 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2004-10-22 15:32
Yes.
Real men play bass clarinet and bari sax.
Flame suit: ON
Chauvinist Pig Face: ON
Thick skin: ON
Sensitivity: OFF
CHECKLIST COMPLETE
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Author: CPW
Date: 2004-10-22 15:41
Oh boy....better check your email (2 reasons, dave....wink wink) and put on the spam blocker.
edited post after dave visited.
Against the windmills of my mind
The jousting pole splinters
Post Edited (2004-10-22 16:03)
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Author: Bob A
Date: 2004-10-22 16:32
Dave, maybe it's Bass clarinet because us old geezers need to sit down when playing and our right thumbs don't need to hold up the big stick? I pass on the bari!.
Bob A
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2004-10-22 16:32
I'm not a band director, but those stats seem to fall in line with what I remember from school ages ago. Boys are more likely to favor the louder, more noticeable brass instruments and percussion, where girls tend to favor the more subtle, and may I say delicate, woodwinds. Saxophones have an approximate 50/50 mix because they are woodwinds with a boldness similar to the brass. That's one of my theories. (I have another, more risque, theory as well.)
And, being a bass clarinetist, I must say that Dave S.'s statement may have something to it.
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Author: Matt Locker
Date: 2004-10-22 16:45
The smart guys play clarinet or flute. Gets em closer to the girls!!
MOO,
Matt
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2004-10-22 17:02
I play baritone, bass clarinet, alto, clarinet, a little flute and have done so for many years. I also spent a year in the field in a relatively brawny combat arm (armor; why walk when you can ride?) in RVN in the 1970's and currently play in a full contact (checking) ice hockey league at the age of 54.
Long story short, I just don't think that the British/English/UK shoe fits me very well. Can't say anything about the rest of you Buffet sucking folks, though.
Of course, it may be a problem restricted to that little isle. After all, they still name their lads with monikers like Colin and Nigel; their mileage may vary...
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-10-22 17:11
Her tongue was the best I had met.
Her fingers would drive me to sweat.
Before you get mad,
It's really not bad.
I'm talking 'bout playing clarinet ...GBK
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Author: Joe Garza
Date: 2004-10-22 17:21
I picked clarinet in junior high for the above mentioned reason of being closer to the girls. =)
Funny thing is, my girlfriend of a year now is a tuba player!
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Author: msloss
Date: 2004-10-22 18:03
It has been that way for years.
Elementary School -- "Ick, I'm surrounded by girls."
Junior High School -- "Oh my god, I'm surrounded by girls."
High School -- "Whoo hoo! I'm surrounded by girls!"
I had a date to the Senior Prom (later became my wife) while all those trombone players and drummers had an all-night Scooby Doo marathon.
And no, real men don't play bass clarinet and bari sax. Stupid men who wish to spend their later years crippled from neck and back problems play them... And boy does my back hurt.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2004-10-22 18:13
msloss,
There's certainly some truth to your statement about neck and back problems from playing the heavier horns --- fortunately I've been spared any such problems, but I have friends who have had them --- hard to say if the bigger instruments were in any way the cause, but the solution seems to be the widespread use of harnesses, pegs, stands, or some combination thereof. Nonetheless, we're not stupid for playing them --- I happen to love playing the big horns, and I've always prefered them to the smaller woodwinds, even though I don't enjoy lugging the big axes around to gigs.
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2004-10-22 19:28
As recently as ten years ago, I thought little of hauling the baritone in one arm, the bass clarinet in the other, and the clarinet case under my arm. Nowadays, everything gets wheeled on the Rock 'n' Roller cart. I don't think I've hoisted the baritone (a Yamaha YBS 62 in their coffin case) more than onto and off of the cart for years.
I've always been bemused by those with the "heavy" Traypak cases and their complaints. One yank at the handle of my YBS 62 case and they change their tune pretty quickly...
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Author: Topher
Date: 2004-10-22 19:35
msloss,
Your back hurts from playing bass clarinet? That means you just aren't a real man.
All kidding aside, what are the statistics for oboe? I have known only one male oboeist. While he was one of the finest musicians I have ever met and a really nice person, he was slightly effeminate. Just curious.
topher
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2004-10-22 20:28
Don't hit me girls, but most of the really great clarinet players I've known have been men. I do know a few really good women players.
