 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: mtom
Date: 2017-09-28 03:53
Hi,
I am practicing transposing Bassoon parts to Bsclar for my school's pit orchestra, and its a total pain imo. Something that helped me a little bit so far is that I can read the bassoon notes like I'm playing it on the bari sax, but play it on bass clar. So, effectively, a bassoon F# right below the staff would be a bari D#, and that would be a G#. Just a little trick that's been helping me.
I could always just read it up a 4th and change the key, but that's boring
Now onto my stupid idea. What if you just made a really long neck for the bass clarinet, so the pitch would match an EEb contralto? I am 99% sure that it would not work, because all of the proportions and tonehole sizes would be all messed up, but a part of me wants to go to Home Depot and pick up some PVC and give it a whirl.
Any ideas on my imagination?
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Author: Ed Lowry
Date: 2017-09-28 04:25
Look at the difference between the contraalto and bass clarinet standing side by side. The difference between the toneholes is significant.
Or put an e-flat soprano next to a Bb or A clarinet. You get the idea.
But a nice idea, nevertheless...
You could play the bassoon parts on an e-flat contra alto -- reading the bass clef bassoon parts as treble clef on your contra alto, but adding three sharps to the key signature as well. Works well, unless there are lots of accidentals which you then need to factor in.
Post Edited (2017-09-28 20:39)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2017-09-28 14:15
Another thing you could try when reading Concert Pitch bass clef parts on bass clarinet is transpose everything up a tone, so your open G on bass is the same note as the open F on bassoon. Just an idea, but see if that works for you.
It's made easier when reading bass clarinet parts written in bass clef (Wagner, etc.) as they're all transposed, so the 2nd line down from the top F is with the left thumb only, so nearly the same fingering as open F on bassoon.
Thinking bari sax lower register fingerings is probably the easiest way to do this until you get to the throat notes when you have to think.
In order to change the pitch of any woodwind instrument, you will have to effectively stretch the entire instrument so the tonehole positions are all relative to the length of the bore. Adding extra pipework to the mouthpiece end will just throw the entire scale out of whack as the toneholes are drilled into the body at specific locations according to the pitch the instrument is built in and they can't be moved.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Mojo
Date: 2017-09-28 16:48
Why not just play them on Bari sax?
MojoMP.com
Mojo Mouthpiece Work LLC
MojoMouthpieceWork@yahoo.com
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