 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: beth
Date: 2001-06-29 03:32
So excited - brought home a new bass clarinet from community band tonight. I've rounded up some reeds and I'm raring to go. Do y'all have any suggestions or tips that'll help me along with getting familiar this most impressive looking clarinet. It's as tall as my son! TIA beth
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Author: Leanne
Date: 2001-06-29 04:47
Just go for it. You'll need weaker (for lack of a better word) reeds than you use on Bb clarinet. I play a 4.5 on clarinet, and a 3 on bass.
Other that, have fun! Welcome to the world of the low clarinet.
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Author: Robert Small
Date: 2001-06-29 05:08
One customisation you might make is to close off the left hand sliver key (alternate Bb/Eb). I never use this key and I sometimes open it inadvertantly when reaching for the left hand pinky levers. (And I have long fingers.) You can prevent this by wedging a piece of cork under the key. (I use a rubber stick-on mouthpiece baffle.). Also take care to keep the half-hole covered when not playing in the altissimo.
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Author: willie
Date: 2001-06-29 05:38
If you've never played a bass before, you will need to take in a little more mouthpiece than you accustomed to. The reed strength will be softer than you normaly play but may need to go as far as a 2 or 2.5 depending on the mouthpiece facing. Try different ones. Warning! Playing the bass or contra may be addictive. I'm hooked myself.
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2001-06-29 13:52
Let's see. In addition to what has already been offered...
I prefer to use both the peg and neckstrap (and have seen symphony players do the same) for more support, but use whichever suit you best.
Sit up straight on the front edge of your chair and angle the bell of the instrument under your chair so that the mouthpiece enters your mouth at an angle as close as possible to that you would use with your soprano.
You may also want to use a looser embouchure than you would with the soprano.
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Author: David
Date: 2001-06-29 17:28
Yes, much looser embrochure. And bass and contra CAN get addictive.Softer reeds are definitely an improvement. And you may want to invest in a good ligature. Cloth ones work very nicely for keeping a decent sound.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-06-29 17:30
Free advice (you get what you pay for!): Forget it's a clarinet. Treat the bass clarinet as an entirely separate instrument, listen to some really good classical bass clarinetists, and try to get "that sound". Remember that the bass clarinet earns its pay in the chalumeau (lower) register, and that's mainly where you gotta sound great! The soprano clarinet tends to live in the clarion (upper) register which is where the bass clarinet is not terribly happy, so, even though they're fingered exactly the same, the bass and soprano clarinets really are different instruments and should be approached from different perspectives.
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2001-06-29 22:00
Relax, enjoy yourself and have a ball. It's like a new world down there in the chalumeau (I can play there but can't pronounce it 8-] )
From Bob A, a new bass owner.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2001-06-30 14:19
Good advice by all. I echo Don P's comment on both neck strap and peg, my choice as a "belt and suspenders" security for playing ease, and Dave's that its a different inst that requires only minor changes in fingerings, but large changes in embouchure and practice to "level-out" the wide diffs. between the chalemeau and clarion registers and that "dern" break fingerings!!! Happy times, Don
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Author: Ryan Luff
Date: 2001-07-01 19:42
In the community band I'm in (http://www.downriverband.org) I used to play both bass clarinet and oboe, so I used peg. That way, when there was an oboe solo I needed to play, I'd just lean the bass against my leg and have free use of both arms. Of course we played some Glenn Miller stuff at the end of the concerts, so I also got to use my alto sax.... :-Þ
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Author: JLovelace
Date: 2001-07-01 20:03
Welcome to the world of Bass Clarinet players! It's quite a club as I'm sure you're seeing!
My suggestion revolves around your set up mainly. Like all instruments if you have a good set up it's WAY easier to get good tone. I recommend a Selmer c* mouthpiece. I get all of my students to buy them and they all do very well with them. For a ligature I like the Rovener "dark." Now, you can get nice ligatures other than that one to be sure. BUT whatever you do DON'T play on the thing that comes with the horn! That set up is for beginners ONLY! If you have any facility at all on the soprano you will want a nice set up here too!
