Contrabass Digest

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1999-12-01

 
From: "Harry Searing" <hsearing@home.com>
Subject: Where no one has gone before.... (WAS: Bassoon Low Ab Extension)
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 21:23:51 -0500
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.com

I've posted this previously to both the IDRS and Double Reed lists, but
never got much of a response. Maybe this is the right place, however.

I don't know who 'invented' this technique, but our teacher in college,
Stephen Maxym showed me, Frank Morelli and a few other students at the time
(the 70's), a way to play low A without an extension. Here goes. (get out
your axes!)

It helps if your reed opening is more open, as opposed to closed. Place the
end of the reed on your lips (lips together and teeth closed) and kind of
buzz your lips into the reed, while fingering low Bb. With practice (which
of course we did a lot of once we learned of this technique) you can refine
the sound and control the pitch enough so that it sounds like a logical half
step below the normal lowest note on a standard issue bassoon. I played the
Nielsen Quintet live on WQXR radio in NYC and played the last note this way.
(Don't need no stinkin' English Horn bell!)

Being the kind of students we were, and in our eternal quest for higher and
lower, we found that you could get even lower than low A. It's just a matter
of loosening your lips while buzzing. We also found that if you fingered any
note between A (first space bass clef) and low D and buzzed your lips
loosely, you would get that note an octave lower. We called these pedal
tones. With the right reed, we could get down to pedal D with some clarity
and regularity. Low C is pretty impossible, though. You can imagine that
it's there but there's really not enough fundamentals in the tone.

Have fun out there!
Harry Searing

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

"Excelsior, you FATHEAD!" - Jean Shepherd

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From: "Spencer Parks" <ilylamp@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Subcontrabass Saxophone impractical and ludicrous
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 19:20:47 PST
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.com

>From: Adam Kent-Isaac <lokibassoon@yahoo.com>

>FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
> There may be a prop or even an instrument out of
>which a sound may come, which is a "subcontrabass
>saxophone" in size and pitch. But is it a real
>instrument. No, it's not. And there probably have been
>none of these saxophones ever built.
> But I have to address a deeper issue here; we might
>like contrabass instruments, but that's because we're
>a bunch of insecure little men who cling tightly to
>our gigantic toys as the ultimate phallic symbol.
> But we're not typical. We're probably the only people
>on earth who enjoy really low-pitched horns. Most
>people would not like to hear such a low pitch from a
>subcontrabass sax. Really, it wouldn't even be
>musical, and all you'd hear would be the slaps of the
>reed. And if a note did come out, it would sound
>fairly nasty. People like melodic instruments (flute,
>oboe, alto sax, clarinet, cello, etc.) and the players
>of these instruments get rich and famous because
>people love their sound. Few people would want to
>invest the funds and time to build such a large
>saxophone.
> An instrument like that is all looks anyway. It might
>be fun to look at and it might attract attention, but
>that's really it; it's just a sight gag. People like
>real instruments. Once an instrument gets THAT LOW,
>it's not even real anymore, just a joke or a novelty.
> Don't get me wrong, I LOVE contrabass instruments.
>But as William Shatner said, "Get a Life." Our
>instruments give us power like guns, or tanks, or
>computers give other little men power!!!
 

That all may be true, but when I do get the funds, I will make one.  But
I'll be getting a contrabass sax first (and not one of the new ones).  How
about your's Paul?!

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Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 18:15:11 -0800 (PST)
From: Adam Kent-Isaac <lokibassoon@yahoo.com>
Subject: Rap
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.com

Forgive me for changing the subject so soon (I thought
the whole "cannibal" thing was getting somewhere)but I
might want to make mention of a vastly neglected genre
on this list.
That's rap music to you. The truth is, of all of the
kinds of popular music we hear, rap is the one with
the lowest notes. Rap and funk bassists are notorious
for their extentions and subcontrabass rumbling.
This list is mainly focused on contemporary classical
and traditional music. But rap is filled with low
notes though few pay attention to it.
 

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From: "Spencer Parks" <ilylamp@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Bass Sax spotted!
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 19:30:15 PST
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.com

>I was watching the Thanksgiving parade in Pittsburgh on Saturday and saw a
>guy marching with a Bass Sax in the Mummers (sp?) Band.  I bet he was sore
>the next day from carrying it.
 

I marched with a bari sax in High School.  That wasn't the best experience
I've had.  My thumb and arms kinda hurt.  Marching with a bass obviously
would be worse, but I'd do it in a second.

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From: "Spencer Parks" <ilylamp@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Subcontrabass Saxophone impractical and ludicrous
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 19:40:39 PST
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.com

>And let's not forget bass guitars, 5 and 6 string basses,

I even saw a seven string bass.  That was sweet.  I didn't hear it though.

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Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 21:42:11 -0600 (CST)
From: Edmund William White <ewwhite@ews.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Re: Bass Sax spotted!
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.com

 It's a step up from marching bass clarinet.......

