 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2002-08-13 14:05
Last night at our community band rehearsal, our director passed out a 1995 arrangement of music from <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>. (Sorry, I didn't pay attention to who the arranger was, but will check it out if anyone's interested.) The thing that surprised me was that one of the two brief bass clarinet solos (well, actually duets with flute or piccolo) in the <i>We're Off to See the Wizard</i> section actually went down to low C! I have seen pieces that used low D's before, but this was the first piece of band literature I've seen that goes down to low C. Finally, justification for having a low-C bass clarinet. If I didn't have such an instrument, I would have lost one of the infrequent solos we bass clarinetists get--probably to a bassoon. (There was also no question among the bass clarinet section as to who got the solos.)
I later got to thinking that bass clarinets that went to low C were either not in existance or very rare at the time <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> was written. If that is true, then I can only infer that the key has been transposed from the original or that a different instrument was used. Any insight?
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In an unrelated matter, the other new piece he passed out to sightread was Leroy Anderson's <i>Clarinet Candy</i>. Although the soprano clarinets get a workout in it, the bass clarinet part consists primarily of cut-time half notes. We do get a melody/countermelody line at one point, though.
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Author: William Hughes
Date: 2002-08-13 14:29
Don:
We played "Wizard" this Spring. I played the bassoon part on contra alto, including the tuba cues for the melody of "If I Only Had a Brain"...hmmm, that seems appropriate. Stangely, the bassoon score does not double the bass clarinet with your low C(a comfortable G3 on contra), so I couldn't help out there. Have fun!
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2002-08-13 14:36
Don,
Is your community band paying you enough to justify your purchasing a low-C bass clarinet? Mine sure ain't! For what they pay me (i.e nothing) I'll play the notes up an octave, and they can take it or leave it.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-08-13 14:52
Interesting, Don, when we put on the Wizard here a year ago, I played the tenor sax/Bb cl part [Reed 3?] right beside Tom B who had the Bass cl/etc part [Reed 2?] on a Buffet Low Eb. He made no comment re: "too low notes", I'll ask him on our next E-M exchange! I recall only once in our Tulsa Comm Band music of the last 10+ years [all on my Sel Eb B C] where I "wrote-in" a [low] D as a reminder! We commissioned Ed Huckaby to compose "Heroic Sketches" to honor Dwight Dailey [long time C Band conductor]. It has similarities to his earlier comps., no "lowies" at all. I did find several "lowies" in Baptist and Presby church arrangements for small orchs, where the BC/cello parts were similar [or same]. Our local Symp. BC player [Sel low C, maybe I should invest!] has found "lowies" in the more modern comps/arrangs they have played. Again will ask. Still infrequent! Don
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-08-13 16:09
David -
You don't justify a low-C bass just to play in a community band, or to make money at all.
It's a new TOY. You get it because you can afford it, and to make the others jealous.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2002-08-13 16:22
I thought about describing the phrase that the "lowies" come in. I'll try my best without using musical notation. First, it helps to be able to hear <i>We're Off to See the Wizard</i> in your head. It's in 6/8. There are two short solo phrases, identical in texture that occur between verses, one a few steps lower than the other. (The second one has the lowies.) They basically consist of two eighth-note pickups (if counted in six, beats 5, 6) rising in pitch, followed by seven descending eighths (1 2 3 4 5 6 1), an eighth rest and two more eighths, one that jumps up and the second that jumps part way back down (3 4). Do I make sense? Can you hear the phrase in your mind?
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2002-08-13 17:03
Although I'm not obligated to justify anything I purchase to anyone other than my wife, I'd like to remark that Ken is probably right about the "toy" part. I had been playing the same bass since high school and it was about the same age as I was. My parents bought the former university instrument for me when the school instrument I was using didn't play well. Well, at middle age, I decided I deserved and could afford a new instrument, especially since I figured it would last me for the rest of my life. And since I planned to use it for the rest of my life and band is the activity I most enjoy, I figured I might as well get the best. As far as making others jealous, there were no other bass clarinetists in the band when I bought it, so there was no one to make jealous. (I know your remarks were in a light-hearted vein. If I really wanted to make others jealous, I would practice more and make them jealous of my playing ability.)
By the way, my remark about the one phrase justifying the instrument was tongue in cheek. But I was excited to see an opportunity to play that low.
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Author: William Hughes
Date: 2002-08-13 17:20
"...because, because, because, because, beca-a-a-a-a-ause. Because of the wonderful things he does! Ya-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-de-da." Now I can't get that tune out of my head. Thanks, Don.
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2002-08-13 19:20
William--
If you don't like <i>that</i> tune running through your head, I think I can solve the problem by mentioning that today is Don Ho's 72nd birthday. Do you think he'll celebrate with "Tiny bubbles...in the wine..."?
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-08-13 21:13
How much is that BC in the window (honk, honk)?
The one with the extra-long ta-a-a-a-ail.
Try to get *that* one out of your mind :-)
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-08-13 23:45
Dern you, Ken, something more to keep me awake, singing idiotic tunes! Will need to invoke Wagner, truly "soporofic" [sp?]. Don
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Author: pete
Date: 2002-08-14 14:56
Check out some of the Adam Gorb bass parts they go down to low C, and when they do its usually FF so you can honk them out. One of the best parts of bass clarinet playing id say
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