The Clarinet BBoard

Re: bass clarinet vs. soprano

Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017 Date:   2006-05-31 19:18 Here's a poor analogy: Should your first car be a Toyota Corolla (soprano clarinet) or a Ferrari Enzo (bass clarinet)?

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Re: bass clarinet vs. soprano

Author: Jack Kissinger  Date:   2006-06-05 16:30 About a year ago, a friend of mine asked for some advice about starting out on saxophone -- in particular what might be a good, not too expensive instrument to buy. My initial response was, "Why not start on clarinet and then pick up the saxophone later." My rationale was that the clarinet is smaller, lighter, and less expensive and that it's easier to switch to saxophone from clarinet (IMO) than vice-versa. Then I started to think about his situation. He's in his early 40's, plays some guitar by ear (actually pretty well) and his goal was to play the saxophone not the clarinet. Further, it appeared that he was primarily interested in playing for his own enjoyment, not in joining a band (community or otherwise) and while not averse to learning a bit about reading music, really didn't consider that a high priority. In the end, I came around to Larry Bocaner's point of view. The end of the tunnel is really the deciding factor. So I went back to my friend, told him that I thought, in his case, starting on sax made good sense, recommended that he rent rather than purchase to begin with, and recommended a teacher (who, in turn could help him with his selection of a rental and later purchase horn). He took my advice and has been happy with his decision. He's been progressing on sax and enjoying the ride, though presently, because of available time issues, he is mostly playing his guitar and has put sax lessons on temporary hiatus. As a result, I find myself in complete agreement with everything Larry has said. If you are an adult beginner, your immediate goal is to obtain moderate skill on an instrument for your own recreation and you have a strong preference for the sound of the bass clarinet, I see no reason not to start on it. Otherwise, I agree with the others who have said soprano is a better starting place. At the very least, be aware that the bass clarinet is more expensive (both for the instrument and its reeds), it's heavier (at least to carry around), is more of a nuisance to put together and take apart, has a somewhat larger finger-spread (but not too bad), takes a much larger mouthpiece, and requires more air. As a result, your initial progress may be a little slower. My advice would be to find a teacher, ideally who can teach both soprano and bass, rent a soprano and take a few months' lessons on that for starters. During that time, you may find that you fall in love with the soprano, or you may find that you have no interest in continuing with any clarinet of any kind, or you may decide that you really do want to concentrate on the bass. If the last, then you can focus on obtaining a decent bass clarinet (with your teacher's help) and make the switch. The good news is that virtually everything you have learned on soprano up to that point, will be transferrable to the bass. It's interesting to me to see how these threads develop. For the most part, the folks who post to this board are friendly and not inclined to contradict one another. In this thread, you've heard from a number of people who started on bass and have been successful. They are evidence of the fact that it is possible to go in this direction. On the other hand, while they may be good bass clarinetists, I don't think they are a representative sample from the general population of good bass clarinetists. In my experience, most good bass clarinetists started on soprano and then took up the bass later. I don't know any good bass clarinetists, including those professionals who have made a specialty of it, who are not, at least, competent on soprano (and most are outstanding on soprano). Also, there are a few comments above that, FWIW, I totally disagree with. First of all, I strongly disagree with the recommendation that you start out on both simultaneously primarily because of the difference in the size of the mouthpieces but also because of the differences in response you are likely to encounter between two beginning instruments. I think starting on both at the same time would be confusing to your embouchure at best and frustrating at worst. I also disagree that bass is bass and soprano is soprano and playing one will not improve the other. The best bass clarinetists I know are also among the best soprano clarinetists I know and the weakest bass clarinetists I know are also weak on soprano. Personally, I find that most of what I learn on one is transferrable to the other. I sometimes work out difficult bass parts on the soprano first. (It's smaller and quicker to put together and take apart.) While I sometimes find that a soprano fingering doesn't work on the bass (or vice versa), these are relatively rare occurrences and easily dealt with on an exception basis. Time spent improving my soprano playing also improves my bass playing -- not as much as the same amount of time on the bass would do but still a significant amount -- and vice versa. Very likely the law of diminishing returns does apply here but not, IMO, until one has reached a very high level of ability. I also disagree with the recommendation that you read Stein, Pino and Ridenour before you start lessons. These authors wrote their books for intermediate to advanced players and teachers. They will be mostly incomprehensible to someone who's never held a clarinet in his/her hands. On a more positive note, I do agree with David S. that his analogy is a poor one. I think a closer analogy would be a toyota corolla and an 18-wheeler. (OK, that might be overdoing it a little -- an 18-wheeler might be more like a contrabass.) Best regards, jnk

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