Klarinet Archive - Posting 000543.txt from 1998/03

From: rack12 <rack12@-----.net>
Subj: Standing with Bass Clarinet
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 01:14:23 -0500

>Does anyone have any suggestions or experience standing with a bass
>clarinet? I use a neck
>strap (low C instrument, by the way) and I have to sort of lean it
>against my leg. However, it is still
>very awkward and uncomfortable. I suppose I could just sit for the solo,
>but the bari (along with
>the entire sax quartet) will be standing for the enitre piece...
>
>Other suggestions have included propping the bell on something like a
>cardboard box...any ideas of what might work?
>
>
>Thanks (in advance),
>
>Michelle Shoemaker

I have spent the last 20 years playing bass clarinet in a clarinet
quartet in Los Angeles. We play outside a lot, usually on Friday and
Saturday nights and hand out business cards. that's how we drum up
business. Usually we sit, but when we are too lazy to cart the chairs,
we stand.

It may seem strange at first, but I play bass clarinet standing the same
way I would play a tenor saxophone standing. I hold it to my right side
using a double hook neck strap. That way you get the best mouthpiece
angle.

By the way, I highly recommend to all clarinet players that you play
outside on a regular basis. Two reasons: 1) It improves your sound a
thousand fold, and 2) It makes playing in front of an audience second
nature.

David Schorr