Klarinet Archive - Posting 000010.txt from 1997/07

From: Robin Fairbairns <Robin.Fairbairns@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: Bassets as the default instrument?
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 1997 08:47:07 -0400

Dan Leeson (away from frivolities) writes ...

> the introduction of the basset clarinet as a player's regular
> orchestral instrument. Now how would that be? You show up
> at a gig with basset clarinets in A and B-flat (the basset
> clarinet in C happens to not be required tonight) and use
> them as your regular clarinets???

The last performance of K.622 I attended was given on a basset, and
the performer (Michael Collins) had had a spike mounted on it, since
(the programme notes said) he found his thumb wasn't strong enough to
support the instrument otherwise. He looked dead odd, but his spike
was designed for a standing player: anything remotely similar would be
very space-consuming.

Now, I find the un-extended Bflat too much for my increasingly
arthritic thumb, and have to wear a sling _and_ a thumb-splint. What
chance have the likes of me of managing with the noticeably heavier
basset in a crowded wind section? (I certainly couldn't manage a
friend's basset in A.)

(Of course, this omits any consideration of the likes of me finding an
orchestra which actually cares which instrument I turn up with, but
that's another matter ;-)

Robin