Klarinet Archive - Posting 001394.txt from 2000/06

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] Basset embouchure
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 14:52:52 -0400

<><> roger shilcock wrote:
embouchure on instruments with different sizes of mouthpiece, which
clearly impinge on varying amounts of lip tissue and occupy different
sizes and shapes of space in the oral cavity

The unhappy fact (for me) is that I have a difficult time with my
embouchure when I alternate between Bb and bass. I enjoy both
instruments, and I really want to play both; but I was expecting that
the differences would be minimal, and it isn't working out that way for
me.
Obviously my skills aren't all that good, but I must say that I
fell off my chair (metaphorically speaking) when Roger said that the
embouchures are identical. "What am I missing here?" was the thought
that went through my mind. (In fact, Roger made my bass mouthpiece for
me. I know that he knows what he's talking about. It's a semantic
issue, I suppose.)
I can understand that 'sloppily loose' is a bad thing on any reed
instrument, of course. I'm not debating that point. "Loose" was the
wrong word to use.

In retrospect, I asked my original 'idle curiosity' question the
wrong way. What I should ave asked was simply: "Is the basset
mouthpiece the same size as the Bb mouthpiece, or as large as a bass, or
somewhere in between?"

I must say that I like what I hear on Tony Pay's basset recording
of the Mozart concerto. I've purchased CDs of 4 or 5 different
versions, and -- without intending to get maudlin about this -- far and
away, I like Tony's the best because the low notes sound as if they're
part of the same music as the higher notes. Hence I'm mildly curious
about the details of a basset horn, but in the real world, it's unlikely
I'll ever have the budget to buy one. If I don't overcome the
embouchure stumbling block, I'll have to give up on the bass as well.
A recording is affected by the engineer and the orchestra, and I
have no way of deciding who deserves the most praise; but both Tony and
the Academy of Ancient Music orchestra seem (to my ear) to understand
the concerto much, much better than the other big-name recordings that
I've listened to. Presumably having the correct instruments has
something, perhaps even a lot, to do with this. Equally as important,
there is always a tight rope that soloists must walk when playing a
concerto -- between displaying the instrument's ability and falling into
an outright "Who's in charge here?" battle with the orchestra. Once
again, Tony and the Ancient Music Academy play together, and the
listener (YMMV) doesn't feel as if he/she is listening to two different
performances -- orchestra and soloist -- spliced together.

Cheers and YMMV,
Bill

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