Klarinet Archive - Posting 000265.txt from 1998/09

From: Mitch Bassman <mbassman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Straight altos [was Re: [kl] C-straight soprano sax]
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1998 17:24:51 -0400

In response to my comment about trying a straight alto sax that:
>>The sound seemed so far away.

Ed Lacy wrote:
>I would have seemed so far away because it *was* farther away, as compared
>to a curved model, isn't that true? To have a true test, the comparison
>should have been made by someone listening at a considerable distance.
>And then, to obtain valid results, there would have had to have been some
>kind of attempt to ensure that the two instruments were essentially
>equivalent in all regards except the curvature.

Absolute true. That's why I wrote that (when I was playing) it seemed like
I was listening to someone else playing an alto sax. In fact, when I
actually *was* listening to someone else play the straight alto, it didn't
seem to sound quite so different to me. I assumed that it was my perception
of the sound related to what I was accustomed to hearing when the sound
really was directed back at me through a curved bell. When I listened to
someone else playing, it also sounded different (please don't make me say
"darker"), but not as different as what I "felt" when I played it myself.

I suspect that we clarinetists (getting back to the focus of this mailing
list) would experience the same type of effect if we could play a straight
bass clarinet or a curved soprano clarinet. (Anybody make such a beast?)

Incidentally, I also had seen the original post on the sax list and, like
Ed, didn't bother responding (for the same reason). But I'd be delighted to
buy that straight C soprano sax for $100.00 if someone wants to make it
available to me.

Mitch Bassman
Burke, Virginia, USA

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