Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2014-09-10 01:16
Yeah, but...in concert bands (and to a lesser extent the smaller wind ensembles) the bass clarinet is usually doubled by the bassoons, the tenor and/or bari sax, the euphoniums, the trombones, etc. ad nauseum --- so how often does one REALLY need the three extra notes?
Although I stopped playing in concert bands/wind ensembles about six years ago, I played in them for a couple of decades prior to that and hardly ever needed (really needed) the extended range. I realize that recently those notes get written for much more so than in the past, but as Ben and others have pointed out, one can often play them an octave higher, or play them a third above, or let another instrument take them when they come up, or even just leave them out altogether.
It all comes down to the player's cost/benefit analysis. Some people will cheerfully pay $10K to buy a top-notch basset clarinet just to play the Mozart concerto. Personally I think they're nuts, but as I said, to each his own.
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