Klarinet Archive - Posting 000645.txt from 2002/10

From: "Albert Nemiroff" <anemiroff@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Opera bell
Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2002 01:29:04 -0400

Bill,
The bell you describe is called an opera bell. It was probably invented to
direct the sound upward from the pit. ome years ago, Walter Sereth, of the
Golden Eagle Jazz Band searched all over the country to locate one, in
order to make his set-up as close as possible to that of Tom Sharpstein. My
inventive memory recalled he said Buffet made them in the distant past,
along with a bent barrel like an alto clarinet. There also was one
manufacturer in the USA, whose name refuses to surface, which made them for
student grade horns. My repairman discovered a pair of such instrunents at
Notre Dame High School in the San Fernando Valley. The school would neither
sell nor trade them for better instruments. Never saw one for sale anywhere.
Al

A friend of mine has a metal clarinet with a u-shaped bell on it that
resembles a sax. He speculates that the instrument was called a
"saxinet" (saxophone+clarinet) The concept may have been --- before
they knew better --- that sound comes out of the bell and more sound
would be projected to the audience if the bell was facing upwards and
outwards.

I've wondered whether this instrument is truly rare, or just a curiosity
that can be found at many garage sales?

Cheers,
Bill

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