Klarinet Archive - Posting 000357.txt from 2001/03

From: "Dave Spiegelthal" <Spiegelthal.Dave@-----.COM>
Subj: [kl] Re: Bass clarinet tone
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2001 11:02:03 -0500

I don't know what got me thinking about this, but it occurred to me that it's
very difficult for young aspiring bass clarinetists to develop a good concept of
tone quality, because there seem to be few opportunities to hear any significant
or sustained amount of well-played bass clarinet. It's easy for a soprano
clarinet student to hear any number of great professional clarinetists playing
long, exposed orchestral solos, or concerti, or whatever, but how much bass
clarinet can a student really find to listen to and emulate? I remember being
in school and having really good technique on bass clarinet (even in high school
I could play anything written for the soprano clarinet just as easily on the
bass), but it wasn't until recently (more than 20 years later!) that I feel I
really know what a bass clarinet is supposed to SOUND like, and how to get that
sound! When I was a student, my clarinet teacher, a very fine soprano
clarinetist, could barely get a note out of a bass clarinet, so all he could do
for me bass-wise was to recommend I find recordings with Leon Lester
(Philadelphia Orchestra) and Rosario Mazzeo (Boston Symphony) and try to sound
like them. But many of you know how rare it is to hear the bass clarinet for
more than a few seconds at a time in an orchestral piece, and the number of solo
or chamber works with bass clarinet is small (and such recordings are not too
readily available -- they're out there, but it takes some detective work).
So my question to the group is: How do you expose young bass clarinetists
to enough really GOOD bass clarinet playing for them to develop the mental
concepts of how the instrument can (and should) sound in all its registers?
Dave Spiegelthal
Calverton, VA

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