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Author: psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't as
Date: 2004-10-22 20:43
hehe... Everyone knows that guy clarinet players are hot! haha... j/k... But we've got a pretty good ratio, if you include bass... 3 guys to 3 girls... if you don't include any of the freshmen... Sometimes I wish I played a louder instrument though, so people could actually ya know HEAR me... hehe... but oh wells...
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Author: Neil
Date: 2004-10-22 20:43
The numbers for flute seem odd. The only English flute player that comes to mind is Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. Statistically, shouldn't there have been 10 other groups of equal repute led by female flautists?
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Author: Pam H.
Date: 2004-10-22 20:47
I'm not a band director, but from my experience, I would have said it was true in High School.
Now (25 years later), however, I know males who play flute, clarinet and oboe and several females who play trumpet, cello, trombone. I currently know more men who play the sax, but I enjoy it a lot as well.
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Author: CPW
Date: 2004-10-22 20:54
heck....look at Artie Shaw!!!
Didnt hurt Jean Pierre Rampal or Sir Jimmy Gall-way either I wager.
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Author: Phat Cat
Date: 2004-10-22 21:35
"(I have another, more risque, theory as well.)"
Oh no, the Freudian interpretation! What's next, a series of constitutional amendments making it a crime for males to play clarinet in public?
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-10-22 21:48
As for me,
For the four years I was in high school, I was the only male clarinet player. That's INCLUDING bass. We had about 20 clarinetists at any given time.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: contragirl
Date: 2004-10-22 22:41
Many clarinet guys I know personally are gay.
Not that ALL guy clarinetist are gay. :P
*manly voice* I play bass clarinet, and I've played bari sax. What you trying to say, David?
(I call bass cl: "the clarinet with balls," pardon my wordchoice)
:) Yall are silly.
--Contragirl The REAL Man
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Author: msloss
Date: 2004-10-22 23:09
I did miss Scooby Doo, and it scarred me for life.
The pain from the big instruments came from having to do fast pit changes from bari to bass before they had those clever stands, so that monstrosity was hanging off my neck while I was playing bass. Add to that I didn't own a car at the time, so I was hauling bari, bass, clarinet and flute to gigs on foot (yes, uphill, barefoot, and in the snow). Thank god somebody finally thought to put wheels on a bari case.
My god, maybe I am gay. I sure do like playing shows...
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Author: Camanda
Date: 2004-10-23 00:20
For us, it depends on which band you're talking about. Saxes, for example, in Advanced Band are 5:2 boys to girls, whereas in Jazz Ensemble, it's 2:5 boys to girls. The clarinets are almost evenly split; there are a few more girls, plus the girl who plays just bass. In the brass section, it's definitely almost all boys, but of our 4 trombones in the whole music department, the best one is a girl who's in her second year on the thing, go figure. Percussionists...2 girls (1 snare and the keyboard player) and 8 boys. It's basically because the two jazz drummers sweat all over the drumset and then they put it in the practice room so it can really ferment, ya know? Personally, I've never dated a clarinetist, though the tenor sax player I went to my junior prom with played clarinet for about a year before he went to sax.
It's kind of sad, but I'm aware that the music directors in the elementary schools stereotype a lot. Flutes and clarinets are girly. The drums are a man's instrument. I wish they'd knock it off, but I really can't change it. Who knows what kind of musicians get turned off by that?
Amanda Cournoyer
URI Clarinet Ensemble, Bass Clarinet
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Author: jArius
Date: 2004-10-23 01:27
I don't get all this. For me, ever since 9th grade there have been at least as many male clarinetists as female clarinetists, if not more. (In my high school wind ensemble there was one more guy than there were girls.)
But, I don't know, sometimes things can get a little backwards in Utah...
And by the way, I'm not gay. At least not as far as I know...
Furthermore, just to spit on your amusing little theory (all in the name of fun, of course), the section leader for the trumpets in my senior year ensemble was a female. She was the best trumpet player I had ever played with, too.
Jeremy Bruins
Proud member of the too-much-time-on-my-hands club.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-10-23 01:59
I think that a good gauge would be to look at the girl/boy clarinet ratio in the High School programs and the All-County and All State ensembles. These are the students who, for the most part, are the most serious and dedicated players. They are the ones who have stuck it out all through their high school career.
As for the clarinets, I think the girl/boy clarinet ratio is closer to 10 to 1 for the girls.
Many of the boy clarinet students seem to bail out as soon as the lure of team sports becomes available. Fewer girls cease playing their instruments in high school.
I guess it's a lot easier being popular if you wear a football helmet rather than carry a clarinet case.
