Klarinet Archive - Posting 000424.txt from 1997/07

From: Karl Krelove <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Bass clarinet friend
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 13:10:27 -0400

At 04:18 PM 7/14/97 EDT, you wrote:
>Hi everyone!
>
>My friend will be going to a music camp this summer with me. She
>normally plays the tenor sax, but she was chosen to attend playing the
>bass clarinet. She has little clarinet experience--she started on
>clarinet, and then switched to tenor, and she was in my school's clarinet
>choir last year (on contrabass). She is really nervous about going since
>she is having difficulty playing the bass. Does anyone have any
>suggestions or advice to make the transition easier? Anything that she
>can do to improve her range? She can currently play from a low Eb to
>about a fourth-space E or a fifth-line F. Her clarinet squeaks a lot b/c
>her embouchure isn't used to it. She is really getting discouraged.
>Please help us--I need for her to play better so I won't have to hear her
>whining at camp! ;-)
>
Make sure the clarinet doesn't leak and is adjusted properly - especially
the octave mechanism (is it a double or single octave vent?). Invest in
some time with a good repair person. Then she should do some homework and
find the easiest responding mouthpiece she can find. I can't help with
suggestions - the mouthpiece I use is a custom facing on an old Lelandaise
(sp?) blank someone gave me years ago. But there's been lots of traffic on
this list about how to look for a mouthpiece. If everything is mechanically
OK, then...
Don't pinch the reed so hard. :-)

Karl

   
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