 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jenn
Date: 2000-12-09 20:55
Is the Bb bass clarinet clarion register supposed to sound just like the chalumeau register of the regular Bb clarinet? Or should it have a distinctly different tone quality of its own? What type of tone quality do you think sounds best on a bass clarinet? Thanks very much!
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Author: Francesca
Date: 2000-12-09 22:02
Jenn,
I prefer a darker tone for the bass clarinet. My instructor compares bright and dark tones using diamond and velvet for imagery. Unfortunately, mine is more like shag carpeting right now! I have noticed that the registers to seem to overlap like that. It's kind of fun if you can fake out your band director, instructor, etc...
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-12-09 22:22
To me, the upper most notes of the bass and contras sound more like a cello (sometimes a sick one) than a clarinet. With practice and the right setup though they can good, but to me, still more like a cello.
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Author: Pat
Date: 2000-12-10 03:25
The bass clarinet is a completly different beast than the clarinet. Getting a good sound in that high register is the biggest pain. For me i found lowering the longue, losening the embochure, and opening the throat more than usual helps make a better tone in that higher register. The instrument I use right now seems to go sharp when I go up, so I will loosen that as well. THat is what I do, but I bet there are some different approaches that situation.
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Author: Tracey
Date: 2000-12-11 03:12
In my opinion, good bass clarinet players will sound like a regular Bb clarinet in the clarion as well as higher notes. However, this doesn't mean that if they sound differently, then they are worse, it's just that becuase the bass clarinet is so different, they have developed a different feel than from the regular clarinet. Sounding like a muted foghorn seems to be okay for most band directors, and actually, it sounds pretty cool
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2000-12-11 15:22
Because of the difference in bore diameters, it is probably difficult to achieve a completely identical tone between the clarion register of the bass clarinet and the chalameau register of a clarinet. That and the fact that in one case you are opening the register key's tone hole to kick it up into the upper harmonics and the other you aren't. However, in most cases, I believe the tone should be similar. For example, composers/arrangers occasionally have the bass clarinet duplicating what the clarinets are playing. On other occasions, they are playing together to create a clarinet choir effect. These are good examples of wanting to match tonalities.
Other styles and pieces of music may call for a slightly different tone, which can be achieved by varying the embouchure or mouthpiece. Or you may be trying to blend with a different group of instruments. For example, there is one piece our community band is playing for our Christmas concert where one moment only the woodwinds, including bass clarinet, are playing with a choir-like effect. In the space of a measure it changes to brass and bass clarinet playing in a fanfare-like manner. One moment, I am a woodwind player and the next a brass player.
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Author: Tracey
Date: 2000-12-12 05:35
;) I guess I shouldn't really have offered my two cents on something that I don't really know about, which is bass clarinet tone. I guess since I was in 8th grade select band a few years ago and heard "good" bass clarinet play, that it was supposed to sound more or less like a regular clarinet. I think the piece was To Dance in the Secret Garden or something like that for concert band and featured a short bass clarinet solo that started on high C(altissimo) and went down. That player was awesome and the conductor even commented that his college students couldn't maintain tone like that, or even play those notes without squeaking.
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