But, if you play alto clarinet AND wear a football helmet at the same time, you have my sympathy...GBK
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Author: jArius
Date: 2004-10-23 02:16
One, two! One, two! And through and through! Calooh, Callay!
Jeremy Bruins
Proud member of the too-much-time-on-my-hands club.
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Author: Iacuras
Date: 2004-10-23 04:47
I would have to say at my school, the ratio is about 58% girls 42% guys on clarinet. The only lopsided one is flute which is 36 girls and one guy. Ad the answer for the the best way to get girls is obviously just get into marching band. (By the way, just got back from state quarterfinals and my band (Cherry Creek High School) made in to semifinals and gets to perfrom at Mile High Stadium!!!!!)
Steve
"If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job. The kind robots will be doing soon."
"If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly."
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2004-10-23 06:24
I do not recall ever having noticed the ratio while I was in High School, although the second chair was male, a good friend. Perhaps I didn't notice any of the other players except for one dark-haired second clarinetist. And she sure was a girl.. Somehow I didn't care about the rest of them. ...
And all the borogoves were thoroughly mimsy, d'ya remember?
Regards,
John
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Author: jo.clarinet
Date: 2004-10-23 06:37
Just out of interest I went through my pupil list to see the total number of boys and of girls. This isn't for clarinet teaching but for recorders and piano, by the way, but the results seem to bear out what has been written above in most cases.
Out of the 64 pupils I have at the moment, 18 are male and 46 female.
I do find that there is a higher drop-out rate for boys than for girls (although more girls do start lessons in the first place). I find, especially with recorders, that a lot of little boys seem to think that they'll magically be able to play without putting any effort into it, and when they discover that they do actually need to work to get good results from the instrument, they decide that they couldn't be bothered! This does of course happen with some girls as well, but far more often with the boys. Girls are more likely to work diligently and to achieve a good standard of playing in the end, even if they weren't very promising in the first place.
This isn't to say that all my male pupils are like that - I've been teaching for over 20 years and have had some excellent male students. It's just that there have been more female ones!
Joanna Brown
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Author: sömeone
Date: 2004-10-23 09:09
from the looks of all these posts.......
weird people must play the oboe.......
whats an oboe?
hmm.........
edible?
hmm........
(i play oboe......if that matters....)
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Author: 3dogmom
Date: 2004-10-23 11:06
Okay, I have to get in on this one.
I teach elementary bands. In my experience, it is truly the quality of the instrument demo that gets kids to sign up for various instruments. One year, the trumpet guy (and only the trumpet guy) played "SpongeBob" during his demo. Guess what all the kids signed up to play, boys and girls alike.
In my school the numbers are even, except for drums. There is a certain segment of the young male population who play drums at that age because, as they tell me, "they like to hit stuff". How true.
I have many quite good players on all instruments, even (gasp) flute. In fact, I cannot say that there has been a pattern of excellence that is unique to either gender. Possible exception of trumpet - I think it may be a testosterone thing (ladies, that's not an insult, I'm a lady too). And it is definitely cool to be in the band at our school, no matter what you play.
Developmentally speaking, girls mature faster than boys. The complex fingerings necessary in playing clarinet may elude those boys who are having growth spurts, trouble with puberty, etc. and they may give up sooner than girls who are not experiencing the same difficulties.
Sue
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Author: idahofats
Date: 2004-10-23 14:44
Reflecting backward nearly forty years, and coming from the culturally-challenged rural West, I feel that instrument repertoire familiarity/demo is an over-riding factor in who chooses what, and for which reasons. The classical music I heard as a child was heavily focussed toward strings and brass. As far as popular music, Benny Goodman and Lawrence Welk's clarinetist (name escapes me) were the only visible role models (and decidedly middle-aged uncool ones) for a male clarinetist in the late Sixties, while brass players could look to Herb Alpert, Doc Severinsen and Chicago. Artie Shaw didn't receive any airplay in my neck of the woods, and I was fourteen before I heard my first recording of the Mozart Concertino, and fifteen before exposure to Weber and Brahms. What I'm getting at is that the clarinet was either totally invisible or devoid of 'cool' to an entire generation of kids, and definitely pushed young boys who took up the instrument into the realm of geekdom.
Also, I vaguely remember twelve-year-old girls being grossed out by brass volume levels, as well as by loaded spit valves and tuning slides whose contents were routinely flung at them. I don't intend to generalize about gender, but back in the day young women were more concerned about blending in and not leaving large puddles near their seats than guys seemed to be. Better to sound reedy than make fartlike noises while clearing one's horn...
