Klarinet Archive - Posting 000231.txt from 2010/10

From: "Heinemann, Stephen" <sjh@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] New York Times, Oct. 22
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:02:07 -0400

> Leblanc also did some major experimentation. The larger ones in the picture
> are an OctoContraBass Clarinet, and u SubOctoContraBass Clarinet, both in
> Bb, and yes, each one another octave down.
>
> Geoff Secomb.

This thread has been really interesting to me, in large part since it
originated from an article about clarinetists in San Francisco. I was, back
in the Pleistocene, an undergrad music student at San Francisco State, and
the music department owned one of the LeBlanc octocontrabass clarinets that
Mr. Secomb describes. I had the opportunity to play it for a couple of
days, and it was really fun. The thing was made out of metal of some sort,
and resembled (I suppose) a euphonium in heft and shape. The lowest notes
came out really easily, since clarinets do that kind of thing well, and the
very lowest note (a concert D1, I think, the lowest D on the piano) was no
exception. It was so low that you could pretty much count the vibrations
per second on your teeth while playing.

But the existence of an instrument an octave lower than that (the
suboctocontrabass) is new to me. How wonderful would that be, to be able to
produce a sound a fifth lower than the lowest note on the piano? I wish I
could go back and compose for these instruments, because I'd be able to call
for amazing sounds that had never been heard before. (Which brings me back
to the original article about, among others, a bass clarinet quartet. I'm
not a bass clarinetist, but I'll be checking them out for sure.)

Steve Heinemann
Bradley University

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