Klarinet Archive - Posting 000421.txt from 2002/07

From: "Apostle Luby D. Jackson" <mus_ldj@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Bass Sax
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 03:43:25 -0400

This is a clever interest of mine. What pieces are scored for complete sax
family and what key is the bass sax pitched too?

I would love to see a part for it. Can someone scan and send me a few bars?
----- Original Message -----
From: <LeliaLoban@-----.com>
Subject: [kl] Doubles

> Bill Daniluk wrote,
> >You actually have a bass sax? What's it like to play?
> > How did you acquire it? What brand?
>
> It's a silver-plated 1926 C. G. Conn. I hesitated to buy it (from the
> previous owner's nephew), because it was badly damaged. The nephew told
me
> that when his uncle was in his 70s, he had lost his balance while trying
to
> lift the bass out of its case. To save himself from falling, he had
dropped
> the sax, on a hardwood floor.
>
> The bass had landed on the heavy side: the main key rods. The weight
falling
> on the rods (therefore on the key posts) had punched a long dent through
most
> of the tone holes on the upper and lower stacks. There was a dent in the
> bell and another in the long "drainpipe" that drops down to the neck,
which
> was twisted. Someone had attempted amateurish repairs on the popped
solders
> on the octave key posts. Huge globs of solder had left the upper octave
key
> immobilized in closed position. After about 15 or 20 more years of
sitting
> unplayed in a garage, the case and sax were full of dead bugs, dirt and
mouse
> debris.
>
> In addition to cleanup and repairs, the bass needed a full overhaul with a
> complete set of new corks and pads. Even so, I didn't see anything that
> looked irreparable. Nothing was missing--and by great good fortune, the
> original Buescher 2 hard rubber mouthpiece was undamaged.
>
> With my limited experience, I'd never attempt such a restoration, but I
knew
> a fine repairman, Peter Ferrante, proprietor of Presto Brass and Woodwinds
in
> Arlington, VA. He'd already done an excellent job of restoring three
smaller
> old saxophones for me. Peter Ferrante farmed out some of the work on the
> bass to Tony Valenti, who no longer deals directly with the public.
Between
> them, they kept my bass for more than a year, but they did a spectacular
job.
> They didn't replate, since I don't mind the battle scars and prefer to
keep
> old instruments as original as possible.
>
> >I would think that you would get about 4 beats
> >= 1/4=120 per breath on one of these!
>
> I thought that, too, but it turns out that at maximum volume, a bass sax
> doesn't require much more lung power than for maximum volume on a tenor
sax.
> It just needs enough wind to make the column of air vibrate inside the
pipe,
> and that's a lot less than it would take to blow *through* the pipe (hard
> enough to blow out a candle at the other end, for instance). Still,
there's
> less volume control on a bass sax than there is on a tenor sax, let alone
a
> soprano clarinet, because the minimum threshhold of enough air to get a
tone
> going *at all* is much higher in the bass. The whisper-breath that will
> bring a pianissimo out of a clarinet gets nothing but a non-vocalized hiss
> out of a bass sax. To get the quietest possible tone out of the bass sax
> requires about as much air as I'd need to talk loudly, while the loudest
tone
> is like shouting; but I don't ever need enough air for a horror movie
scream.
> Another difference is that a bass sax (this one, anyway) has slightly
slow
> speech for the lowest half-octave.
>
> The biggest problem isn't the breath control; it's the weight, combined
with
> the massive, unbalanced shape. I could never control that thing with a
> neckstrap or even the chest harness I use with alto and tenor saxes.
Also, I
> have small hands, and the bass has such a broad diameter that if I put my
> thumb in the normal position under the thumb rest, I can't reach some of
the
> keys with my right fingers. Instead, a support stand takes all of the
weight
> and frees up my left thumb, so that I can play with my whole right hand
moved
> around to the front of the sax.
>
> Even played quietly, the bass sets off harmonic vibrations in anything in
the
> room that's lightweight and loose enough to sing along. If I want to
> practice at top volume, I wear hearing protection. In other words, it's
the
> ideal instrument for a clarinet player who got fed up with sitting in
front
> of the trumpets in high school. ;-) I have to memorize the music,
though,
> because the lowest tones vibrate my eyeballs so much that I can't read the
> notes. Oddly enough, Shadow Cat *loves* the sound of the bass sax.
>
> Lelia
> LeliaLoban@-----.com
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>

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