 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: John
Date: 2001-01-07 15:12
Does anyone know what the Oscar Adler "OCTAVIN" 1928,Clarinet/Saxophone Item #1402336851 on ebay is? I think I saw one at the exhibit at ClarinetFest 2000. What key does it play in? Is it fingered as a clarinet or saxophone?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: S.Koumas
Date: 2001-01-07 16:50
Wow,
I have never seen or heard of that Clarinet before...
It looks like a Bassoon coz of the way it is assembled and looks like somone sat on it coz it is so small!
I also would be really interested with some more info on this instrument!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Melanie
Date: 2001-01-07 18:34
John,
After I saw that picture on Ebay, I too became curious, so I searched for some references to such an instrument. The octavin didn't have an entry in the New Harvard Dictionary, but I found some websites that did:
http://www.furman.edu/~cleaman/PrtoSx.htm -- It's part of a history of the saxophone page
http://www.whc.net/rjones/octavin.html -- an early wind instrument website that features a longer octavin. Perhaps the ebay one is missing a part? Or maybe they came in different sizes?
My search also pulled up several websites dealing with organ manufacturing. The octavin is one of the 2' pipes. (http://www.mewsic.com/stops/h/HarmonicPiccolo.html)
Unfortunately I was unable to find any mention of key or anything like that. I'm still trying to figure out how one would hold that thing! Some pictures had a loop on the boot joint, so maybe it uses a seatstrap?
I'll search some more here at school and see what I can find.
Melanie
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2001-01-08 14:09
The wide-angle lens used to take the photos of the instrument have created distortions in many of the pictures, making an assessment of its true shape difficult, but it appears to me that it has approximately the same bore diameter throughout. If this is the case, then it is basically an unusual clarinet. The doubled-back tubing similar to that of a bassoon was probably used to make it more compact. I am guessing that it may be, in effect, a compact bass or alto clarinet. Maybe the name octavin implies that it is an octave lower than a (soprano) clarinet, which would make it a bass clarinet.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-01-08 17:16
John -
An identical instrument appeared on eBay in early December. Here's my posting about it from the Klarinet board:
There's an unusual and interesting instrument on eBay -- an Octavin -- at http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=519280212.
It's an attempt to make an instrument that overblows at the octave while sounding like a clarinet instead of a saxophone. It has a down-and-up bore like a bassoon, with the minimum possible cone profile.
I played one at Charlie Ponte's music store many years ago. Because of the strong even partials, it sounded and blew more like a saxophone than a clarinet, but you could make a closer approach to a clarinet sound than you could on a more severely conical instrument. With a relatively small bore, it did not sound at all like a tarogato.
The one I tried was not in perfect condition and didn't seem like a very satisfactory design. The compromise bore made the response unstable, and it was still a lot closer to a saxophone than a clarinet.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Don Berger
Date: 2001-01-08 19:27
I believe that Ken's post more nearly describes this unusual cl-sax than anything I know of. I recalled a pic in Rendall's book, on Plate VII, item C, under Early Bass Clarinets, Catterini, Padua. Glicibarifono. c.1838 . Bate {Oxford} Collection [dont remember having seen it!!] which appears to be cylindrical to the bell and in the "fold-back" [boot joint] fashion of a bassoon. On first reading this thread, I wondered if this horn might be a "saxello" by ?Conn? early 1900's? I would suggest asking Al Rice , Clermont.edu [via earlyclarinet@egroups] and/or Vermillion about this museum piece. Velly interesting, look in the old horns books. Don
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ron b
Date: 2001-01-10 16:21
It's not your everyday type of instrument. It's an octave horn, a bit 'temperamental' and sounds like a weak soprano sax. I've seen one, heard it played. All right.
They're unusual but not as lovable as a stray puppy.
Nice collector's piece though... I guess.
ron b
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
