Klarinet Archive - Posting 000131.txt from 2009/07

From: Diego Casadei <casadei.diego@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] seeking basset clarinet
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2009 03:24:27 -0400

Dear Dan (and everybody else),

this is my first post to this mailing list (I usually post to the
Italian one). Your words made me think about the never ending
discussions on the left-hand Ab/Eb key, the complete Boehm system, the
Schmidt system and so on.

Unfortunately, it appears that most people prefer the simplest (from the
mechanics point of view, not playing) instrument. I even remember a
(Italian) post about the Eb/Bb left-hand key used just for trills,
asking whether a basset clarinet should have such key (not there at
Mozart time).

The best example of really great improvement which is not widespread in
use is the Schmidt-like mechanism for splitting the Bb "throat" tonehole
from the register key. Everybody hates how bad the Bb sounds, but
practically nobody makes use of that mechanism (even though there are
solutions on the market). Another example on the same wavelength is the
lowest Eb key of the complete system: though seldom needed to play the
Eb (unless one makes transpositions from A), the corresponding tonehole
makes the B sounding much better and improves the passage between the
"throat" A to the B. Not to mention that complete systems are generally
better balanced over the full gamma, thanks to the additional holes.

I hope we'll soon stop considering instruments as "frozen" to the
situation of 1 century ago but don't see this happening in short time.

Best regards,
Diego Casadei

Dan Leeson wrote:
>
> (...) about 5 years before I stopped playing, I
> tried to get someone to make 3 basset clarinets for me, in B-flat, A,
> and C. It was my intention to make them my regular orchestral clarinets.
>
> I failed because no manufacturer would do the job. The reasons were
> brainless, in that some nice young man who knew very little counseled me
> that it would a waste of money because there was no orchestral
> literature for the instruments.
>
> Well that's not really the case, but it is close to the truth. And I
> would counter by saying, "the extra length would change the character of
> the sound of the instrument even if I never play the low notes. And the
> availability of the instruments might encourage a composer.
>
> I suspect that the Canadian guy who built my basset horn would have
> undertaken the task but it takes him a year or more to get an
> instrument, thought when he is finished, it is generally a great horn.
> It was not that the cost was prohibitive, only that it would take
> forever to get all three instruments.
>
> Once again, sorry for thinking Friday instead of February. I just
> turned 77 and a lot is slipping out of my head. I hope that I am not on
> my way to an unpleasant end.
>
> Dan Leeson

--

Diego Casadei, PhD.
Physics Department, CERN
New York University bld. 32, S-A19
4 Washington Place 1211 Geneve 23
New York, NY 10003 Mailbox J28310
USA Switzerland
office: +1-212-998-7675 office: +41-22-767-6809
mobile: +39-347-1460488 mobile: +41-76-213-5376
http://cern.ch/casadei/ Diego.Casadei@-----.ch
----------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org