Author: DTD
Date: 2016-04-23 07:37
I am searching for tips to be heard over the rest of my high school's marching band. Instrumentation is special to say the least. At this moment it is looking to be four clarinets (not the counting that lonely bass clarinet), two of whom are first year players, versus four trumpets, an arbitrary mellophone, at least four alto saxophones, and a healthy amount of low brass and percussion, for a total of about thirty people. Before anyone says something about changing instruments, no, none of the saxophones are likely to change over before the season starts next year, and even if they wanted to I don't think the school owns any extra clarinets that aren't broken or in need of an overhaul anyways; the clarinet section is also kind of a requirement to boot. So, I am in search of advice on how to be at least heard with a decent tone, since our upcoming show has a number of woodwind features.
Also, I'm looking for a good, mostly indestructible instrument for marching season at the start of next year, along with a decent mouthpiece that projects exceedingly well. This previous year I used a 27+ year old Buffet B12 with a run-of-the-mill Yamaha 4C mouthpiece, however, after marching season the mouthpiece (which wasn't new when I got it) desperately needs a refacing and the clarinet needs an overhaul. Since both were school owned, I am searching for my own so I don't need to rely on my band director getting those fixed before next year begins. I am in north Louisiana, so the closest music shop is literally an hour and a half away (and that one is terrible), and the nearest decent one is over two, so it should probably be on amazon or something where I can have it shipped in.
Any and all advice (and pointers at nice, price conscious instrument options) are exceedingly welcome.
From somewhere in nowhere, Louisiana, DTD
*EDIT* As a side note, the band program at my school gets no money from the school, and as a direct result, we do more or less whatever we want. As such, my band is corps style and is NOT a show band. In fact, the general school population has told us repeatedly that we aren't loud or obnoxious enough. Of course, all we did is keep right on doing what we're doing.
Proud participant in the 2016 Percy Grainger Wind Band Festival in Chicago with the MHS Fighting Tiger Band of Louisiana.
Post Edited (2016-04-23 07:43)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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