Klarinet Archive - Posting 000597.txt from 2004/07

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Can you offer guidance on Amati purchase ... (newbie)
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 07:39:37 -0400

Jon Scott Higgs wrote:

> At my current skill level, transposing the concert pitch music onto my
> Bb clarinet puts many of the melodies (which tend to be in
> "fiddle-friendly" keys of D and A) in the keys of E and B -- with
> rapid passages that are simply impossible for any level of technique I
> expect to reach in the next 12 months...
>
> The solution already employed by local clarinetists is to play C
> clarinets. They have spent about $2000 each on their instruments (I
> think Patricola and Noblet) -- completely beyond my means.

Hi Jon,

Why not buy an A clarinet? You will still have to deal with transposing
(though I guess with folk music you should really be learning by ear so
that's not really an issue), but the keys you cite will be much easier
(easier than on a C clarinet).

I've played a few times with a local folk music group here in Denmark
and that was the solution chosen by the clarinettists here. You would
probably get a much wider range of choice of instrument this way---and
it leaves more openings for the classical repertoire if you want to go
in that direction.

-- Joe

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org