Klarinet Archive - Posting 000292.txt from 1994/11

From: Claudia Zornow <claudia@-----.COM>
Subj: End of contrabass story
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 13:20:12 -0500

The end of the contrabass story: After purchasing a couple of
Vandoren reeds and practicing enough to figure out that what
I needed to do to minimize squawks was keep the back and sides
of my tongue higher on attacks, I got a call from the conductor
asking if I would do him a favor.

He had finally realized that his alto sax player wasn't quite
up to the task (well, the guy was really a violist, what can
I say), and asked me to play that part instead, since it was
more prominent than the contrabass part. I said sure, no problem,
and even managed to find a sub for the contrabass part so it
wouldn't go unheard (Syd Polk, who is a denizen of this list).
The concert was yesterday, and a good time was had by all.

Next topic: This group's next concert includes "The Sorcerer's
Apprentice," for which I'll be playing bass clarinet. However,
I'm puzzled about the notation, and I'd like to ask for advice
from any bass clarinetists who are familiar with this piece.

Most of the piece is in bass clef (B-flat, thank goodness!)
with parts of it in treble clef. There is a footnote in French
which I got a French-speaking coworker to translate. It says,
roughly, "The treble clef retains its value--the effect of the
transposition is a 2nd, not a 9th, below the written note."

Am I to take it this means that all the treble clef notation must
be read up an octave to sound as intended? If so, this thing goes
*way* high: up to a written top-of-the-staff G between rehearsal
numbers 47 and 48, which would be an altissimo G if played according
to instructions. Can this be right? If so, I'm not convinced I can
make it sound right--there's a lot of articulation in the clarion
register and some more in the altissimo--but I'll do what I can.
Any comments would be appreciated.

I'm also not too impressed with the publisher's (or composer's?)
choice of when to use which clef. I'm certainly going to be
exploring new realms of high ledger lines in the bass clef!
I'll just keep telling myself, "At least it's not in A."

Claudia