On Tue, 30 Nov 1999, Spencer Parks wrote:

>>>I was watching the Thanksgiving parade in Pittsburgh on Saturday and saw a
>>>guy marching with a Bass Sax in the Mummers (sp?) Band.  I bet he was sore
>>>the next day from carrying it.
>>
>>
>>I marched with a bari sax in High School.  That wasn't the best experience
>>I've had.  My thumb and arms kinda hurt.  Marching with a bass obviously
>>would be worse, but I'd do it in a second.
>>

Edmund William White
ewwhite@ews.uiuc.edu
ewwhite@cs.uiuc.edu

---------------------------------------------------------

From: "Spencer Parks" <ilylamp@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Subject: RE: Subcontrabass Saxophone impractical and ludicrous
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 19:43:09 PST
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.com

>Adam, if this were true, contrabassoons, paper-clip contra clarinets,
>tubas, string basses wouldn't have an audience. Every instrument has a
>venue, an audience and a following. It may not be an aggressive following,
>but one none the less. Why do they sale so many sub-woofers? It doesn't
>sound good by itself. Have you ever listened to The Nuclear Whale Sax
>Orchestra? The contrabass sax would not have a big following as a solo
>instrument, except by "those of us insecure, little men who cling tightly
>to our gigantic toys as the ultimate phallic symbol" but in its
>environment, it is truly a wonderful, powerful addition. Sorry, I kind of
>missed that phallic generalization, I'll tell my wife she can't play her
>paper-clip contra. I DO NOT mean to criticize your opinion, but please,
>don't say "we're" and "most people". Most of my "educated" friends enjoy
>the full, robust sound of a pedal tone and can appreciate their
>contributions in any piece of given music. "Chordially"
>Terry Ford, tuba, bari/bass sax

YEEAHHH!!!

---------------------------------------------------------

From: "Spencer Parks" <ilylamp@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Bass Sax spotted!
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 20:04:25 PST
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.com

> It's a step up from marching bass clarinet.......

Marching with a baritone sax is a step up from marching with a bass
clarinet?!  True I've never marched with a bass clarinet, but when I think
about that, it seems the opposite of what you say.

Also, you realize who I am Ed, Right?  ETHS

---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 10:30:25 +0000 (GMT)
From: Dafydd y garreg wen <mavnw@csv.warwick.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Bass Sax spotted!
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.com

On Tue, 30 Nov 1999, Edmund William White wrote:
>  It's a step up from marching bass clarinet.......

And several down from marching contrabass tuba.......

Dave Taylor

---------------------------------------------------------
From: Heliconman@aol.com
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 12:49:15 EST
Subject: Re: Rap
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.com

In a message dated 11/30/1999 10:23:12 PM Eastern Standard Time,
lokibassoon@yahoo.com writes:

<< Forgive me for changing the subject so soon (I thought
 the whole "cannibal" thing was getting somewhere)but I
 might want to make mention of a vastly neglected genre on this list.
 That's rap music to you. The truth is, of all of the
 kinds of popular music we hear, rap is the one with
 the lowest notes. Rap and funk bassists are notorious
 for their extentions and subcontrabass rumbling.
 This list is mainly focused on contemporary classical
 and traditional music. But rap is filled with low
 notes though few pay attention to it.
  >>
Hope ya didn't take that cannibal thing TOO seriously! hehehe
As far as the rap thing, the most ridiculously heavy bottom end I ever heard
at a rap show had to be the dreaded Vanilla Ice at the Orpheum in Boston.
They were carrying an 18 wheeler FULL of subwoofers. It's a smallish theatre
of the same type as the Apollo in Harlem. The subs were stacked two high
(oooh, my achin' back!) on stage, bringing the width of the performance area
down to 50 or 60 percent of the stage. There were subs under both balconies
and all across the front of the stage in the front row seat area. In fact the
first two rows of seats were removed so they could be put there. Most of the
local crew of stagehands left the theatre during the show including
myself....it was painfully loud. During the show paint and plaster could be
seen falling from the ceiling. The Ice road crew wore airport style ear
protectors. The drummer was using MIDI triggers and his drum voices included
the dreaded TR-808 kick drum which was the sound that drove out the local
crew. The whole hall reverberated with that one. Their road crew had been
bribed with leather tour jackets. That only helped a little I guess. It was
really a case of too damn much bass.
Was that what you wanted to hear, piccolo-head?
---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1999 16:18:37 -0500
Subject: Oops
From: Michael J Effenberger <tyrthegreatandpowerful@juno.com>
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.com

Sorry, please DO NOT remove me from this list, this was in response to
spam that apparently came through the contrabass list, or maybe I just
replied to the wrong message.
Either way, if I've been removed, please reinstate me, and sorry for the
trouble.
-Mike Effenberger, tubist at large
 


 
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