 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Melanie
Date: 2000-02-06 22:29
Hi everyone!
For our next concert, I'll be putting the contrabass in contrabassoon. Our conductor is having me play contra to fill in the gaps on some chamber pieces. I've never played contra before, and I was wondering if there were any little hints as to making it sound decent. I'll be playing on a straight metal Leblanc (number 333!). What kind of reed should I get? I don't remember what the mouthpiece is, and I know that does play a factor in reed selection. If any of you have an insight into taming this beast, please let me know!
Melanie
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2000-02-07 00:39
Hi'Melanie
Since these instruments usually lie around for ages between the times they are used, first of all, make sure that the instrument is in good shape. That all the pads are sealing and that both the speakerkeys work properly. The sqeaks can be quite severe otherwise. You will need Contrabass-clarinet reeds. The mouthpiece is probably a LeBlanc original with a medium-large tip-opening so don´t use too hard reeds.
2½-3 shuld be enough. Your teacher or band-director shuld know where to get them. If you are living in a small place, the local musicstore will probably not have them so you will have to get them elsewhere. If they are hard to find maybe you can use Baryton-saxophone reeds. They might be too narrow though and you will have to cut them off at the lower end. I have never tryed them myself so I´m not sure if they will work or not.
To produce the sound your mouth have to be extremely relaxed. Just rest your upper jaw on the mouthpiece and blow. Use no pressure from the lower jaw. To get a big and rich sound, use a lot of air in your mouth-cavity and don´t be afraid to let your cheeks go "balloony". Some practice might help too.
I play in a Philharmonic Orchestra myself,with Contrabass-clarinet in my contract and I´m happy to shere my experiences with you. Good luck.
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-02-07 02:32
I play a EEb contra alto (LeBlanc straight). I have two mouthpeices, the original LeBlanc and a Selmer. The LeBlanc is sized for the full size contra reed, although a bari reed will fit if its squared dead on. The low range sounds best (to me) with the big contra reed. I use a #2 or #2.5 on this. Can't get it to work with a #3 though. The Selmer is sized and cut for a bari reed and seems to play easier in the clarion range. It also uses a little less air volume which is great when I find several whole notes tied together. Alfie was right on about leaks. The contra contraptions are very unforgiving even with the most minute leak. Those long keys and the mounting posts bend far too easily on the LeBlancs, so be careful. They are a blast to play when you get the hang of it, so have fun.
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Author: Katherine Pincock
Date: 2000-02-07 11:29
Sorry, don't know about reed price, but I have one more suggestion for playing it: most people, when they first try contra, don't take enough mouthpiece into their mouth because they're used to Bb or bass. To tell where your lips should rest, put the reed on the mouthpiece when it's still off the horn. Hold the side of mouthpiece up to a light, and you'll be able to see light between the mouthpiece and reed at the tip and partway down the mouthpiece. Right where the reed touches the mouthpiece is where your mouth should go. I pulled this trick, and I was amazed by how much easier it was to play. Hope this helps!
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Author: Bill
Date: 2000-02-07 12:48
I play a LeBlanc folded (paperclip) EEb contra-alto and have used Rico, VanDoren, and Marca reeds that I buy mailorder from Woodwind and Brasswind. Forgotten the prices now, but they are expensive (however, contra reeds last longer than my regular clarinet reeds). Rico are the least expensive but I prefer the sound of the VanDorens. I have not had much success with Marca reeds. You need to play a soft reed - I use #3 VanDorens.
I replaced the LeBlanc mouthpiece that came with the instrument with a Woodwind mpc that provides better sound and response for me. LeBlanc owns Woodwind and sells these mouthpieces as does Woodwind and Brasswind.
Katherine is absolutely correct about the placement of the mpc in the mouth. You can read about this and other tips about playing contrabass clarinets in a note that LeBlanc provides free of charge (see their website).
Bill
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2000-02-07 19:23
Melanie wrote:
-------------------------------
Hi everyone!
For our next concert, I'll be putting the contrabass in contrabassoon. Our conductor is having me play contra to fill in the gaps on some chamber pieces. I've never played contra before, and I was wondering if there were any little hints as to making it sound decent. I'll be playing on a straight metal Leblanc (number 333!). What kind of reed should I get? I don't remember what the mouthpiece is, and I know that does play a factor in reed selection. If any of you have an insight into taming this beast, please let me know!
Melanie
Melanie -
Contra is pretty easy to play -- much easier for me than bass clarinet. You need plenty of air, at a rather low pressure. Lawrie Bloom (bass cl. in Chicago) has an excellent exercise: practice breathing with your lips wrapped around a clarinet barrel held in your mouth like a cigar, to get used to moving lots of air at low pressure.
