Eulengspielgel, for instance,
at the very end of the piece there is a little figure that has to be played
quickly 4 times. It starts on a high B (or A# - I forget) and the next note
is the f# of death. I must have worked on that for 6 months before we came
to an agreement as to who was the boss. Mazzeo always advised me to use the
key for that f# where possible. Using the middle finger is trouble. I don't
know why, probably a characteristic of the instrument. But for Till
Eulenspiegel, the middle finger has to be used because the final note of the
passage is d#

Other problems arise from the fact that a low C bass has VERY long rods and
putting the instrument together takes some practice. I was living in Paris
when I bought mine and the Selmer people spent a lot of time showing me
where to put my hands so as not to damage rods when assembling and
disassembling the instrument. Keep it well greased at the corks so that
you do not damage anything.

Get a good stand and don't lay the instrument down. If you want a great
bass clarinet stand, call Herb Blayman in Belen, NM and tell him I sent
you. It will cost a lot of money, but you cannot do without it. Get the
model with wings so that you can add them later and have 5 instruments in
the space of 1 square foot. Never put that instrument into a reclining
position except to place it in the case.

Tell me about your case. I had a special one made so that the instrument
never rests on the body but on the tenons. In my case that instrument
is suspended in mid air and is held up at each end. I am referring of
course to the main joints.

Finally this: the b.c. (all bass clarinets, Selmer, Buffet, anybody's
bass clarinet) will begin to deteriorate very slightly almost every time
you play it. You bend this, your bend that, ever so slightly and the
deterioration begins.

You compensate for this at a very subconcious level. As the instrument gets
worse and worse, you compensate more and more. And because this takes time,
you don't notice how much compensation you are making until 6 months goes
by. Then suddenly you discover that your mouth is doing bizarre things,
your jaw is in the wrong place, you are squeezing this key or that, and
finally you realize how much compensation you have been making. Then you
take it into a repairperson, he or she repairs it, and you get to start
all over again.

The moral, get the instrument examined over short intervals and before
your compensation becomes grotesque.

But with these caveats, there should be no reason why your low C bass
should not play effectively and for your entire life. As for blow out
(about which there has been a great deal of comments), I have never
heard of anyone blowing out a bass clarinet. That is because they
are so expensive and difficult to replace. If they were cheap, like
clarinets used to be, they would all blow out in 5-10 years as
clarinets are alleged to do.

In fact, as clarinets get more and more expensive, pay attention to how the
blow out phenomenon gets to be less and less of a problem. When clarinets
cost what bassoons cost today, there won't be any such thing as blow out.

You'll notice that I say that only when Clark Fobes is out of town as
he is now. He's in Paris with his girlfriend and that gives me licence
to say anything. When he comes home, I'll deny have said any of this.

====================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
(leeson@-----.edu)
====================================

   
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