Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2013-11-18 21:29
On the other hand, the vast majority of bass clarinet parts in concert band are doubled, at any given moment, by some or all of the following: tenor sax, baritone sax, bassoon, euphonium, trombone, tuba, French horn. I don't play in concert bands anymore, partly because of that. I like having a part to call my own, which happens much more frequently in orchestras than in concert bands. By no means are the contra-(alto or bass) clarinets the only lower clarinets that are frequently doubled in concert band -- the bass clarinet is mostly unimportant as well.
I recently attended a concert by a top-notch concert band (playing at a professional level though unpaid), a group in which I used to play bass clarinet with occasional doubling on contra-alto, alto or Eb sopranino -- and I was struck by how little impact the bass clarinets had, over the course of the concert. They had very few solo/soli lines. Their tone color was mostly submerged in the tutti of all those other instruments I've mentioned. Had they not been present at all I think it would have made precious little musical difference to the audience.
But as Nitai has been trying to point out, there's a big musical world outside of the familiar concert band and symphony orchestra circles. In the end, an instrument is an INSTRUMENT -- a tool, a means to accomplish a musical end at a certain time for a particular situation. There is no single solution.
|
|
The Clarinet BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
