The Clarinet BBoard

Taking a Stand

Author: Low_Reed  Date:   2006-03-27 13:39 Hi, folks, It's been a busy and delightful week for me: I bought a used Selmer 1440 contra-alto clarinet, I joined a community band, and I modified my bass clarinet stand so it could hold both horns at once! Sweet horn - 25+ years old, shipped cross-country, and I was able to play low Eb through top-o'-the-clarion C right out of the box! (Using a baritone sax 3# Alexander Classique reed, BTW.) Now I can take my Deep Burbling even deeper. (Here's a partial explanation of why my solo (now serial duet!) low clarinet band is called Deep Burble Took both horns to my first rehearsal with this community band, 'cuz they said they needed Low Reeds. And it turns out that I will use both for the next round of concerts in May and June. I'll be playing West Side Story's string bass part on my contra, with that pretend-it's-treble-clef-and-add-three-sharps trick that many of you have mentioned. (Or, more likely for this easily confused reader, with that sit-down-at-the-PC,-enter-into-Finale,-then-push-the-magic- transpose-button trick!) I've been using a Larry Bocaner custom bass clarinet stand for the last 3+ years, and have loved it. (Thanks, Larry!) So I was tickled to discover that the vertical rod could be extended far enough to hold my contra-alto. But, picture this: Try holding onto a bass and a contra-alto, then re-adjusting the height of the stand to accomodate one of them (the other one), while the conductor's got his baton up! My first thought was to ask Larry if he had any more stands available. But then I decided to try modifying the stand, to hold both at once. Spent most of Saturday staring at the stand and doing the Rodin thing, and finally came up with this Goldberg variation on Larry's stand: I Stand Alone . And here's how it looks, loaded up and ready to rumble: Big and Bigger A good friend took one look at the intricate plumbing and ductwork of my contra-alto and surmised that Terry Gilliam's mother must have been frightened by one of these when he was in her womb! As Plant and Page suggested: Rumble On! Bruce **Music is the river of the world!** -- inspired by Tom Waits and a world full of music makers Post Edited (2006-03-27 13:48)

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