Contrabassoon parts are in bass clef, so to play the BBb contra you will have to read bass clef and transpose a step up -- a mental hazard if you're not used to it. If your band has one, and the part doesn't go too low, you could use an Eb contra-alto, on which you can read the bass clef part as if it were in treble clef (adjusting the key signature).
The straight metal Leblanc models go down to written low Eb. The curved ("paper clip") models go an extra minor third lower, to written low C.
Both Leblanc contra models have only one key (Eb/Bb) for the right index finger. It's a bit of a mental hazard not to have the one for the first space F#, but you learn to get along without it.
The old Leblanc BBb contras (and # 333 is definitely an old one) used a different and larger mouthpiece than the Eb contra-altos or the current BBb model. I have an old BBb paper clip model, and it uses Vandoren contrabass clarinet reeds. They're dreadfully expensive -- several bucks a reed -- but they last forever. I got two boxes 35 years ago, and even though I played the instrument every day (in the West Point Band), I didn't get through even one box. If you can't find the Vandoren contrabass reeds, bass saxophone reeds work fine.
You should probably start with a medium strength reed and sand it down if necessary. If the reed is too soft, it just makes a slapping sound on the low notes, with no tone or pitch. You don't have to worry about it too much -- it mostly afflicts the very bottom notes on the paperclip models to low C, and particularly the BBb instrument with the small mouthpiece. Still, with a stiffer reed you can get a musical sound out of it.
The Leblanc Eb and current Leblanc BBb use baritone sax reeds. Unfortunately, the new Leblanc BBb mouthpiece has a smaller tenon than the old one and thus won't fit.
Everyone else's advice is excellent. On the theory that seating large pads on metal rims was rather like seating flute pads, I took my BBb to a flute specialist, who did an excellent job. I suppose a sax specialist would also do well. The most important thing is to be sure the incredibly complicated register key mechanism works properly, with each key closing completely when the other is open.
Finally, even if you play single lip on everything else, it's nearly essential to play double lip on the BBb contra. Otherwise your brains get scrambled from the vibration.
I have posted several long items on the contra over the last couple of years. For more than you every wanted to know, see:
<A HREF=http://www.www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?id=10380>http://www.www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?id=10380<A>
<A HREF=http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?id=8896>http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?id=8896<A>
<A HREF=http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?id=111>http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?id=111<A>
<A HREF=http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?id=502>http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?id=502<A>
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Kontragirl
Date: 2000-02-07 22:16
Contra reeds are generally 3.00 a pop. My advice to you, is even though Rico is evil, stick to it...it won't make you go broke as fast. Also, don't learn contra in front of the band, it's a little embarrassing.
First you have to get comfortable, and then you have to put the reed in your mouth...I promise it will soak up all of your saliva in about 2 seconds. Then you put it on and it's time to play.
So, you think you're ready to play....but let's play a warm up note first.
BBLLAATTTTTT!
Okay, umm...that was...uhh...nice...Time to play a Bb concert scale? Okay...
MMmpphhh
MMMpppppphhhh
OH! Nobody told me this was an Eb instrument....umm...Eb...okay...that's a G scale....
MMMPPHHHHH
By now the band should be laughing so hard they are starting to fall off their chairs.
After band, the director says, you're taking it home to practice tonight, right? And you say "O cor siam...my mouf ith a little dwry though."
Not that this ever happened to me or anything....
To put it simply, take it home before attempting to play it in front of the band. Unless you feel like giving the band a good laugh...at least you have a warning.
Kontragirl
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Author: Melanie
Date: 2000-02-08 01:55
Thanks for all the advice!
Kontragirl -- your story was hilarious!
I'm getting some reeds tomorrow and then I'm locking myself in a practice room until I can produce a decent sound...hopefully that won't take too long because our college chamber wind group is recording the Strauss Serenade in 2 weeks! I'll keep you guys posted on my progress!
Melanie
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-02-08 04:10
I suggest taking your mouth with you when you buy your first reeds. If its sized for bari sax reeds, there should be no problem. If its sized for contra reeds, and you want to try a bari reed, I've found some that just barely fit while some were just a tad too narrow to cover the side rails enough to play.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-02-08 15:32
I never thought I'd see myself recommending "plain old Ricos" for anything, but I've found that they're my favorite reeds for bass sax (a good thing too, because they're often the only reeds I can find in that size!. In those large sizes, maybe small amounts of sloppiness in the cut don't matter as much.
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Author: SusieQ
Date: 2000-02-09 14:45
Lelia, I too like Rico reeds for bass clarinet. I use the Plasticover I can get 2-3 good ones out of a box of 5 and find they last quite a while. I don't know if they make them for contra or not.
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