 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Reese Oller
Date: 2025-01-29 10:46
Everyone in my clarinet studio despises it-- at this point, I honestly think it might be just because you're SUPPOSED to hate the alto. I love it. Am I crazy?
Reese Oller
Clarinet student (performance major at Millikin University)
I can play bass clarinet, Eb clarinet, BBb contra, alto saxophone, bassoon at a decent level, and flute in a pinch.
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Author: Marnix van den Berg
Date: 2025-01-29 12:07
The nebulous 'everyone' hates it, thus we do too!
Joking aside, the instruments are often subpar, the parts mostly superfluous.
It is difficult to love...
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Author: Kiela
Date: 2025-01-29 13:27
I'm a big advocate for altos, but there is a real problem with instrument quality and getting a good set up to work. I've found that alto is a lot less forgiving with mouthpiece, reed, even ligature choice than either soprano or bass.
Lack of parts in is also an issue, but nothing that some DIY arranging can take care of.
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Author: crazyclari
Date: 2025-01-29 14:13
I would agree with Kiela. I have a basset horn from 1972 and an alto clarinet. I had to do enormous amounts of work to tune the alto. Big quality control problem. The horn is imo now a cracker. Initially used a B44. The lay was like the dark side of the moon. I refaced and did a bit of work on the baffle to get it to work. Quality control problem. Check out Michael loweraterns review of Selmers alto clarinet an antique design.
IIMO itt sems that until recently many mouthpiece designs were not great it has improved greatly.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2025-01-29 17:55
crazyclari wrote:
> I would agree with Kiela. I have a basset horn from 1972 and an
> alto clarinet. I had to do enormous amounts of work to tune the
> alto. Big quality control problem.
Probably not a big enough market to warrant extensive design/development cost to make the instrument tune and respond well right off the assembly line.
> The horn is imo now a
> cracker.
Next problem is - what will you use it for? Parts that double the 3rd clarinet or alto sax parts in band? Basset horns can be useful for a few Mozart and Mendelssohn pieces, but not much else in "classical" music. A lot of DIY work for very little usefulness. "All dressed up and no place to go."
> Initially used a B44. The lay was like the dark side
> of the moon. I refaced and did a bit of work on the baffle to
> get it to work. Quality control problem.
Again, I suspect as much market problem as anything else.
Karl
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Author: Mojo
Date: 2025-01-29 18:45
Bass clarinet gives you great sounding low notes. Sop clarinet great high notes. Alto, ehhh. Notes in the middle the other two can cover. Grainger Lincolnshire Pony has a good part for it. I have heard some nice solo work (Mozart, I think). Clarinet choirs would be the best use for one.
MojoMP.com
Mojo Mouthpiece Work LLC
MojoMouthpieceWork@yahoo.com
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Author: Kiela
Date: 2025-01-29 22:49
In my experience a lot of bass clarinet parts for concert band are superfluous as well, but that's a discussion for another day!
The comparison with basset horn is appropriate, especially in the case of a Leblanc since it is practically an F alto with extra low notes. I thought the Leblanc swan neck alto was a big improvement over my own Noblet until I got to try the Leblanc basset. The basset outplays the swan neck alto in almost every way: response, tone, projection, ergonomics (the swan neck is atrocious for playing position).
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2025-01-30 02:32
As a retired band director I read somewhere that when you have more than one saxophone the volume tends to multiply. ie.- 6 trumpets together sound like 6 but 6 altos sound like way more than 6. I found this to be somewhat true. Has to do with it's curvy construction I believe.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
Post Edited (2025-01-30 02:33)
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2025-01-30 04:57
I have a wonderful Leblanc vintage alto. Absolutely beautiful tone.
Never could find a band that would let me play it.
(sigh)
Fuzzy
;^)>>>
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Author: donald
Date: 2025-01-30 14:37
"has to do with its curvy construction I believe".
The Most Advanced Stupid comment Book-- tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
BTW THE POST IS ABOUT ALTO CLARINET, NOT ALTO SAX
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Author: Chris_C ★2017
Date: 2025-01-30 16:06
A couple of weeks ago I had an alto clarinet solo for a few bars!
Much of the time I play bassoon parts - bassoons are fairly uncommon round here - price is a driver, I guess. Simply playing off the bass clef parts (add 3# and pretend it's treble clef) works for sightreading, I generally then do the 8va transcription on paper for later rehearsals.
