Klarinet Archive - Posting 000016.txt from 2002/12

From: Gary Truesdail <gir@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Fastest Flight of the Bumblebee I have heard
Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2002 22:52:04 -0500

I have been told there are very few bass saxophones in the US. Does anyone have
info on how many were actually made and where they are? When I was in high
school we had one in the band. If I knew how important they would become,
well, you know.

GaryT

LeliaLoban@-----.com wrote:

> 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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