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Re: Low D added to alto clarinet

Author: Ebclarinet1
Date: 2009-10-04 13:06

The new Buffet Prestige alto clarinets have a vent on the bell and when the vent is covered and low Eb is played it makes a very well tuned low D (=low C on the basset horn). Perhaps you could just buy a Buffet alto bell as an alternative to more major surgery. I own a basset horn too but I have experimented transposing some of the classic basset horn pieces and playing them on alto using the vent covering and it works very well. I used a rubber stopper (I'm a cell biologist and we use these in various pieces of lab equipment) as it was easy to insert and remove. That way you can play a low Eb (Db on the basset horn) by removing the stopper relatively easily. Of course this would not work in a chromatic passage of the low notes.

The Buffet alto has a very pretty sound, a bit more "robust"(less veiled) than a basset horn, but a lovely sound. The Adagio of the Mozart concerto sounds beautiful on it!

Hope that's some help!

Eefer guy

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Date

Low D added to alto clarinet new

Simon Aldrich

2009-10-03 16:23