Klarinet Archive - Posting 000188.txt from 1997/11

From: DYungkurth@-----.com
Subj: Taragato
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 1997 17:57:34 -0500

Andrew Seigel said, in part:

>I will probably purchase a taragoto - essentially a
Hungarian folk clarinet.

I've seen pictures of taragatos and have one recording. It looks more like a
wooden soprano sax to me than a clarinet, because of the tapered body. The
sound on the recording seems more like a sax as well.

I decided to check in "Woodwind Instruments and Their History", by Anthony
Baines, and found the following about the taragato:

. . . It is a kind of Bb soprano saxophone made of wood. with vent holes in
the bell, plain finger-holes and keywork arranged in German simple-system
fashion. The mouthpiece fits into the instrument instead of over it as on
the saxophone, and an ordinary clarinet reed can be used on it. . . . . .

Baines also says, "It has an amusing 'woody' tone, mellower than that of the
soprano saxophone". He also indicates it was originally a double reed
instrument, with the single reed mouthpiece coming into use in the 1890s.

I'm not trying to be picky and argumentative - I was curious enough to look
this up and thought I would share it.

Don Yungkurth (DYungkurth@-----.com)