Klarinet Archive - Posting 000032.txt from 1999/07

From: "Dodgshun family" <dodgshun@-----.nz>
Subj: Re: [kl] Low Sax Notes
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 23:10:40 -0400

> Anna Dodgshun noted:
>
> <<<There's something about the sheer power and grunt of a bari that I
loved!
> Also, being able to anchor the rest of the section is a great feeling.>>>
>
> I emphatically agree. In college, the only sax I owned was an "Olds
> Parisien" alto, a stuffy little dog of a horn that was certainly not made
by
> the same craftspeople from Fullerton CA that turned out the wonderful
brass
> instruments. Consequently, to sate my hunger for sax, I played the
> college's Selmer Mark VI bari. Loved it, still covet it. I used a Berg
> Larsen 120/0 (about as open as the Lincoln Tunnel) and man, on those
Kenton
> charts the top of your head would vibrate!

I had a LaFleur bari - no-one has ever been able to tell me anything about
this instrument! It was a small bari - no bottom A and quite closely spaced
keys, which suited me fine because I'm only 5'2'' and have small hands to go
with it. I have no idea what the mouthpiece I had was, but I could get a
big, grunty sound out of it! We played an arrangement of "Tuxedo Junction"
which had me playing virtually nothing but bottom Bb for most of the coda -
I'd finish playing and wouldn't be able to see straight for the vibration.
It was wild, and I loved it. Sadly, I had to give the instrument back (it
was my school's; I hung onto it for a year after leaving until the music
director finally realised where it was and asked me for it back!) and with
it went my band place. Don't have the cash to buy myself a bari right now,
but one day.....

> I never got the same feeling from bass clarinet -- always felt that it
was,
> well, just a big clarinet. I thought the parts were boring. Now that I
> have a finer appreciation for such things, I find the horns too expensive.

Some parts are boring. Like the "Sensemaya" part. The Khachaturian Piano
Concerto is not! I've been lucky with my bass clarinet - a second-hand
LeBlanc in great condition came up last year, I couldn't afford it, but the
youth orchestra managed to buy it. I haven't let it out of my possession
since! We're also (hopefully) about to buy a new Eb, as the current one is
driving our Eb player up the wall. Time to stop buying MORE percussion gear
and replace something which has long outlived its usefulness!

Anna

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