Klarinet Archive - Posting 000050.txt from 2009/11

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Interesting C clarinet part
Date: Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:15:05 -0500

I was once asked to play that part in the Nilsson, so stop talking so much
about a subject that is foreign to you. In the real music world, one
sometime has to play parts and lines that contradict what the composer asked
for. But if one is a working musician, that is exactly what you are obliged
to do. You play what you have to play on whatever is available.

As a player you should be working hard to improve the range and character of
your instrument. If you don't want to do that, that's OK with me, but don't
criticize me for doing it. You are behaving like a stick in the mud.

You know very well what my feelings are when department from the text, but
if a conductor asks you to play turned around with your ass showing, then
that is what you do.

Dan Leeson

----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith Bowen" <bowenk@-----.com>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 07, 2009 4:04 PM
Subject: RE: [kl] Interesting C clarinet part

> Dan, I am shocked to my core. Play a bassoon part on a bass clarinet in A?
> Might as well play the basset horn parts of the GP on tenor saxes. May I
> refer you to your own article with Bob Levin which explains why that is
> such
> a naughty thing to do?
>
> If the composer called for a bassoon with a toilet roll in the end that is
> exactly what he should get.
>
> <shaking head and clucking tongue>
>
> Keith
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dan Leeson [mailto:dnleeson@-----.net]
> Sent: 07 November 2009 23:29
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] Interesting C clarinet part
>
> Keith you are losing your imagination. With a low C bass in A, I could
> play
>
> the bassoon part on the Nilsson quintet. That's the one that requires the
> bassoon to put in a cardboard tube that enables a descent to low A
> concert.
>
> In addition, why do you take such a narrow, parochial view which places
> you
> in the position of being able to play what is out there. You should be
> taking the role of having instruments that will encourage compositions for
> their extended range. Stop being so passive about your instruments. Be
> more aggressive. If you had an A bass with a low C, you could get works
> commissioned that would those notes.
>
> To me your remarks are what I got from some clarinet salesmen when I asked
> for a B-flat soprano that would enable a descent to low C, and what they
> told me was that there was no need for a B-flat clarinet to play that low.
>
> And here I thought you were a 100% avant guard player.
>
> Dan Leeson
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Keith Bowen" <bowenk@-----.com>
> To: <klarinet@-----.org>
> Sent: Saturday, November 07, 2009 2:55 PM
> Subject: RE: [kl] Interesting C clarinet part
>
>
>> Dan,
>>
>> I found fifty-seven works using the bass in A. Only one descended below
>> E,
>> and that was Eb, in the Berg Four Early Songs. I believe your Selmer had
>> that fitted - certainly others in that Selmer batch did, as did 20th
>> Century
>> Heckels. If you know anything lower I need to know about it!
>>
>> So what would you do with those low notes, apart from give nice
>> vibrations
>> to the flutist sitting in front of you? To my knowledge, the only scores
>> using lower notes (e.g. Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff) only use Bb basses.
>>
>> Keith Bowen
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Dan Leeson [mailto:dnleeson@-----.net]
>> Sent: 07 November 2009 22:19
>> To: klarinet@-----.org
>> Subject: Re: [kl] Interesting C clarinet part
>>
>> You are absolutely right Roger. One cannot hold down a bass clarinet
>> chair
>> in a symphony orchestra today without the low C. When I had my bass
>> clarinet in A made, I asked for the same thing, but Selmer refused. If I
>> were to do it again today, I'd have Fox make a low C bass in A for me.
>>
>> Dan Leeson
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Roger Hewitt" <rogerclarinet@-----.uk>
>> To: <klarinet@-----.org>
>> Sent: Saturday, November 07, 2009 1:33 PM
>> Subject: Re: [kl] Interesting C clarinet part
>>
>>
>> I see plenty of low Ds on Bass Clarinet parts (and occasionally Cs) and I
>> just wish I could afford an instrument to go there. The "standard" is
>> Eb,
>> course, but many composers would expect the low C extension to be
>> available
>> in professional bands and orchestras.
>>
>> Roger Hewitt
>>
>> --- On Sat, 7/11/09, Dan Leeson <dnleeson@-----.net> wrote:
>>
>>> From: Dan Leeson <dnleeson@-----.net>
>>> Subject: Re: [kl] Interesting C clarinet part
>>> To: klarinet@-----.org
>>> Date: Saturday, 7 November, 2009, 19:46
>>> That is probably true. Even the
>>> best of us would find it difficult to create a usable harp
>>> part. And clarinets are particularly bummered up
>>> because of the added complexity of being a transposing
>>> instrument.
>>>
>>> I once played a Sousa piece (don't remember which one, but
>>> it was a suite of some sort) that called for a low D on the
>>> bass clarinet. It was a perfectly good note, but I
>>> think that Sousa may have been uncertain about the lower
>>> limits of a clarinet.
>>>
>>> Dan Leeson
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Vaccaro" <mike@-----.com>
>>> To: <Klarinet@-----.org>
>>> Sent: Saturday, November 07, 2009 11:12 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [kl] Interesting C clarinet part
>>>
>>>
>>> > I think that many times orchestrators and composers
>>> don't know what our instruments do or sometimes even the
>>> range. I run across this quite often even with fine
>>> composer/orchestrators.
>>> > Mike Vaccaro
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > This e-mail may contain information that is privileged
>>> or confidential.
>>> > If you are not the intended recipient, please delete
>>> the e-mail and any attachments and notify us immediately.
>>> >
>>> > --------------------------------------------------
>>> > From: "Clark Fobes" <claroneman@-----.net>
>>> > Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 3:09 PM
>>> > To: <Klarinet@-----.org>
>>> > Subject: [kl] Interesting C clarinet part
>>> >
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >> I was subbing for a rehearsal of Othello with the
>>> SF Opera a few days ago
>>> >> and was very interested to see a written low D in
>>> the 2nd clarinet part
>>> >> which in that section was for C clarinet. I
>>> wonder if Verdi was writing for
>>> >> a specific instrument or if he just did not know
>>> that the soprano clarinets
>>> >> did not go that low? Verdi was such a wonderful
>>> orchestrator by the time he
>>> >> got to his late Operas that you would think he
>>> would be aware of the range
>>> >> of all of the woodwinds.
>>> >>
>>> >> Clark W Fobes
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> if you get the digest.
>>> >>
>>> >
>>> >
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> if you get the digest.
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> if you get the digest.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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