 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Amber
Date: 2000-03-23 02:19
Hi, thank you all who helped me with my first dilema. What a cool site with such awesome people!!:o) I have another question. I play bass clarinet now and am told I am really good. In college, do they have a seperate bass player or does one of the last chair players take up the part as needed? And are there ways to keep your lung capacity up? People don't think I am big enough to play bass (5 foot 1 inch, barely), but I can out blow all our tuba players! Unfortunately,I get chest colds very often and it takes me forever to get back to were I was before I was sick. Thanks again for any help anyone can offer!
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Author: 'nifer
Date: 2000-03-23 12:23
at my college, the bass clarinet player in the wind ensembles is a bass clarinet player.. thats it.. someone who specializes in bass.. but once and awhile, the bass player may get parts to play on Bb. IN the university symphony, the bass clarinet parts are assigned to one of the members who plays Bb AND bass.. but you need to be quite proficient at Bb.. there are many non-audition bands that will allow the bass clarinet player to play just bass.. and usually the player is someone who wants to play bass! ;-)
'nifer
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Author: Justin Silber
Date: 2000-03-23 20:06
To start, in my high-school band we have a seperate bass player. Geez, that was a long answer! Now, to your question of breathing, I suggest that you read the article in archives of this message board entitled BREATHING FROM THE DIAPHRAGM. Secondly, a short while ago I became interested in breath-hold diving and as a result i came across several stretches that, over time, will increase your lung capacity.
Stretch #1:
Raise your arms above your head and bring your hands together palm to palm. Bend to the left at the waist and then exhale as far as you can, then lean to the right and repeat the sequence. Do this about 20 times for each side. You should try to breath from the diaphragm while doing this, and at least in me this requires a concious effort. A word of caution, stop during your chest colds and then slowly up the repetition number when they are done.
Stretch #2:
Sitting on the ground, stretch out your legs in front of you. Now bend one leg in front of you with your foot still flat on the ground. Rotate your upper body so that it stretches your rib cage area and inhale, again preferably "from the diaphragm". You can lock your elbow behind the leg that is folded up. Do 20 repetitions of this, then switch to the other leg and repeat the process.
At first you may become sore from these stretches, but if you do them regularly this will go away. You will be allowing your upper chest area the flexibility of expanding, and thus increasing your lung capacity. These stretches work for me, in both diving and playing, and I believe they will for you too. A word of caution, I am not a doctor, and do not know what effect performing these stretches will have on you if you do them during a chest cold. Good luck!
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Author: paul
Date: 2000-03-23 20:48
Is there a future for a bass clarinet player? Gee, let me see...
My tutor was the bass clarinet player for a major midwestern city's orchestra for 25 years. He had a steady paycheck through the most turbulent times in our country, which is not bad at all. Caveat: He was and still is definitely world class caliber, both in clarinet skills and as a person. You will need to be exceptionally good at both of these qualities to play at this level and stay there for that long.
My nephew is a bass clarinet player for his high school. His tutor is a pro bass clarinet player in the large metro area in the midwest. Again, the pro is definitely a pro, but he continues to draw a steady paycheck and always has students. My nephew always has a seat in the high school band.
Then, there's me. I tried the bass clarinet in high school 20 years ago in an attempt to break out of the pack of 20 plus soprano clarinets. I was mediocre to lousy, so I was a second seat bass clarinetist sitting right next to an extremely good student who had the pleasure of private lessons early in life - on the bass clarinet. Instead of being let go from the band for not making the cut as a sophmore, I managed to stick around in both the marching and symphonic bands all 4 years until I graduated from high school.
Finally, as I've heard it and experienced it, bass clarinet players are a pretty tight group. Bass clarinets tend to keep their value, especially the very good ones. Parts are tend to be hard to come by for broken horns, and sometimes music parts are difficult to secure just for the bass clarinet. However, the folks with the expertise with this relatively rare (not as rare as the harmony horns, but rare enough) clarinet tend to get steady gigs in whatever place they try.
So, I'd say there is a future for a bass clarinet player.
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Author: Amber
Date: 2000-03-24 04:40
That really clears up a lot of the stuff I was wondering about. Thanks.I am really glad to hear this because I love playing bass. In our marching band, we do a lot of the strecthes for our muscles, but I never thought of using them for breathing. What a great idea. I will have to try it. Thanks for all the imput. I really am very grateful!:o)
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