Klarinet Archive - Posting 000493.txt from 1997/02

From: Enerud <enerud@-----.se>
Subj: Re: Bass Clarinets
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 14:05:30 -0500

Hi out there in the clarinet cosmos!

Yes, the Bass Clarinet is a beautiful piece of furniture with a
fascinating voice. However, the bass clarinet almost made me quit
clarinetting. I was tricked into taking up the bass clarinet (Bb) in
our municipal school band in Lulea in the extremely far north of
Sweden.

So, the instrument was great - BUT the music I had to play was so
depressingly boring. Um-pah all the time. Once in a while an um-pahpah
would lighten up the skies. Further more, our band was
used in different demonstrations, on May Day, for example. Playing the
Um-pah-part of the International for hours wasn't that fun. (1st of
May is almost winter in Lulea, which is a very windy port town. You
had to wear ski gloves.) So after a few years I dipped the bass
clarinet in the Baltic Sea ;-) and moved south.

So: why is all bass clarinet music boring? Or give me evidence of the
opposite, and I might reconsider.

May your mechanism move smoothly!

Per E, Gottrora in Sweden