Klarinet Archive - Posting 000656.txt from 1998/03

From: ROBERT HOWE <arehow@-----.net>
Subj: Re:Bassett notes
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 07:24:38 -0500

I don't play Basset clarient but I do play Basset horn, in fact I do the
Strauss "Happy Workshop" Serenade this weekend. I use the long fingering
for third line Bb, as described below, for passages coming out of the
clarion register, and the small Bb (Thumb and A) for those coming out of
the throat register. On my horn, a LeBlanc with (I suspect
unfortunately) all cork pads, the long Bb is better in tune. The use
of low D, C#, and C fingerings for A, Ab and G in the throat register is
technically possible but I find the response and pitch bocome
increasingly questionable as I move down the chromatic scale. SO I
don't do it. This is due to the location of the register vents.

On my Prestige bass clarinet the throat Bb is much nicer and so is the
mechanism, I have not found any use for long Bb--yet.

Robert Howe

Shouryu Nohe <jnohe@-----.edu> wrote:
"Subject: Basset Clarinet Query

Anyone out there play a basset clarinet? Or has done so?

On my bass (rather, the one NMSU provides me), I occasionally substitute
a
low Eb + register key to play the throat Bb, and lip it up to take care
of
the 5 cent discrepancy. I generally do it on exposed parts when I can't
use the trill fingering (the trill and the overblown Eb both have a
better
tone than good ol' A + RK).

Seeing as how the basset has an extension to C, is it plausible to do
the
same thing? You could eliminate the throat altogether (the extension
would allow you to play to open G), and instead, play all those nots
with
a clarion voice instead of a throaty chalameau. You wouldn't have to
wory
about finger shadings to eliminate the throatiness. But then again, I'd
imagine that you'd have to do some lipping to adjust the tuning, but at
least the tone would be solid (I imagine).

So, having never touched a basset clarinet, I can only theorize. If
you've got basset experience, gimme your 3 yen. If you don't, give it
to
me anyways. I'm just very curious.

Shouryu Nohe
Professor of SCSM102, New Mexico State Univ."