Author: claritoot26
Date: 2010-12-02 16:42
Good comments above. Yes, the bell should be moved toward you, to get a better mouthpiece angle. There are re-angled necks you can buy, but they are quite expensive. I think Charles Bay makes one, but I haven't tried it...I liked the angled neck on my Buffet bass. You may need to get the neck cork replaced to fix that wiggle...take it to a technician, that is a quick and cheap fix, usually. A floor peg is pretty much a necessity for bass clar., since you might rehearse in different chairs of different heights, so the instrument position would need to be adjusted each time you change chairs. That's easy to do with an adjustable floor peg. And correct, you need to take in more mouthpiece on bass than on soprano, just because the facing is longer, so the part of the reed that vibrates most is larger. I don't think you need to push up into the reed with the lower lip, though (if I'm envisioning that correctly!). If anything, the lower jaw needs to be more open than on soprano, to let the reed vibrate well, especially for those low notes. Also, if you bite too hard on the upper register notes, you can easily get squeaks or higher notes than you aim for. I try to sit with my head and neck up straight, and make sure my top teeth really stay connected to the mouthpiece. In other words, I think I put more pressure on the top of the mouthpiece than on the reed, for bass clarinet. And this can only be done if the height of the instrument is in the right position and stable, i.e. with a good peg. good luck
Lori
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The Clarinet BBoard
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