Haven't You Ever Had A Bass Clarinet Thought?

When was the last time you looked at your instrument and had a thought consumed with hope for how well playing the horn would go that day?

Know Your Literature

I received a very encouraging note from my college Clarinet teacher yesterday.  Basically, it made my whole college experience.

So, today Iw as poking at literature and reminding myself that I need to know "my" literature.  Not everybody else's.

In that same vane I can still add to my literature, but only slightly.  To date I hold onto:

Echange...Xenakis
Duo...Loevendie
Parable...by a friend (trust me when I say it's about 10 minutes and it's a bitch to play)
Waltz...by a college colleague.  He just needed to write it for a class, but I like it to this day.
Acht Stucke...Hindemith (it's actually for Flute)
Syrinx...Debussy
Carnival of Venice...Herbert L. Clarke
Towards the Crest...Robert Carl
Six Studies in English Folksong...Vaughn-Williams
Interludium from Six Dances...Phillip Martin (my favorite because I love ripping the hell out of it)
Voltage...DuBois
Bach...Cello Suites
Rhapsody...Osbourne

As I write this I'm definitely taking on the Mozart.  What could possibly go wrong?

There's more, but for now I'm committing to taking down the Mozart--just for funsies.
This should be good...

Bass Clarinetists Are Idiots Sometimes

So, today I did someone a favor.  I ran over to a rehearsal to lend out one of my instruments to someone who's playing in a conference in a couple weeks.  Apparently, this person's instrument wasn't treating them nice.

No big deal.

I bring my horn over and I asked that that person's instrument be present so I could take a look at it.  Now, basically, I have four theories about instruments that "don't work".

1.  It's a mis-adjustment of the throat A key.  Too tight and the Ab may be slightly open.  Too loose and air will leak out of the key.  It needs a little "play", but not much.

2.  A mal-adjusted low G or A.  Some Bass Clarinets have all kinds of adjustment screws down there for low G and low A.  Some have vent keys for low A and some don't.  Keeping two adjustment screws in balance, OR getting the right level on just one could be difficult.  Sometimes, an inexperienced Bass Clarinetist (even if they are a seasoned musician or Clarinetist) may not be able to play through a slight mis-adjustment of this key.

3.  Odd bending of keys and adjustment plates around low B or Bb.  There's all kinds of systems designed to deal with these keys, but sometimes they're just bent too.

4.  The person just flat doesn't know what they're doing and they are AFRAID.  Yes, AFRAID.  I even had a sane person who is a specialist on Bass Clarinet tell me that they played this instrument and sometimes it squeaked weirdly, etc.  Fear makes you do stupid things, and it makes you play badly.

I boil all this down to stupidity.  You have to REALLY know the instrument and you really have to know its tendencies.  Not the tendencies of just your instrument, but the tendencies of the Bass Clarinet in general.

So, though the term "idiot" may seem a little harsh, it's all I've got.  If you're not learning this stuff as you're playing then you just aren't using you brain.  That's the hard and fast truth.

I played a perfectly good instrument today because of someone else's fear and lack of knowledge.  Though it's frustrating it's not surprising.

When will we learn?