 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Keeheon Nam
Date: 2011-05-27 03:54
Hi all, marching band is starting up for our school and I need a plastic clarinet to march with. I looked at B-12s and some other Yamahas and they are all quite expensive for a plastic.. All I need is to play with a good tone, good tuning, and just overall decent. Some Etude and Kohlert models I saw had horrible ratings and such.
Thanks,
Keeheon
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Author: ColorFiend
Date: 2011-05-27 04:27
I used a Selmer plastic clarinet for marching band. I don't know the exact name of it, but it had pretty good tone and tuning and I'd recommend it.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2011-05-27 05:01
A Vito, A Yamaha YCL20 or 23, a Selmer Bundy or CL300. These are readily available secondhand for very small dollars and any one of them will do a good job for you.
Tony F.
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Author: concertmaster3
Date: 2011-05-27 06:57
I have something that might interest you. Contact me off the boards for info. (Would've emailed you, but didn't see an email in your profile)
Ron Ford
Woodwind Specialist
Performer/Teacher/Arranger
http://www.RonFordMusic.com
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2011-05-27 13:34
Go to that infernal auction site and get a used Bundy. They are almost indestructible. And really, who is going to hear you in a marching band?
Jeff
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
"A drummer is a musician's best friend."
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2011-05-27 14:14
Be careful, you get what you pay for. Well in tune, that won't be you biggest problem if the metal used for the keys are soft and bend real easy. You won't get one month out of them. ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: William
Date: 2011-05-27 16:06
I recommend the Selmer Bundy clarinet with a Forestone reed (#3.5 to 4.5 should do). However, if you want to have a lot of fun and really "make a difference", try playing a Bundy effer--you will be "heard' above everyone else....LOL. Selmer Bundy clarinets--the regular Bb or the smaller Eb--are readily available on most auction sites and are easily affordable. For marching band, don't waste your money buying a new plastic clarinet--used is just as good as new, and a lot cheaper.
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Author: salsacookies
Date: 2011-05-27 17:49
my plastic artley did awesome for marching band and i guarantee that in my marching band, the clarinets were heard. it's called balance....
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2011-05-28 03:11
Bundy's are actually pretty decent. Also look around for a plastic reed. Weather changes can simply kill a cane reed in 30 seconds! You will be marching around unable to get a single note to play except squeaks. Of course if you enjoy making your conductor a bit angry squeaks can be fun!
Ask your private teacher to adjust the plastic reed for you, because most of them are pretty bad until you can get them to vibrate.
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Author: Kontra
Date: 2011-05-28 04:06
If the clarinets cant be heard in marching band, you've got some timid clarinet players.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2011-05-28 15:01
IMHO the main thing with a marching band clarinet is to leave the wooden clarinet safely at home. The Vito is a good plastic model.
Bundies are good marchers, too, with one caveat: IMHO the Bundies from the 1950s and 1960s are not good enough for an advanced player. They have extremely wide 12ths and some other intonation problems, especially in the throat tones. Bending the pitch of a bad note is more of a hassle when you're marching. I'm not sure exactly when Bundies improved, but my Bundy from the mid-1980s is a decent clarinet, with much better intonation than those older ones. The modern version, now called American Selmer, also plays well.
I wouldn't use any of the Bundy mouthpieces, though. The Hite Premiere and the Fobes Debut are much better choices on Bundy clarinets: free-blowing, with plenty of volume control. They're priced reasonably enough that if one of them falls through the bleachers and breaks on the concrete sidewalk below, the replacement won't break the budget.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2011-05-28 19:28
For what it's worth, I've thrown quite everything over board re marching.
- unless it's pouring I play with a wooden Vito VSP. Monster horn. Else I'm happy with my Bundy, which just performs. I want one that seals, that isn't capricious, that just plays. I need a Toyota pickup, not a comfy limo.
- Bundy Signature (the Hard Rubber thingies) are very good. If you don't trust 'em, buy a Fobes Debut or a Hite Premiere. They're good, and they're loud.
- Don't skimp on reeds. $2 on reeds per evening isn't excessive. Choose a brand that doesn't need any breaking in. (I'm using Mitchell Lurie, they're good right out of the box)
- DO USE YOUR EARS. No instrument in the world will save you from eg the brass section chiming in a bar early. Also use your ears with theses piercing high Bs and stuff like that. Band playing is ensemble playing, functioning as an organism of some sorts, blending in, driving forward, keeping the groove alive.
And it's supposed to be fun. Never forget that.
--
Ben
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2011-05-28 21:21
Kontra wrote:
> If the clarinets cant be heard in marching band, you've got some timid clarinet > players.
That, or you have several extremely overzealous trumpet players who drown everyone else out like we had in my high school band.
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Author: Kontra
Date: 2011-05-28 22:29
We play concert band pieces for our shows, the parts are balanced and everyone is heard at some point. The clarinets can be heard a lot in our shows.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2011-05-29 11:13
The onus is on the director anyway for most of those volume control problems. It's the director's responsibilty to tell the brasses to stifle themselves if they're drowning out the woodwinds.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2011-05-30 02:29
If a marching band plays on a field and nobody listens, is there a noise?
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2011-05-30 11:42
>>Yes, but thats all it is. Noise.
>>
Oh, I don't agree with that. I love seeing and hearing a good band with intricate formations. I've stopped watching football halftime shows on TV because the networks hardly ever show marching band performances any more.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2011-05-30 14:27
My memory must be failing me with age. Other than tucking my instrument under my coat when we were in the stands not playing, I don't remember all these problems before plastic instruments and reeds were generally available. Once I got my pre-WWII (real) Kohlert, a second instrument was not an option. Of course, by the time I got it, it had been through enough to demonstrate its stability. Same thing in college. We just did what was necessary to protect our instruments because the only option, other than wood, was metal. Nobody wanted to "look like a weirdo" with a metal clarinet in marching band.
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Author: Kontra
Date: 2011-05-30 18:47
Trust me, I love watching band performances too. It's better than the Lady GaGa crap they put on half time now. But lets face it... To a high school football crowd, its just noise to them because they can't comprehend the music being played or the marching going on. This year we played Angels in the Architecture by Frank Tichelli and I had someone come up and say our music was "too scary."
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