Author: Kalashnikirby
Date: 2018-10-19 23:09
Hi guys,
ever since I had the chance to play and eventually buy a Leblanc 430S Low C Bass, my musical development got such a huge positive boost (maybe for other reasons too) that I wanted to share two or three insights on that. I know, it's obvious for any pro, but being an amateur and having received little advice from techs and teachers, because they either didn't exactly specialize in that instrument or didn't find the time to give me lessons/ useful advice, I find that I must share what I learned. Maybe this can help teachers too, because a specific tech and teacher that is very active on the bass clarinet deemed my 430S as not "concert-able". lol. So here goes:
1) Rethink embouchure.
Some told me it's completely different from the b flat, others say the 2nd register has to be blown like the 1st on the b.... I dunno, but I did find that my support has to be more open, with a little less tension, than on the soprano clarinet. There's so many other things to say about the different characteristics, but what I know for sure is that somebody has to go and tell you one or two things about the differences. Now I seldomly could get definitive advice from professionals that I know, and taking lessons would've been pointless, but an excellent amateur who sounds crazy good on any type of clarinet (he must be some sort of musical genius, having started playing the clarinet at 20y!!!) taught me one or two valuable things: That one has to play like they used the air even from the bottom of their arse :D
Anyways I'd recommend seeking a GOOD teacher with actually bass clarinet experience, as in my experience the people I asked (and actually offered money) were super evasive and unspecific with their advice. God knows why....
2) Plastic reeds are like the gold standard, but others say they are lifeless.
What I simply found, playing the cheap and the expensive legeres, is that they perform more safely in all situations, thus I prefer them for concerts. I wouldn't know if the audience finds any difference between the two types, but I can rely on producing a solid altissimo with those, so why not???
3) Pay the extra $$ for a good tech and make sure the instrument is leak-free.
Yeah, with the bass-experts here on bboard in mind, I know my statement is pretty redundant. Still, I think that getting my instrument-leak free made an incredible difference and I'd almost certainly avoid used unadjusted or chinese bass clarinets now. I can only talk about the gear4music one, but the keys were to bendy and that's not worth it in the long run! On the other hand, the keywork on my Leblanc is like a tank and doesn't go out off adjusment no matter how I treat it, which is great.
That being said, I had to do a lot of adjustments to get it what it is now - I suppose a tech would have done even better, but then again, when I received it, it was apperently overhauled "not too long ago" but had terribly adjusted keys and many leaks I didn't notice at first. Maybe the reason said tech would've rather ditched it, because the pads looked fine. Guess what, that means NOTHING on a bass clarinet, even if there is a visible impression on a 20mm+ pad, it can leak. On the upper joint, leaks can reduce the perfomance of the lower register like crazy and you may still not actually notice it. Please, take it to a decent tech (or invest a lot of your spare time to get it right like me, haha)
4) Michael Lowenstern's YT channel is neat, but somehow I could hardly learn anything from it. It's fun to watch him play and talk about the bass clarinet, but eventually, being in dialogue with other players and teachers was what helped me. Maybe I need to watch his videos with more attention, but the advice on reeds and MPC's for example is pretty redundant; you simply have to go and try for yourself. I'm not that happy that he recommends the cheap bass clarinets, not because of the rubber/ABS, but because I do not think they'd last for years like a good instrument with forged keywork - of course, some manufacturer could start mounting good keywork on a synthetic body.
So that's it. Just had to get it off my chest. I hope other people on this board have already realized these points (and many more I'm not aware of, naturally) before investing too much time and money and I'm sure most pros are more competent at conveying this knowledge....There's still so much to learn!!
Best regards,
Christian
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