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Buffet contra clarinet

Author: clarnibass
Date: 2007-05-30 17:35
Attachment: BuffetContra2.jpg (665k)
Attachment: BuffetContraLogo.jpg (111k)
Attachment: OtherClarinets.jpg (477k)

Hi

A few weeks ago I wrote about a Buffet metal contra clarinet. I finally remember to take my camera so here it is. I don't know if it's contra bass or contra alt (I think bass but not sure).

Photo 1 - The Buffet contra (next to a low E bass clarinet, for size comparison).

Photo 2 - The logo, maybe hard to see in the photo but it is a Buffet.

Photo 3 - Some other clarinets we have there, so I thought I'll take a photo too.

Post Edited (2007-05-30 18:55)

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Re: Buffet contra clarinet

Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2007-05-30 21:35

Wow!

It's too big to be a contra alto, so it's definitely a contrabass, almost certainly in Bb. If I count the keys correctly, it goes down to written low C. You'll need to have a very tall stool to play it, or even stand on a milk crate.

Any chance you can graft on the dragon's head from the other instrument lying horizontal beneath it (a contrabass a anche?)?

Ken Shaw

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Re: Buffet contra clarinet

Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2007-05-30 22:57

Ken, I could be wrong, but that looks like a Russian bassoon.

See here: http://www.serpentwebsite.com/photo.htm

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Re: Buffet contra clarinet

Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2007-05-31 00:43

Russian bassoon was my first thought, too, but that's a brass instrument with a cup mouthpiece -- an upright serpent. The one clarnibass's photo has a bocal that is small at the end and looks like it calls for a bassoon-type reed. See http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://counters.honesty.com/cgi-bin/honesty-counter.cgi%3Fdf%3Dgen.20575523.00000&imgrefurl=http://members.tripod.com/~Music_Treasures/anticont.htm&h=36&w=287&sz=9&hl=en&start=6&tbnid=AqxO3dBZfk_hZM:&tbnh=14&tbnw=115&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcontrabasse%2Ba%2Banche%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D100%26hl%3Den%26newwindow%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG.

Also, the Russian bassoon photos show relatively small finger holes and key holes and a wood body. According to Baines, Woodwind Instruments and Their History, the contrabasse a anche has huge holes, all covered by pads -- so large that only one key is opened for each note.

Ken Shaw

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Re: Buffet contra clarinet

Author: clarnibass
Date: 2007-06-06 05:14

Yesterday I looked again, and amazing, after who knows how long (20 years? maybe more?) they updated the the explainations on the instrument from tiny, crumbling, pieces of papers, to new clear ones. They wrongly wrote that the big metal clarinet is a bass clarinet, and the other two are alto clarinets (or something like that, forgot at the moment). I'm wondering, if they'll let me try to play it!

The dragon head instrument on the bottom is a ophicleide. In the same place on the left of the clarinets cut from the photo there are actually also a serpent and a russian bassoon. I'll take another photo when I can of all of them.

Thanks,

Nitai

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Re: Buffet contra clarinet

Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2007-06-06 12:00

Thanx for posting those photos! Could you mention the name of the museum here, so that the name will appear in the same thread with the links to the photos? Fascinating!

Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.

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Re: Buffet contra clarinet

Author: clarnibass
Date: 2007-06-06 15:32

Thanks. The museum doesn't have a name. It is in the Jerusalem Music Academy.

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