Klarinet Archive - Posting 000337.txt from 1996/11

From: Grant Green <gdgreen@-----.COM>
Subj: Contrabass Clarinet
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 20:07:08 -0500

First, my apolgies if this ends up in the list three times: I keep getting
messages back saying "message undeliverable: host unknown" "node unknown" etc.

A quick (hopefully) request for advice:
I've recently started playing the Bb contrabass clarinet in earnest,
and am having trouble with a few of the notes. The entire low register is
fine (low D to the throat Bb). Most of the upper register is fine (up to
the E above the staff). However, the mid-staff D-E (4th line to 4th space)
refuse to speak easily. I can sometimes slur into them, but can't simply
attack the note.
The horn is an old (serial no. under 200) Leblanc metal contra (the
"looped" sort) with two octave keys. The first octave key lifts one pad for
the throat Bb, and another pad (octave vent) for any other note: this key
seems to work well for all notes F (5th line) and higher. The second octave
key opens another octave vent further down the horn (farther from the
mouthpiece), and seems to work fine for the 3rd line B and 3rd space C. I'm
using a "Woodwind" (Vito) contrabass mpc, with a Rovner ligature and
Vandoren 2 reeds. (I've tried two other mpcs: the original mpc fits the
horn well, but I can't find reeds quite wide enough to fit it. The restorer
I bought the horn from provided a narrower mpc with an adapter to fit it
into the neck, but it doesn't work as well as the Vito.) One last detail:
the horn disassembles into upper and lower joints, breaking just below the
left hand keys (just like a soprano clarinet). There's a picture of it in
the case at http://www.crl.com/~gdgreen/cbcl.html, if you're interested.
Any ideas? Is there a way to improve the D-E? Am I missing
something? Is it a design flaw? Any advice welcome.

Grant

Grant D. Green
gdgreen@-----.com
http://www.crl.com/~gdgreen/index.html
Just filling in on sarrusophone