Klarinet Archive - Posting 000000.txt from 2002/12

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Fastest Flight of the Bumblebee I have heard
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2002 07:02:14 -0500

Don Gross wrote,
>I play contrabass clarinet with the ensemble and Jay's
>performance of the Flight of the Bumblebee on Bb bass
>sax was marvelous.

Thanks for the report! The concert sounds like something I would have loved,
and I'm sorry it happened too far away for me to go.

>But...you shoulda heard him play an arrangement of
>"You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" on the Eb contrabass
>sax. That sucker stands about 6' 4" and weighs 50 pounds.
>He played standing up using a shoulder harness; the
>instrument is almost perfectly balanced.

Wow. Great choice of music--and I'm impressed with anybody who can handle a
bass sax well without a floor support stand, let alone play a contrabass that
way!

>And to make all you Eb clarinet players happy, he also
>played an Eb sopranino sax. Hearing that instrument is
>like sticking an ice pick in your ear.

Yes, that's the one saxophone I've made definite plans never to acquire.
Even if my husband would forgive me, Shadow Cat never would! It would be a
waste of money, anyway, because I doubt that I'd practice it. (I notice that
I neglect practicing Eb teeny-weeny banshee clarinet.) I also have a strong
suspicion that your ice pick simile is all too accurate, and that playing
sopranino sax loudly, without hearing protection, probably isn't good for the
ears.

Off to the flea market.... (Now that I've officially stated that I don't
want a sopranino sax, watch one turn up at a price I can't turn down. Let's
see, in my arsenal of flea market superstitions, what clothing or jewelry do
I own that might ward off invasions of sopranino saxophones?)

Lelia

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