Klarinet Archive - Posting 000362.txt from 2005/06

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Basset clarinets are regular orchestral instruments
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 20:09:59 -0400

Dan Leeson wrote:

> We are talking about 4 more inches of wood and another four keys (or
> perhaps five if there are alternate fingerings supplied) along with
> the rods and pad cups need for proper execution. Now how much heavier
> is that in real terms?

It's not so much that it's heavier as it is that the weight is
distributed very differently (and inconveniently); having the extra
weight on the *bottom* of the clarinet changes the balance of the
instrument in a way that simply increasing its mass evenly all round
wouldn't. Basically you have to use either a neck-brace or a
floor-spike to use a basset clarinet effectively. It thus among other
things makes difficult the "bells up" direction that is sometimes called
for by composers and/or conductors.

By comparison on full-Boehm instrument this effect is pretty negligible
since the extra length is so much less.

The bottom line is I think it is much more convenient to use the
conventional instrument if you aren't going to be using the extra low notes.

Bass clarinet is not a fair comparison since the instrument is so
weighty and cumbersome anyway that you're using a floor spike whatever
the lower range, so you might as well have the extra notes. The
difference in the convenience of the two instruments is pretty
negligible whereas in the case of the soprano clarinet/basset clarinet
it is not.

It's for this reason I think we're better off trying to encourage
players to purchase extra "basset joints" for their instrument to be
swapped to when needed (à la Howarths, Fox, Chadash, etc.), than to use
the instrument as the "standard" when it's not called for specifically.

Actually my feeling is that the people we really need to get on-side are
film and TV composers. Once it becomes commercially handy for session
musicians to have a basset joint to hand, you're going to get a lot more
people going for them, since it's always nice to get more session work. :-)

Talking of session musicians, once I saw Nicholas Bucknall (one of the
UK's top session players) give a great performance of Reich's New York
Counterpoint, to my surprise, on basset clarinet. I quizzed him about
it later and he said it was the only instrument that allowed him to
match the timbre of the prerecorded tape (which was the hired tape
provided by Boosey & Hawkes).

-- Joe

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