Klarinet Archive - Posting 000325.txt from 1995/04

From: Bill Hall <b_hall@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: E flat!
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 1995 11:32:56 -0400

I played alto clarinet in the local orchestra when I was in college. (Louisiana
Tech, which is in a small Louisiana town.) I once played in the district band
and
at a band director's convention because I was the best (only decent?) (only?!?)
alto clarinet player they could find.

That's been years ago (late '60s), but I remember thinking that the alto
clarinet
sounded very much like the upper register of the bass clarinet, at least when I
played it, and I liked the bass clarinet much better when I was in the lower
register. The upper register of the bass and both registers on the alto seemed
to
be harder to get to make a clear sound. I liked both soprano and bass clarinets
better than the alto, but I did enjoy playing it.

Bill Hall

You wrote:
>
>On Mon, 17 Apr 1995, Russell Wayne Householder wrote:
>
>> Just out of curiosity. Has anyone ever seen someone march an Alto
>> Clarinet?
>> -Just curious
>
>I have! We marched in high school and there was this guy (whose name is
>"Guy" and is a good friend of mine to this day) who insisted on playing
>the alto clarinet because he wasn't good enough to compete on the Bb
>soprano or bass clarinet. It was awkward to march with to say the least,
>and you couldn't even pretend to hear it over the alto saxes.
>However, Guy used this instrument for all it was worth...he was the
>"principal" clarinetist (1 of 2) in the All-Northwest Band our senior
>year! He knew he wasn't that great of a player, but he was better than
>the other guy (who was just terrible) and thus got places anyway. He
>eventually settled down into a singer and gave it up altogether. But to
>this day, he recalls with pride all the places he went and things he got
>to do simply because he was willing to play an instrument that nobody
>else wanted to. Oh, the irony of it all! :-)
>
>==============================================================================
>
> "There is a fine line / Send me a giraffe, we need a /
> between ignorance /-- giraffe around here. /--
> and stupidity... /---- /----
> Only I have managed ----/ Christopher J. Vaughn ----/
> to erase that line." --/ Seattle Pacific University --/
> --Dr. Science / saxmastr@-----.edu /
> ------ ------
>The thing I really like about deadlines is that sound they make when they
>===============================================================================
>