Klarinet Archive - Posting 000993.txt from 1995/10

From: CLARK FOBES <reedman@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Clark Fobes on Bass Cl
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 01:53:21 -0400

You wrote:
>
>
>
>My personal approach to sound on bass clarinet is, however, somewhat
>different than Clarke's. I find the bass clarinet to be a very
different
>timbre than the soprano clarinet, and prefer to accentuate, rather
than
>minimize, the difference. I feel like a different musician when I play
>different clarinets. My embouchure is different, tonguing is
different,
>voicing of pitches is different, I sit differently, my musical
personality is
>different, etc., etc., etc.
>
>I was also glad to see Dan Leeson pointing out the musical personality
of the
>lower clarinets. Most of us tend to get bogged down with "take more
>mouthpiece" or "use this type of reed". As important as these
technical bits
>of advice are, it all really boils down to making music in an
appropriately
>expressive way on the instrument we are holding in our hands at the
moment.
>
>Andy Grenci
>Bass Clarinet, US Coast Guard Band
>agrenci@-----.com
>

I'm always interested in Andy's comments, because in the past they
always seem to come from a very thoughtful point of view.

I do appreciate that we are all different and have different approaches
to the instrument. It would be a boring world if this were the case.

I was very interested that Andy feels like a different player on bass
than clarinet and has even a different physical approach. I don't
condemn his thinking (or playing) and I applaud any method that brings
sensitivity as well as virtuosity to the instrument.

I have found in my playing, though, that a consistency in the way I
approach both intrunebts has alleviated a lot of the problems
associated with doubling. One problem faced by those of us who play a
great deal on both instruments is that of disparate tuning. Andy
mentioned that he voices the pitch differently on clarinet and bass
clarinet. He may have to if his instruments are extremely different in
that regard. I have an older model Selmer 33 and have tuned almost
every tone so that I can voice most tones consistently with my
clarinet. Particularly in the throat tones which can be very funky on
bass.

Anyway, thanks for the comments , Andy!! Vive la difference!

Clark W Fobes