Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2018-10-20 00:36
Kalashnikirby wrote:
> 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.
>
> 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....
Because those of us who have learned whatever we know about playing bass on our own have made our discoveries, such as they are, by trial and error and often over an unsystematic and non-linear path. I for one have had really varied success with bass clarinet over the decades as things I thought I figured out in one incarnation as "bass clarinet player" turned out not to be useful the next time. I've always gotten through bass jobs performance by performance and sometimes have had nearly to relearn how to play the thing each time I needed it (I play bass very sporadically). As a result I have never been willing to teach bass to anyone - I have very little confidence in anything I might say to a newcomer to the instrument. Except that you need a good mouthpiece and a responsive reed.
> 3) Pay the extra $$ for a good tech and make sure the
> instrument is leak-free.
There are so many places for small leaks to develop. The adjustments seem to be really fine, the leaky pads themselves themselves sometimes difficult to find, especially since they sometimes seal until they are combined with another key to produce an interval. The mechanisms to regulate how each pad closes both singly and in combination are sometimes obscure and hard to find, especially in a double register key system. And even small leaks can make the upper register hard to impossible to control. Worse, unlike most French Boehm system A, Bb, C and Eb clarinets, the mechanisms vary sometimes rather dramatically from one bass to another, so it becomes detective work to figure out how all the little moving parts work to control the bigger pads' coverage. Again, register mechanisms can be particularly obscure.
As a result, although I go to an excellent repairman and would swear by his work on any other instrument, I have had to find and make many little mechanical adjustments on my bass even after he has worked on it. I've come to think I am better at finding the small things myself because I have more time to look and know what the problem is that I'm trying to solve. Leak lights just don't find every place of weak contact.
Bottom line is that I second your point that a bass clarinet must be in excellent repair, at least insofar as leaks are concerned, to allow you to play your best.
Karl
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The Clarinet BBoard
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