Klarinet Archive - Posting 000519.txt from 2003/05

From: "Resurgere Jones" <resurgereweb@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Low Clarinet, High Clarinet
Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 00:45:45 -0400

Prolly anyone making their living playing has at least *some* experience
playing Eb, (probably C), Bb, A, and bass, but I think it's a fair statement
that most everyone has a lot more more experience at one end or the other.
I'm sort of a "high end community player," as I don't make my living at it
but study a fair amount, practice a lot, have played solo recitals, and do a
fair number of gigs, and while I mainly play soprano clarinets and alto sax
these days, I cut my teeth in dance band on bari sax and now I may get some
opportunities soon with an orchestra on bass clarinet (having played Bb and
A clarinet in a lot of "pick-up" orchestras for events, usually on the 1st
part). So I seem, either by temperment or necessity, to end up playing big
horns, but I like it better when I can move up to the smaller ones. Having
said THAT, I could actually see myself playing bari again if it were in a
more contemporary band where the bari gets to get out and do more solos and
provide a heavier "bottom" to the sound. So I guess it's more the size of
the ego in my case than the size of the horn.

The woman who replaced me on bari in my dance band when I moved up to alto
is about 5'0" and maybe 95 pounds soaking wet, so go figure.

I don't know if any of the above tells you anything, but another observation
is I've heard a few fairly good Bb/A players play fairly bad on Eb, so I
would be fearful of playing one in an important concert without plenty of
time to work on the part and without a good instrument. It is very easy to
play an Eb very badly out of tune.

Finally, the technical challenges in playing bass clarinet that make it not
a "instant pick-up" in my mind are: -- learning bass clef if you don't know
it already (in case the parts aren't in treble, tho they often are), and
subtly "re-learning" the embouchure and breath support needed to make it
sound good. The high register of the bass clarinet is challenging to me, and
"making the break" evenly and smoothly is a bit of a learning curve as well.

>From: Elgenubi@-----.com
>Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
>To: klarinet@-----.org
>Subject: [kl] Low Clarinet, High Clarinet
>Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 16:42:31 EDT
>
>Dan Leeson, in discussing other things, made this reference: "For those
>unfamiliar with the history involved, horn players of the 18 and 19th
>centuries
>normally specialized in low horn or high horn parts."
>
>This reminded me that recently a young horn player in my band referred to
>high horn and low horn players that she knew. In the clarinet world we
>certainly
>have people who may prefer to play bass or prefer to play Eb soprano. When
>you are a professional, are you expected to be equally proficient on these
>high
>and low clarinets? When there is a need for doubling on one of these other
>clarinets, do good players negotiate with each other to decide who gets
>which
>part?
>
>Wayne Thompson
>
>
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