Klarinet Archive - Posting 000136.txt from 1994/10

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Tim Tikker's comments on overblowing
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 13:09:56 -0400

Tim asked if a basset instrument can overblow the basset notes satisfactorily.
That is, if one plays the low basset notes of e-flat, d, d-flat, and c, what
happens when one plays the same notes with the register key open.

I don't know what happens on an original instrument, but I find those note
stuffy and out of tune on my two contemporary basset horns as will as my
low-c bass clarinet. I use them on occasion when there are rapid passages,
but I would be unlikely to play a sustained tone with those fingerings.

I also have several full Boehm soprano clarinets and I use them for
precisely this requirement where they overblow much more in tune.
Specifically, I would find it very difficult to do the second clarinet part of
Dvorak's d minor serenade without using this technique. The passage occurs
in the minuet (or the movement in 3/4 time) where both clarinets have
a long sequence of 16th notes and the 2nd clarinet plays about 16 "b to b-flat
to b to b-flat" etc. over and over very rapidly.

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Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
(leeson@-----.edu)
(leeson@-----.edu)
(dnl2073@-----.edu)
Any of the above three addresses may be used. Take your pick.
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