Klarinet Archive - Posting 000610.txt from 2001/09

From: "CLARK FOBES " <reedman@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Basset horns and projection
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 10:37:56 -0400

There are two distinct varieties of basset horns. Small bore (similar too,
but slightly larger than clarinet bores) and large bore - similar to alto
clarinets. I have played both in performances with the San Francisco Opera
as well as in chamber music settings.

Dan is correct in his opinion that the basset horn has a slight "plaintive"
quality, but I think that the large bore horns do project a bit better in
general. The larger mouthpiece helps. There has been a discussion as to
whether or not large bore basset horns are true basset horns or bastardized
alto clarinets. I remember having this discussion with William McColl (Dan I
think you were there) who is a well known performer on early instruments. He
plays a replica of an 18th century basset horn that he built. He researched
many collections for measurements and came to the conclusion that among
extant 18th century and early 19th century basset horns the percentage of
small bore to large bore instruments is about evenly split. In fact, I
believe the alto clarinet was a bastardization of the large bore basset horn
and made in the key of Eb to suit military band repertoire.

The problem of projection with the small bore instruments (mostly Selmers
now and older Buffets) is that most players attempt to use their usual
clarinet mouthpiece and in most cases these are not acoustically suitable.

I prefer the larger bore instruments (Leblanc and new Buffet), but with a
proper mouthpiece the small bore Selmer works exceedingly well and has an
exquisitely pure tone. About 10 years ago I had the opportunity to play
Mozart basset horn trios with Dan Leeson and Tony Striplen (now bass
clarinet with the SF Opera). At the time I was using the Selmer with my
clarinet mouthpiece, but I was amazed at how big a sound Dan was able to
produce on his Selmer. He said that Charles Bay had made a special
mouthpiece for that instrument. I was immediately curious. Charlie had bored
out the mouthpiece to a much larger bore and used a rather large tip
opening. I tried the mouthpiece on my Selmer and the improvements were
astonishing.

If you play a small bore instrument try, at the very least, a mouthpiece
with a large tip opening and use a soft (#3) reed. As much as I hate to
recommend Van Doren mouthpieces, the B46 has about the right tip opening for
a basset horn. Of course, I also make small and large bore basset horn
mouthpieces.

Standard alto clarinet mouthpieces work well for large bore bassets and
these are made by several makers including David Hite and Charlie Bay.

Clark W Fobes

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