Klarinet Archive - Posting 000838.txt from 1996/02

From: niethamer@-----.BITNET
Subj: Re: Ab clarinet
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996 22:05:59 -0500

On Wed, 28 Feb 1996, Daniel A. Paprocki wrote:

> OK, here's a topic - Ab clarinet (smaller than Eb). I've seen one at the U
> of Wis and it was by Leblanc. Does anyone know any pieces that use it? Is
> it mainly used in large Italian bands? Why Ab?

I've actually played one of these things, and in public, too! It was used
in some clarinet choir arrangements that I played in undergrad school. Our
clarinet choir went to some MENC shindig in DC, and we all went to dinner
and got some big nasty cigars for afterwards - hard to tell them from the
Ab clarinet! I think the tone and pitch of the cigars was better!! The
one I played was a Leblanc, too.

> This Ab (if I remember right) was in 3 pieces + mouthpiece. I
> didn't play it so I don't know the tuning tendencies. And the strange but
> true world of the clarinet continues.

Tuning tendencies...lets see, I think it tended to play high(!?!?!). I
literally had to *make* a reed for it.

David Niethamer