I double on Eflat and alto clarinets and for each piece select the part which is more useful and more playable...
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Author: super20dan
Date: 2025-01-30 18:22
is the leblanc alto the best? never played one but have played the buffet prestiege.i own the selmer 22 and frankly-its a dissapointment. my 2 noblets outplay it with ease. playing molly on the shore in community band now and its got a very challenging and exposed alto part
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Author: NOLA Ken
Date: 2025-01-30 21:14
As a returning Bb soprano clarinet player I bought a nice vintage Leblanc swan neck alto clarinet a few years back. But it has required a lot of work, experimentation and money to get it set up so that it plays well reliably. It now gives me a beauriful tone, but as much work as I've had done on it, going over the clarion B4 and C5 break and making chalumeau to clarion octive jumps are still a bit challenging. It is also difficult to keep the keywork regulated.
I've recently been fortunate to have a band conductor who is somewhat encouraging of my playing alto at my discretion when parts are available. But the parts are few (of 27 pieces in our folder, three have alto parts). And because we have a full sax section and two bass clarinets the unique contribution of the alto clarinet lasts maybe a few measures at most. Mostly it's a guilty pleasure for myself and an oddity to others. I enjoy playing the alto, but have found little reason to devote as much time to it as I do to playing the Bb soprano.
I have several vintage Bb soprano clarinets, and every one of them has been easier to set up and to play nicely than this alto. I can just imagine the problems presented in using an alto in a school band where fewer resources and attention to maintenance and set up are available and where the scarce and uninspiring parts discourage enthusiasm for developing musicianship on the instrument.
With instruments that are not always the easiest to keep set up well, a scarcity of interesting parts, and few players who can or are motivated to represent the instrument well, it is little wonder that the instrument has the reputation it does.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2025-01-31 01:40
How about playing jazz on the alto clarinet? I'd really like to give it a try.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: graham
Date: 2025-01-31 16:26
Following Ruben’s point, alto sax pieces should go ‘well’ on an alto clarinet. How about Coates’ Saxo Rhapsody (with piano reduction). Nothing stopping these being worked up into a recital. Of course, if the results aren’t good, that proves a point…
graham
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Author: HANGARDUDE
Date: 2025-02-01 02:09
Mojo wrote:
> Bass clarinet gives you great sounding low notes. Sop clarinet
> great high notes. Alto, ehhh. Notes in the middle the other
> two can cover.
I think this is the same reason why the alto clarinet's string counterpart- the tenor violin- lost much of its popularity compared to the viola(the TRUE string equivalent of the sop clarinet in terms of range) and the cello(same range as the bass clarinet) as the improvement of latter 2's respective lower & upper registers substantially lessened the demand for the tenor violin as a voice between the viola & the cello.
Josh
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Author: Ebclarinet1
Date: 2025-02-01 04:14
I have a Buffet Prestige alto and it's a GREAT horn. The newest neck joints are adjustable and I have one of those besides the two fixed-length necks. I use a Grabmer or Lonax mouthpiece with a Silverstein also sax ligature and Steuer #3 alto sax reeds. Intonation and sound throughout the octaves is great and the sound is strong throughout, even the theroat tones.
I have played alto in several groups and several people have played my horn and remarked at the beauty of the sound. Recently I perormed the Mozary Requiem on basset horn 1 with my Selmer basset horn and a player on basset horn 2 using my Buffet alto. The sounds blended beatfully.
EEfer guy
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Author: crazyclari
Date: 2025-02-02 13:24
In response to above comment I mostly play jazz on it. There are some really rude and offensive comments above. Can the people monitoriing this site please start locking out these people. You can now read how rude and offensive people are on this site on other sites. It is now very embarassing. Please fix the problem. Maybe the abject hatred is people who hate themselves and take it out on others....It's simple embarrassing...
Post Edited (2025-02-02 13:45)
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Author: donald
Date: 2025-02-02 16:44
Well I don't know, you really want to explore the "curvy instrument" theory? It's about as valid as a well known theory from Miss Anne Elk.
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Author: super20dan
Date: 2025-02-07 20:09
currently playing percey Grainger,s molly on the shore thats got several long exposed passages of alto clarinet parts. several people in the band came up to me and said how much they enjoyed hearing the alto clarinet for the first time
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