Contrabass Digest

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2000-12-13

 
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 13:34:07 +0000
From: Terje Lerstad
Subject: Re: [CB] (several subjects)
 
Opusnandy wrote:

   In a message dated 12/10/00 8:00:32 AM, tlerstad writes:

   << Unfortunately, after Vito took over Leblanc, Leon Leblanc died at the age of 99 and
   the factory in France was closed, the only Ab Boehm system clarinets are made by Orsi, Italy.
   Terje Lerstad >>

   Terje,

   Now that the Leblanc factory in France is closed, do you know where the
   octocontraalto and octocontrabass clarinets are being kept?  I am traveling
   to France next year and was hoping to get to take a look at these at the
   Leblanc factory.  Now that it is closed, do these instruments still even
   exist?

   Jonathan Carreira
   I'd like to open this issue a little more. Is it really closed? Meaning,
   confirmed by a press release from Leblanc? And what will this mean for this
   historically quality-ridden company? It's well known that when instruments
   start getting made on a conveyer belt, that the results really aren't great.
   Where are the instruments made now? And why do the instruments say Leblanc
   France, as opposed to Leblanc Korea/China/Guatemala (or whatever)? Is the
   company receiving any pressure from the instrumentalists of the world that
   endorse them? And why would they cut contra production? Don't they know that
   instruments become extinct when they aren't produced anymore?
   Have fun with these questions!
   Stuart

1.Sorry, Feodor, the only Ab clarinets are made by Orsi and Ripamonti (their price list is very impressive).

2. About the factory:  As far as I know, the problems started some years ago, when there where no more people hwo could make the keys, so for low instruments the keys where made in the US.  Suddenly I could buy no more bassett horns in Paris, because they got no keys from Vito. Now the production of contra instruments has completely stopped in Paris, and the last I have heard is that they will be made by Vito, USA (not Guatemala)  probably in 3-4 years.

I think they still make "ordinary" clarinets in Paris, but I don't know for sure, since they don't answer my letters anymore after we got a norwegian agent.  The office should still be found at 403, rue des Pyrenées , Paris  (metro Pyrenées)

When I last saw one octocontraalto and one octocontrabass and actually was able to play them (in 1979), they where in the office of Mr. Gérard Leblanc at this address. He was not old when I last saw him 10 years ago, so probably he still is there.
I plan to go to Paris in march, and after that I maybe know more. There are 2 more Leblanc octocontraaltos, but I don't know where.  1 american octocontraalto (made by whom?) should be in the instrument museum of the Philadelphia Orchestra.  Does anyone know more about this, have seen it, or ---?

The only 3 people who at this time can make Leblanc contras, are one pensioned maker in Paris, one nearly pensioned and my excellent reapairman Eric Leclerc here in Oslo, Norway, so the future of these instruments seems very unsecure, but I think the players should demand that these instruments are still made (how we should do that, I don't know).  "All" composers are writing demanding contra parts now, even for the orchestra.

The future is now decided by Vito, which is an american company.  Does any poeple of this list have connections with them?  I don't, even though I still receice the Leblanc Bell magazine.

Terje Lerstad

---------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 15:06:43 -0700
From: Grant Green
Subject: [CB] San Jose Saxophone Christmas!
 

Just a reminder: it is not too late to sign up for the San Jose
Saxophone Christmas.  Rehearsal and performances (one rehearsal, two
performances: how's *that* for a good ratio?) are THIS SATURDAY,
12/16, in San Jose, CA.  Bass and contrabass saxes and sarrusophones
are particularly welcome (and I *will* be there, at least for the
first performance).  Rehearsal is 10-noon at Monroe Middle School
(1055 S. Monroe St.).  The first performance is outdoors at 2 PM, San
Jose's "Christmas in the Park" (N. 1st Street), and the second
indoors at 5 PM, Eastridge Shopping Center.

If you haven't already registered, contact Ray Bernd
(ray_bernd@campbellusd.k12.ca.us or 408-341-7000 x5046) to let him
know what you're bringing, and bring $10 to cover music & T-shirt.

Enjoy!

Grant

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant Green
ecode:contrabass       http://www.contrabass.com
Professional Fool -> http://www.mp3.com/ProFools
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 15:33:02 -0700
From: Grant Green
Subject: [CB] Infrasonic Giraffe
 

One last news item from Echoes:  apparently, a number of other
animals (other than whales, dolphins, and elephants) generate and use
subsonic/infrasonic frequencies (below 12 Hz).  The item lists Liz
von Muggenthaler, published in the Raleigh NC News and Observer, as
reporting that tigers, rhinos, hippos, alligators, and giraffes also
make low frequency sounds.  The author apparently is president of the
Fauna Communications Research Institute (http://www.animalvoice.com/).

Rumble,

Grant

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant Green
ecode:contrabass       http://www.contrabass.com
Professional Fool -> http://www.mp3.com/ProFools
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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