 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: steph
Date: 2002-09-11 01:36
What do you think? Should a person hold a bass clarinet as well as a contra Eb between the legs? With a peg and a neckstrap? What are your suggestions?
Also - what are some suggestions you have to fix a spread tone? I have some ideas but was wondering if you could contribute to these thoughts?
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-09-11 02:08
I played bass clarinet using the peg - but occasionally also used a neck strap (it was a pain in the neck though).
What is a "spread tone" - do you mean even tone?
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Author: Charles
Date: 2002-09-11 07:47
I use a peg and a neck strap for my bass clarinet - I find the strap makes it easier to get the right lip pressure for upper clarion register notes ( but note I am only an intermediate level player)
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-09-11 15:12
Steph -
A contra is much too heavy to play without a floor peg, and I find a bass too heavy also. I use a floor peg for both.
Probably 90% of bass players and 99% of contra players put the instrument between their legs. You practically have to use a neck strap to play the bass off to the right, and even with a longer floor peg, it tends to skid.
For the bass, you might try the method shown to my by the great soloist Josef Horak. Sit slightly forward in your chair, with your left foot forward and your right foot back with your heel against the outside bottom of the chair leg. Then tuck the end of the peg in the angle made by the chair leg and your heel. This gives a solid anchor and also creates a better angle for the mouthpiece. You'll have to rotate the neck slightly.
The instrument will lean to the left and slightly forward. You may have to use a neck strap to keep from having to support the instrument with your left hand.
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On "spread" contra tone, I have several suggestions:
REEDS. You need to use soft reeds -- the softest possible without getting a "flapping" sound on low notes. Also, contra reeds almost always warp with a ridge down the center on the bottom. I think it's because the bark doesn't expand, so the bottom is the only place swelling can happen. Put the reed on 400 or 600 grit sandpaper on a flat surface (preferably plate glass), press on the bark area and work until the bottom is uniformly shiny. I start with # 4 reeds, which end up about # 2 after I work on them.
EMBOUCHURE. You need to take plenty of mouthpiece. Your lower lip should go exactly at the point the reed separates from the lay of the mouthpiece. Also, it may help to violate some of the rules for soprano embouchure. Try a bassoonist's "Andy Gump" embouchure, with your jaw dropped down and back and your chin bunched up. You could even puff your cheeks a little, at least while getting used to opening up.
BREATH. Contra takes a lot of air, at relatively low pressure. This takes some getting used to, and a lot of practice. Arnold Jacobs, the great tuba player in the Chicago Symphony, is the source of all wisdom in this area. Read my posting at http://www.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=59103&t=58998 and the links given there.
MOUTHPIECE. Good mouthpieces are hard to find. The Selmer C* is a good place to start, but it's only a start. Selmer's machinery for making its contra mouthpieces is badly out of adjustment, and most of them are crooked. They sell so few that it's not worth it to them to fix things. Still, they're made of good rubber. If you're serious about the instrument, get one and send it to Roger Garrett or Walter Graebner for adjustment. For more money (over $200), you can get a handmade mouthpiece from Clark Fobes.
INSTRUMENT CONDITION. Contra mechanisms are large and, particularly on Leblancs, rather clumsy. It's very important to keep everything in adjustment, with the pads tight and the register mechanism working perfectly. Any leak or lack of adjustment will spoil the tone.
INSTRUMENT. Selmer contras are like big bass clarinets, with a very similar sound. Leblanc contras have a bigger bore and have a sound that is less "characteristic," though with lots of power. If you play a Leblanc, you need to think of it like a bass viol -- not as a solo instrument, but as the foundation for the ensemble. You don't even need to play it extremely loud -- just enough to provide the fundamental, with everyone else supplying the overtones.
Contra is great fun. Once you adjust, you can carry everyone else on your shoulders. Keep at it.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2002-09-11 18:35
Ever since I obtained a bass with a peg, I have used both the peg and the neckstrap. I find that the neckstrap helps to balance the instrument so that my hands are doing very little to hold the instrument in place and my fingers are free to, well, finger the notes. I have noticed that the bass clarinetist in the Indianapolis Symphony also uses both.
Another advantage to using both is that it allows me to sit in position very similar to that described by Ken. I sit far forward on the chair and have the peg angled under the seat -- even though my instrument has neck that already angles the mouthpiece upward. As a result, the mouthpiece is at an angle very similar to that used with soprano clarinets.
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Author: steph
Date: 2002-09-11 22:57
Thanks for the advice about the contra.
About the spread tone, I was actually talking about the soprano clarinet - sorry. I didn't say that in my post.
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Author: Jim A
Date: 2002-09-12 03:21
Ken,
many thanks for your informative posting. I will be switching to the bass clarinet this fall for ensemble and concert band and will add your post to the information I have been collecting.
I haven't had a chance to play on the instrument yet so I really don't have a clue yet as to what will come up in the transition.
I have been thinking on using a Legere reed in the beginning to hopefully take reed issues out of the change. I currently play a 2.5 reed on the soprano and I wonder if anyone would care to offer an opinion as to what a comparable Legere bass reed strength would be.
Thanks for that and any other advice.
Jim
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-09-12 18:01
Jim -
I haven't tried Legere bass clarinet reets. I've read good and bad things about them. Cane reeds last longer on bass than they do on soprano, so I've never felt the need.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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