 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: goldstdn
Date: 2016-09-30 01:01
Hi guys,
Sax player for 15 years, switched over to bass clarinet two years ago for something different in concert band.
Anyways, I just picked up a vintage 70's Bundy Contra Alto clarinet. The horn responds great--all the way up to A#5. Anytime I'd try to play B5 or C5, I'd have to really concentrate on my airstream to get it to speak. I certainly didn't want to start any passages on B5 with the horn! I played around with a few different reeds (tried bari sax and real contra reeds) and ligatures and still couldn't get B5 and beyond to be consistent.
I started looking at the horn and noticed a bunch of leaky pads and the lower register key was opening just slightly on the high notes. Knowing that fixing a double register key mech is out of my league, I sent it off to a repairman, who replaced 14 pads + fixed my leaky lower register key.
Now the horn responds even better, but B5 and beyond are still troublesome. At least now I can play some altissimo fingerings, but again I am compensating in my airstream to get the high notes out.
Any suggestions for how I can fix these high notes? I don't see any other obvious leaks on the horn, am using a bundy contra mouthpiece with a rovner ligature and 3 1/2 Rico contra alto reeds. I don't have any issues playing to G6 on my cheap vito bass clarinet...
Thanks in advance!
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2016-09-30 01:23
If you haven't got a perforated plate for LH1, then that will make some altissimo notes tricky when you roll down to uncover the hole in the middle instead of lifting LH1 off completely.
With the wide tonehole spacing and the keywork needed to bring all the toneholes under control with all your fingers, it may not be possible to have LH finger 1 directly over its tonehole as it is on bass clarinet. So when you lift LH1 off completely, you're fully opening that tonehole instead of being able to reduce the diameter by uncovering a smaller aperture in the centre of it.
Larger clarinets from basset horn downwards need the smaller diameter perforation in LH1 to effectively give the ability to half-hole that tonehole to reduce its diameter to help certain altissimo notes.
So on some contras, that ability to half-hole is an impossibility unless you have the keywork altered as you'd have on a contrabassoon where the half-hole fingering done on regular bassoon is done by the mechanism fitted to it, so LH1 has two toneholes that are both open for the open F, but the lower vent is closed by LH2 to give the correct venting for the lower middle register notes above open F (all fingers off).
Larger members of the oboe family (oboe d'amore, cor anglais and bass oboe) have a split top plate as the stretch for LH1 is too great to close the aperture normally found on the oboe's top plate. So an extra plate is fitted to cover/uncover the aperture to act in the same way as rolling LH1 down to uncover the aperture with very little change to the regular fingerings.
So if you want to use the altissimo register on some contra-alto or contrabass clarinets and they've only got relatively simple keywork, some keywork surgery may be involved to achieve that.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2016-09-30 17:54
You should be able to play B5 and C5 without too much trouble - I suspect a maladjusted register mechanism, a common problem is that the lower (larger) register vent opens every so slightly with the upper (small) vent fully open.
As for altissimo on the contra, as Chris P suggests, some extra mechanism is called for. On my current Bundy contra-alto, as with its identical predecessor (labeled Buescher but no different), I've added a sliver key just below the l.h. index finger key to act as a "virtual half-hole". It opens a small passage drilled a few inches above, in line with the key opened by the same finger (which on a bass clarinet would be opened directly by the finger and have the half-hole drilled through it).
To play altissimo I just slide my l.h. index finger down a bit as if opening a half-hole, but am actually operating the sliver key.
It's not perfect, but the altissimo has gone from impossible to difficult-but-feasible.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2016-09-30 18:09
I like that idea - you're effectively rolling LH1 down as you'd do on bass, but opening the small vent key via the touchpiece sat just beneath the LH1 fingerplate (where there'd normally be a touchpiece extension tab) and still keeping LH1 closed.
Genius!
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2016-09-30 23:17
I'm curious - what composers call for a contra alto clarinet, and which ones call for it as a regular part in their scores?
I recently played a suite of music from the latest Star Wars episode. It had no arranger credit under John Williams's name, so I don't know if it was actually his scoring or someone else's. There were, among the 4 or 5 (as I remember) pages of music exactly two staves that called for a contra alto clarinet. They were notes that could easily have been played on a bass (which was how we had to do it - no one owned a contra alto), so I suppose it was a tone quality choice.
They can't be so common that composers can count on their availability. I've actually never seen one in 50+ years of playing. I have no idea what they sound like.
Karl
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Author: Ebclarinet1
Date: 2016-10-01 04:23
What I find works well on my Selmer Paris contra-alto is to play C# as F# plus octave key, D as G plus octave key, and D# as G# plus octave key, E as A plus octave, F as side key Bb plus octave. With some reed/mouthpiece combinations you don't need the octave key. That sometimes is a bit more in tune. Again each horn is a bit different. I have played some horns where this is a half step higher than what I have stated.
Of course one rarely sees these notes in a band arrangement but they certainly are possible and don't sound bad.
I have had quite a few occasions to play contra-alto, including several solos in the concert band literature. The contra-alto has quite a different timbre than a bass. I prefer its sound to the contra-bass, which sounds less like a clarinet to my ears.
Eefer guy
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Author: Mojo
Date: 2016-10-01 18:32
Consider trying a different mouthpiece. Some facing curves do not favor altissimo.
MojoMP.com
Mojo Mouthpiece Work LLC
MojoMouthpieceWork@yahoo.com
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Author: Merlin_Williams
Date: 2016-10-01 23:58
I've only once run into an unplayable altissimo part on contra. The touring book for Chorus Line in 2008 had the bassoon part double lined for contra or Bb clarinet. There were a lot of high D's on the contra part. Blech.
Fortunately, the rental book for Chorus Line has bassoon as mandatory, and the contra parts double lined for bassoon. Silly, as they want a low Ab from the bassoon parts.
Jupiter Canada Artist/Clinician
Stratford Shakespeare Festival musician
Woodwind Doubling Channel Creator on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/WoodwindDoubling
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Author: goldstdn
Date: 2016-10-04 00:01
Thanks for the suggestions.
I checked the lower register key to see if it was opening slightly when I hit the register key--definitely no motion there now. Does anyone know how much the pad is supposed to open on the lower and upper register vents on this horn? It looks like about a quarter inch for both.
I did notice that if I tighten down a little bit on my embouchure and speed up my airstream I can get B5 and C5 to speak a little easier. It's still strange that I can keep pretty much the same embouchure from bottom E all the way to A5 only to tighten it up to get the higher notes. Is embouchure adjustment important for the lower clarinets, or is just a bad habit I'm going to have to break later?
As for a mouthpiece, I was considering upgrading to a Fobes San Francisco (to me, the difference in how my bass clarinet played going from a B45 to the Fobes S.F. was dramatic). I'm guessing my current Bundy mouthpiece isn't the best.
Dave
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Author: Mojo
Date: 2016-10-04 18:34
Bundys can be fine. The next one you try may work better... or not.
MojoMP.com
Mojo Mouthpiece Work LLC
MojoMouthpieceWork@yahoo.com
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