I have to agree with the weaker read suggestions above. Generally you can play on the same strength reed that you use on the soprano but you'll pay for it. You'll have an airy sound and not much endurance. If you go to week you'll have a reedy week sound. I play only a half strength down from what I use on the soprano. Get a couple different strength reeds and see which one gives you the richest most consistent sound.
Finally, don't be afraid to put some air through the horn. The bass clarinet takes more air than the soprano. You may notice that there are WAY fewer basses than sopranos in bands. You will have to be able to put some air through the horn to balance against them and the rest of the band. But the good news is that the horn is WELL capable of doing it! Now, I DON'T mean that you have to honk! You can put good air through the horn and get a nice charateristic sound. Just don't be shy.....after all, your a BASS CLARINET PLAYER NOW!!!! :>)
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2001-07-01 20:43
Beth, if you really fall in love with it, get yourself a good mouthpiece. I talked (email) to Dave Spiegelthal at length and he fixed me up a couple of beauties based on how we decided I might play. I'm very happy with them.
Bob A.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-07-02 14:40
And remember what we used to say in high school (where my best buddy and I co-founded the "Riverdale School of Low Clarinet Playing", to counteract the so-called "French" and "German" schools of soprano clarinet playing):
"EVERY NOTE'S A SOLO!"
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Author: David
Date: 2001-07-02 17:09
>And remember what we used to say in high school (where my best buddy and I
>co-founded the "Riverdale School of Low Clarinet Playing", to counteract the so-
>called "French" and "German" schools of soprano clarinet playing):
Riverdale School of Low Clarinet Playing? Sounds like it was a blast. But where was this school called Riverdale? We have a high school in our home area called Riverdale.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-07-02 18:34
It was actually Parkdale Sr. High School in Riverdale, Maryland. We had a terrible trio of two bass clarinets and a contra, and our daily goal was to outblow the rest of the band, which we often accomplished (to the never-ending consternation of our band director, who was a great guy despite being a trumpet player).
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Author: David
Date: 2001-07-02 20:31
(Chuckle) My high school band director almost made it into the NYPhil Orchestra on clarinet. He was a great guy once you got used to how much he liked clarinets. I played tuba for the band until he realized I knew how to play clarinet (a little) and got me started on Eb contrabass clarinet. He them encouraged me to play both, contrabass from scratch. That's how I learned a few tricks of the trade that people sometimes don't think of. No wonder I got so many awards!!
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Author: Ron W
Date: 2001-07-03 20:55
All the comments to Beth about using a softer reed makes me wonder if I have done the right thing. I also recently brought home a base to play in Community Band. I play soprano clarinet using a Vandoran 3 for fun & recreation but bari sax for pay in a local dance band. On the bari, I prefer a very soft (1 1/2) reed for the wide variations in sound I can achieve. So I assumed a soft one was what I needed on the bass clarinet. Indeed, the low register was very beautiful and exciting. I couldn't wait for the next rehearsal to show it off. However, I could barely get a sound at about G in the upper register. I finally figured out I could get those notes and with nice tonal quality with a Vandoran 3 and seemed to be stuck with that because a lot of our music seemed to be written in that range. That took a lot of the fun and beauty out of the lower register, however. From the comments above, perhaps I solved the problem incorrectly and should have worked on trying to squeeze those higher notes out on a softer reed? Any suggestions?
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Author: David
Date: 2001-07-04 19:39
It's almost like squeaking on a contra. Most of the time bass clarinets play chalameau and throat tones and not much in the clarion. If you used both kinds (Not commonly done, but it may be effective) you could improve slowly on your lower tone with the 3's and slowly work your way up the clarion with the 1's, and by then you've reached a medium!! Perhaps you could go for the average approach and simply invest in 2's.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-07-05 14:00
I disagree with the "use a softer reed on bass clarinet" advice (generally). With a proper mouthpiece, one should be able to use reeds of about the same strength on any size clarinet. I've been using #4-#4-1/2 reeds on soprano clarinet, bass clarinet, and EEb contra for years. I think the problem may be that many of the stock bass clarinet mouthpieces have too short a facing. With a longer, properly curved facing, harder reeds are entirely appropriate for bass clarinet and work well.
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