Klarinet Archive - Posting 000398.txt from 2000/01

From: "Karl Krelvoe" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] emergency!!!!!
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 08:49:11 -0500

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Benjamin Stutzman [mailto:benstutzman@-----.net]
>First of all: What kind of reed should I use?
>
Try a range of strengths in whatever brand is readily available at the local
stores (probably RICO). Buy a #2, a #3, and a #3.5 (you already have the
#2.5) and see which if any of them feels easiest to play. You're right, it
takes more air flow and a different approach to the embouchure because the
mouthpiece is much bigger than a Bb mouthpiece (I know I'm telling you the
obvious). Look very carefully at the mouthpiece, by the way. If it's chipped
anywhere along the rails, try to get a different one. You don't have time to
experiment with facings or beak shapes, so just find the least beat-up
looking mouthpiece and find the easiest strength reed to go with it. It
ain't gonna be perfect by Saturday no matter what you do, so try to relax
and do the best you can.

> My normal Bb setup is:
> R13 with Vandoren M13 mpc
> Gigliotti lig w/ V12 3.5 reed.
>

Doesn't make much difference. You're on the closed end of the mouthpiece
facing range, but you don't have time to gather and try facings. Don't waste
your time. To recap the above, find the most comfortable reed strength on a
mouthpiece that's already available.

> Secondly, how do you get a big sound out of it. When I played it I
> either squeaked or sounded like a fog horn. I realize that it takes a
> lot of air, but when I go down the scale (from G) it just sounds
> stuffy. Is this cause I don't know what I'm doing or the horn?
>

Yes.

Probably some of both. A school-owned bass clarinet is probably not in
top-notch condition, so if you have the time available and a nearby repair
person you think is good, it wouldn't hurt to let him look at it. Bass pads
are larger and more prone to small leaks than a Bb. Register key mechanisms
go out of adjustment easily. School instruments are often abused and rarely
maintained until a student who knows the difference is actually using it.
Again, if the mouthpiece rails are chipped, the cork doesn't fit firmly
enough (so an air leak around it is possible), or the table is damaged
seriously, replacing the mouthpiece may solve a great deal of the problem.
You need to play with a rounder feeling inside your mouth, and you will need
to experiment with the amount of mouthpiece you take into your mouth - the
proportions feel very different from a Bb mouthpiece.

I sympathize. This is essentially the way my first bass clarinet experience
went, only it was a paid orchestra in Philadelphia's Academy of Music and
the piece was Petrushka. I had about two weeks - better than you have, but
not nearly enough time to solve any but the most glaring problems. Do the
best you can, but remember, you must be doing them some kind of favor to be
trying this at all. If they'd been able to find someone more experienced on
bass than you are, they would probably not have pressed you into this
service. It may be an opportunity you wouldn't have sought out yourself to
expand your playing in a valuable and, eventually, very enjoyable way.

Good luck.

Karl Krelove

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