Klarinet Archive - Posting 001283.txt from 1998/10

From: pjfnefro@-----.edu (Pat Flannery)
Subj: Re: [kl] Big clarinet
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 13:33:08 -0500

Patticlar@-----.com wrote:

>Don Carroll and I both use double lip on bass. That makes it impossible to
>pinch. If one uses double lip, however, one must also use both a peg and a
>bass clarinet neck strap for stability.

I'm so glad to see someone else on this list extole the benefits of
double-lip. I've been told all my life (well, at least the portion devoted
to clarinet) that "real" clarinetists "outgrow" a double-lip embouchere. I
use double-lip on soprano and bass and have since day one. Single-lip just
never felt comfortable and just didn't give me the results I was looking
for.

As for the original question concerning squeaks and squawks, I can remember
suffering through my first year on bass with a (school-owned) horn that was
hell to play in chalameux and a real crap-shoot as to any note sounding
above the break (in my school, the bass parts were pretty much "oomp-pa-pa"
tuba-doubling anyway, and I got away with the small range). When I got my
own horn, the problem disappeared immediately and bass clarinet playing
became the love of my life (until I met my wife, anyway). The moral of the
story is that the problem was the old horn had not been serviced or
adjusted in years and, although there didn't seem to be any overt leaks,
they were there making my life miserable.

Have the *horn* checked before you have the *kid* checked so as not to
discourage a prospective (and probably much needed) bass clarinettist or
subject her to time-consuming emboucher, mouthpiece, and fingering
experiments.

Just my (all too verbose) $.02

-Patrick J. (Pat) Flannery
Division of Nephrology (that's kidneys to you)
Box 3014
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, NC 27710
E-mail: pjfnefro@-----.edu (preferred)
FLANN002@-----.EDU (also works)

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