Klarinet Archive - Posting 000276.txt from 2001/05

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Swiss clarinet symposium and Hoprich's low B-natural
Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 11:38:35 -0400

William Wright wrote:
>
> <><> Dan Leeson wrote:
> The fact that a basset horn had such low notes has never been without
> absolute proof. Such is not the case for the basset clarinet.
>
> Perhaps these are amateurish questions, but I ask them because I
> don't know the answers:
>
> (1) Is there a clearly defined distinction between basset 'horn' and
> basset 'clarinet'? The Harvard Dictionary talks about a straight tube
> rather than an extension via box or curve, and a Brymer book talks about
> length alone (regardless of how the extra length is achieved). Or am
> I completely off base, and the defining difference is bore shape or
> something else entirely?

The basset horn was the first attempt to develop a bass instrument in
the choir of clarinets. So it has low notes, but it has high notes,
too. As for precise technical differences, I am not sure that there are
any significant ones. The bores were generally the same size as soprano
clarinets, though there are many exceptions to this. The shape of
basset horns was different, but I'm not so sure that this is significant
in defining precise differences. It's a hard question to answer
precisely.

>
> Do any of Cindy Christensen's photographs show the difference? And for
> that matter, in Cindy's photo of Stalder, what is the name of the horn
> with the bend and the 'trumpet' bell?

I don't know who Cindy Christensen is or what her photographs show.

>
> (2) Do all 'bulbous' shaped bells of approximately the same size share
> the same basic sound (for low notes)? Or, as with mouthpieces, would a
> difference that is not obvious without measurting instruments --- such
> as would not appear in a freehand drawing for a concert program --- make
> a big difference in the low sound?

I don't know the answer to this question. Bulbous bells on clarinets
are so very rare that I doubt if anyone has made a serious investigation
of the entire phenomenon.

>
> Thank you,
> Bill
>
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--
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** Dan Leeson **
** leeson0@-----.net **
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