Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2007-02-02 21:30
Quote:
Always happy to oblige my friends and neighbors
...as Beadle Bamford used to say in Sweeney Tood
The Eb/Bb trick is something else that I stumbled upon while fussing around with a transposition problem back in my younger days. (I think that I was playing Reed 1 on a bandstration version of Threepenny Opera, and my alto was in the shop that night so I did everything on clarinet instead.)Since that time, I've also seen it discussed in the Stubbins book on clarinet playing, and mentioned elsewhere now and then.
Put simply, to play an Eb part on the Bb clarinet, play the part either up or down in either chalmeau or clarinet register and with or without the register key . So, A on the baritone part is played like A in the upper register on the bass clarinet, but without the register key, which automatically transposes it to D.
It works either way, up or down, and the only troublesome part is when you have to cross the break. Once you get used to it, it's like falling off a log.
I've used it for many, many years now, primarily to provide missing bass clarinet parts in big band arrangements where the original had bass but the publisher transfered it over to the baritone part, thinking that most groups don't carry a bass clarinet.
Pretty slick, huh? It's of limited utility, but you can certainly amaze your friends when you start making the shift with little or no effort. A musical parlor trick, if you will.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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