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Author: William
Date: 2004-10-23 15:26
"Benny Goodman and Lawrence Welk's clarinetist (name escapes me) "
Answer--Henry Cuesta (earlier, Pete Fountain)
"Mozart Concertino"
Hmmm.......where can I buy a copy of this?? Or did you mean, Mozart Concerto????
More girls play the clarinet?? I discovered that a long time ago--and have taken advantage of it ever since :>) (no girlie boy go'n on here)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-10-23 16:13
William wrote:
> "Benny Goodman and Lawrence Welk's clarinetist (name escapes
> me) "
> Answer--Henry Cuesta (earlier, Pete Fountain)
Peanuts Hucko also played in the Welk band, after Pete Fountain and before Henry Cuesta ...GBK
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Author: Pam H.
Date: 2004-10-23 17:27
I remember hearing that Pete Fountain "overloaded" the bubble machine one time on the Welk show. That had to be a hoot!
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Author: idahofats
Date: 2004-10-23 19:18
William: Weber Concertino, I meant. It's raining non-stop here, and my head is about to explode, if that's an excuse. Thanks for the Welk information--I don't think I ever saw or heard Pete Fountain play with the Maestro.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-10-23 20:04
The many clarinetists comment about gay that was made earlier by somebody.
Many musicians in general are gay. For that matter, many in Entertainment are as well.
Anyway, last year I had a clarinet student who was quite advanced, 1st chair in his high school on Clarinet and sax for jazz band and was Drum Major too.
This guy also sang in an EMO band as lead singer, and raced Lawnmowers.
Oh yeah, also All State Swimming - very active on the swimteam.
It can be done. (and he's straight)
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2004-10-24 06:46
In my university there are 5 clarinetists. 4 males and only 1 female. From the flute players, there is only 1 male (if I'm not misten) and all others (about 10 maybe) are females.
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Author: jArius
Date: 2004-10-24 06:52
Shun the frumious bandersnatch. (I hear those things have nasty tempers. And their single red eye is enough to give anyone the willies. Stay away. They're just bad news.)
You think this post is getting slightly manxious?
Jeremy Bruins
Proud member of the too-much-time-on-my-hands club.
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Author: Firebird
Date: 2004-10-24 07:09
How can clarinet fingering be difficult when you all only use Boehm and not Oehler 6 ring 32 keys?
Chan
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Author: AJ
Date: 2004-10-24 10:47
In a world where the best rapper is white, and the best golfer is black, i really dont think it matters who does what anymore.
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Author: jArius
Date: 2004-10-25 05:34
Simple rule of thumb: THERE ARE NO GOOD RAPPERS.
(no hate mail, please.)
There are, however, some good gift wrappers, especially at my local book store.
Jeremy Bruins
Proud member of the too-much-time-on-my-hands club.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2004-10-25 10:34
jArius wrote:
> Simple rule of thumb: THERE ARE NO GOOD RAPPERS.
Simple rule of Mark - there are no thumbs ...
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2004-10-25 12:49
FWIW I saw the film based on Eminem's life.
I liked it and gained some insight into rap.
While rap is not what I chose to listen to in my car, I DO recommend the film as cinema and no longer condemn all rap without first listening to the poetry and the statement that the individual work is making.
Early AM
No coffee yet.
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Author: AJ
Date: 2004-10-25 15:31
Good rapper or not, i was just trying to make that point that people now do whatever they want.
I also think there is no good rap either. Although I have studied the poetry of rap, I have mixed feelings. I just didnt like the film about Eminem. I understand the mistake people make when they do condemn all rap without listening to its poetry.
I think i know a clarinetist in my band that raps.
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Author: Slithy Toves
Date: 2004-10-27 02:39
Our clarinet section back in highschool always had the token guy that the girls all hung out with, but never dated (poor thing). There never seemed to be more than one at a time.
In uffish thought,
Sharon
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Author: rbell96
Date: 2004-10-27 19:53
I remember when I took up the clarinet I was the only boy doing it. Saying that I suppose I can be a bit of a girl!
Rob
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Author: Bellflare
Date: 2004-10-27 20:05
"how did we go from whether clarinet is for girls or boys to rappers pray tell?"
for starters someone said that it [doesnt matter if you are a boy or girl] in a world where the best rapper is white and the best golfer is black (ie goes against common stereotypes). thats how.
see----it all fits.
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