Klarinet Archive - Posting 000273.txt from 2002/12

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] bass clarinet in A
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2002 19:18:20 -0500

Lelia, what is it that you find "ridiculous" here?

Dan

LeliaLoban@-----.com wrote:
> Roger Shilcock wrote,
>
>>When a group I play with was asked to play for "La Boheme,"
>>we eventually did without the bass clarinet - I remember the
>>part as being one of those I referred to, though, with anything
>>up to seven flats in the key signature.
>
>
> Thank you for confirming my suspicion that, confronted with something
> ridiculous, professional musicians are as likely as anybody else to say, "To
> hell with this!" I've been doodling around with three themes offered as
> material for a composition contest on the Sibelius site. We're to write a
> full orchestra score using two of the three themes. Since all three themes
> are brief and undeveloped, there's plenty of scope, but we must use each
> theme at least once *exactly* as written (for flute). We're also given a
> list of instruments from which we must choose at least 16. It's a basic
> orchestra list, but for some mysterious reason, a few instrument families
> include one *specified* member of the family. These include bass clarinet
> and tenor saxophone.
>
> Hmm, I see that one of the offered themes is in concert C# minor. Sniff
> sniff sniff . . . do I smell poisoned bait? Writing an extended passage in
> concert C# minor means Bb instruments play in the key of D# minor. I would
> not care to play in D# minor on a Bb sax, let alone on a Bb clarinet. It's
> likely to sound like a hyena with a rupture, speaking of animaux méchants.
> Then again, I'm not a professional musician, and I've read solemn (even smug)
> statements here and there that, naturally, one expects a competent
> professional musician to play in any key with the greatest of ease.
> Nonetheless, I think that in the interest of expediency in the real world (if
> any), if I choose this theme, I will score for soprano clarinets in A, not
> Bb, and for the more common bass clarinet in Bb, not A, but I will use that
> theme *only* once exactly as written, on its way rapidement into another key,
> while the bass clarinet and tenor sax (if any) will remain silent for those
> measures.
> ;-)
>
> Lelia
> P. S. This two-minute piece, available to print out free of charge, though
> scored for violin and cello, is more or less playable on clarinet and bass
> clarinet with some creativity (well, a lot of creativity) about where to gasp
> for breath:
>
> Fugue in A Minor
> www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/showscore.pl?scoreid=30731
>
> A review by a music student states that this piece is not a real fugue. At
> present, I have no plans to change the title.
>
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>
>
>

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**Dan Leeson **
**leeson0@-----.net **
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