 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2005-06-14 17:31
I have a question for those of you who play Bundy Eb contrabass clarinet.
Do you find the seated playing position uncomfortable in more than one way?
I am basically adopting the bass clarinet playing position when I first started playing this contra, but immediately I find a couple of things that makes this uncomfortable:
The curve of the angle of the neck pipe is fairly flat, causing the mouthpiece to enter the mouth at a very flat angle. I find this unnatural for clarinet embouchure. This angle is fine for saxes; because you can play saxes to the side of your body and adjust the angles accordingly. But you can’t do the same with contrabass; it sits between your legs and that’s it. To find a better position, I ended up tilting it forward; it helps a little bit, but now the bell is almost underneath the chair and I am sitting at the edge of the chair.
The right hand playing position is uncomfortable too. It puts the wrist at a awkward angle and it feels strained. This situation is also helped a little if I tilt the instrument forward.
So my conclusion is: I need to play the instrument slightly tilted forward in order to play comfortably. The standard vertical position for the bass doesn’t work on this instrument.
Do you also find this to be true? How do you work around it? Any comments and suggestions?
I guess the extra length of a low C bass can also create this problem. I have also seen low C bass players tilt their instruments so the bell is almost underneath the chair.
The body of the low C is also short enough that, if you don’t like the flat angle, you can re-angle the neck pipe to a steeper angle without putting you out of playing position. Whereas I don’t think you can do this with this Eb contrabass (it is already very long/tall in body and I had to use a thick seat cushion on my chair so I can reach the mouthpiece), it will just put the mouthpiece way out of reach. The angle would have been correct, but I won’t be able to reach it.
Willy
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-06-14 17:48
I've re-angled my neck, so my Buescher (i.e. Bundy) contra is now comfortable. It certainly was NOT with the stock, horizontal neck angle.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2005-06-15 05:59
For the Bundy contra alto, I carried a pillow in the trunk of my car for those rare occasions when I played it. Otherwise, I tilted it backwards. One of these days, I may do some tone hole undercutting to make it sound a little more focussed. However, it is a fine instrument as is. Good luck!
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Author: contragirl
Date: 2005-06-15 06:16
I had no problem playing mine at the flat angle. *shrug*
And Dave has yet to build his low C extension for the Buescher contra? I'm disappointed.
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Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2005-06-15 16:24
Dave had plans to create a low C extension for the Eb contrabass? Would need to sit on a stool to play for sure.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-06-15 16:30
contragirl, as usual, is being silly. Although, levity aside, one of the prototype low-C extensions I had built for the bass clarinet was a metal one which curved upwards immediately below the low-Eb and has the three additional notes on the 'up-pipe' -- like a low-A baritone sax. It's a nice compact way to do it, but for some reason this particular prototype sounded like garbage so I didn't pursue it further; plus the key linkages would have been a challenge. Linton once built a similar contra-alto or contra-bass, I believe --- in fact I think there is a photo of it on contragirl's website.
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Author: Merlin
Date: 2005-06-16 03:55
I used to own a Bundy contra with a D extension custom made by Steve Fox. The low F concert it produced was actually quite useful in concert band literature. I ended up selling it to another clarinetist in here in Toronto.
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