Author: Steve Epstein
Date: 2006-01-11 05:00
Wayne, what are you planning to use a C for?
My C enables me to play fiddle tunes with fiddle players, and basically in any kind of folk ensemble with players who are all playing concert key instruments (and are usually befuddled as to "why the clarinet is in Bb"). Of course, you can transpose to a Bb or an A, but this requires you to develop transposing skills -- SUPERIOR transposing skills, because of tempi and "notey-ness", in the case of fiddle tunes -- and given the common folk fiddle keys, you'd want an A more than a Bb. There certainly are players out there who can do this by sight and/or by ear, and boy, are they great players, but as for the rest of us, it's a choice between writing EVERYTHING out or buying a C.
I play a Patricola CL7 grenadilla which I like. I use the barrels supplied with the horn. You get two of them, one a mm shorter than the other. I tried a friend's Tom Ridenour plastic model the other day and I thought it sounded as nice and sweet as my Patricola. It's keywork wasn't as nice, though. Sturdy, but the tone holes wanted to cut ridges in my finger tips. But it's a heck of a lot cheaper and a decent horn.
Steve Epstein
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The Clarinet BBoard
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