Klarinet Archive - Posting 000190.txt from 1996/10

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: bass doubling
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 1996 15:29:08 -0400

> ...but if there ISN'T time, like when playing the second reed book for
> Camelot which has Eb, Bb, and bass interspersed pretty freely, you might want
> to try Rico Plasticote reeds on your bass. The quality of sound might not be
> as high, but it's better than no sound at all or the squeeks from Hell that
> everyone in the hall can hear.

If there ISN'T time, a different person than Dan Gross (above)
recommended keeping the mouthpiece cap on the bass clarinet mouthpiece
during soprano playing in order to keep the reed from drying out. I
wonder if this would really be very effective. The mouthpiece cap
doesn't form any sort of seal around the reed from the drying effects of
air in the room. Perhaps it slows the process down a bit, which might
very well be enough to allow a switch to bass without fear of a dry and/or
warped reed.

I think that same person suggested dipping the mouthpiece w/reed in a cup
of water during rests in the music. This sounds very interesting to me.
I assume one would need to draw the excess water off of the reed after
dipping (by inhaling on the mouthpiece), lest the reed become
water-logged and fail to vibrate when it's time to switch to bass. This
water dipping idea sounds the best so far as a suggestion, as long as the
reed isn't saturated and there's time enough to place the mouthpiece back
on the instrument after playing soprano -- and prior to the next entrance on
bass.

Neil