Klarinet Archive - Posting 000229.txt from 1996/10

From: "Scott D. Morrow" <SDM@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: bass doubling
Date: Wed, 9 Oct 1996 12:59:59 -0400

I also play pit orchestras, and one "easy" method I have found is
to just "check up" on your unplayed instruments throughout the show! Even
if you're not going to play the bass for twenty minutes, chances are you'll
have a long enough rest during your soprano playing to just pick up the
bass and suck on the reed for half a minute! Of course, then you don't
have the excuse of soaking the reed with the beer-drenched sponge...

-Scott

>I play in pit orchestras a lot, frequently doubling on a couple of
>clarients and/or saxes. The key I have found is to have a mouthpiece
>cover that really seals and then keep it on wehn the instrument is
>not being played. If it still dries out (ie, it sits there for twenty
>minutes, like my bass clarinet in the first half of 42nd Street),
>I take the reed off when I get a break, and rewet it, and put it back on.
>If you don't have time for that much, there is really not that much you
>can do other than leaving the entire mouthpiece-reed assembly soaking
>and slapping it on the horn. Of course, this tens to waterlog
>my reeds, so I don't recommend it.
>
>Syd Polk, master of the two-bar horn change.

Scott D. Morrow
Department of Biochemistry
School of Hygiene and Public Health
Johns Hopkins University
(410)-955-3631

SDM@-----.edu