Klarinet Archive - Posting 000413.txt from 1994/11

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Bill Helmers comments on the angled bass clarinet neck
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 1994 23:08:37 -0500

Bill Helmers joined the KLARINET a few days ago and his first posting was
a doozy!!! In objective, rational ways and using very precise and descriptive
terminology, he gave reasons why the angle bass clarinet neck results in
diminished capability and performance. He made three specific points:

1) the player does not contact the reed at the tip and thus reduces his or
her ability to achieve a short stacatto.

2) the surface area covered by the lower lip is greater and this results in
a loss of tonal focus.

3) the shape of the oral cavity is changed which lowers the quality of the
tone and diminishes response.

Bill then apologized under the assumption that this topic had been discussed
previously, and concluded with a request that some might wish to speak of
the benefits of using this neck.

Frankly, I am nonplussed!! The topic, as I said in an earlier note, had
never been discussed at this level, and I wanted some time to absorb Bill's
idiosynchratic views (nothing pejorative intended).

First an opinion about the neck, then a question or two.

I have used and sworn by the angled neck for some time now. I am short
and play a low C bass. I have to sit on a higher chair than normal to
take advantage of the angled neck because my mouth must come at it from
above. The normal neck has the mp enter the mouth at a right angle to
the teeth. The angled neck changes that to about 30 degrees. One problem
that I always had with the traditional bocal was that I would get neck
ache. Instead of coming down on the mp, I had to raise my head so that
a right angle was achieved with the mp. A couple of hours of that and my
neck hurt.

Another issue that I was convinced was a technical certainly (and which I
now question) was that there was an advantage to having the bc mouthpiece
enter into the mouth at the SAME angle as the soprano clarinet. That is
to say, I presumed having to play the bass with the mouth at a right
angle to the mp was a technical disadvantage.

Now my question: if what Bill says is true for the b.c. (i.e., there
IS an advantage to having the mp at right angles to the mouth), then why
is this not true for a soprano clarinet? By having the soprano enter
the mouth like a non-angled bc, the stacatto should be better, the tonal
focus should be improved, and the oral cavity shape conducive to a strong,
rich tone. Furthermore, what about an intermediate instrument such as
the basset horn. Surely a bocal could be made to bring the bh mouthpiece
to the mouth in any angle at all. Yet a duplicated of the soprano
angle is chosen. Would that not lead one to conclude that such an
angle is the preferred one?

Dan

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