Klarinet Archive - Posting 001079.txt from 1998/12

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Basset horn vs. basset clarinet
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 02:28:21 -0500

At 06:28 PM 12/28/98 -1300, Dan Leeson wrote:
(Bill Hausmann wrote:)
>> Would it then be reasonably accurate to say that a basset clarinet is a
>> basset horn pitched in A (or possibly Bb)? Or am I missing some obscure
>> detail?
>
>It is not unreasonable but it flies in the face of traditional naming.
>Also, the basset clarinet in A is a soprano instrument even in its
>lowest range, whereas the b.h. is destined for lower reaches.
>
>It is somewhat akin to calling a tuba a trumpet that plays low.
>
Or is it more correct to say that the basset horn a basset clarinet pitched
in F? Calling a tuba a bass trumpet doesn't offend me. It is for all
intents and purposes the bass member of the trumpet family, and if it has
its own special name (in this case, "tuba"), fine. In fact, in our store
right now, we have what the manufacturer calls a slide trumpet. It is
pitched in Bb, but plays with a slide instead of valves. It could really
just as easily be called a soprano trombone in Bb. It would still play and
sound the same, and no confusion would be likely to occur about what the
instrument is with either name, although admittedly it is something of a
bastard member of either trumpet or trombone families. Rather than
insisting that it is a completely separate beast, could we not assign the
basset horn to the basset clarinet family without upsetting the relatives?

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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