Klarinet Archive - Posting 000077.txt from 1994/10

From: Gertjan van Oosten <gvoosten@-----.NL>
Subj: Re: Keilworth straight alto
Date: Mon, 10 Oct 1994 11:20:03 -0400

On Fri, 7 Oct 1994, Kenneth Fischer wrote:
> It is quite a fascinating instrument without a practical application.
> In my opinion, the sound is radically different than the accustomed
> saxophone sound.

As quoted from Timothy Tikker:
> It could well be that the sound is radically different than a curved -
> which I'd like!

The alto saxophonist of the Dutch band SFeQ (*), Bart Suer, plays a
straight alto. A week ago he said in a television interview that he had
played, in a studio, both a straight and a normal alto for a recording.
Upon listening back, he found it hard to tell the difference. He
suspected that the visual aspect played a major part in the perceived
sound, and in fact, that he himself treats the instrument different
from a "normal" alto.

Still, to my ears a (or at least his) straight alto sounds somewhere in
between a normal alto and a (straight) soprano, although closer to alto
than soprano. So: not radically different, and not without practical
application -- looking at a straight alto is more fascinating, as is
looking at a non-black clarinet. :-)

(*) Stands for "San Francisco earth quake", when the group was formed.
They played a few gigs at the Knitting Factory early this year.

Timothy also writes:
> (I prefer straight soprano sax sound to curved).

So do I, that's why my soprano is straight (I usually play it with the
slightly bent neck instead of the straight one, there's very little
difference in sound [if at all]).

Cheers,
--
-- Gertjan van Oosten, West Consulting bv
-- Estec, gvoosten@-----.nl, +31-171985668

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org