Contrabass Digest

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2002-01-09

 
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 17:47:54 -0600
Subject: [CB] conical   enough
From: Oscar A Wehmanen

 Art Benade the acoustition, who was also a clarinettist
 claimed that he had made a mouthpiece which overblows
 the octave, like a sax!  The cylindrical pipe business for clarinets
 is about the mouthpiece.  But if you closed the end,,,,

 The overtone series in any case would be the normal one
 seen in the sax.  Oscar

________________________________________________________________

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

From: LeliaLoban
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 20:00:27 EST
Subject: [CB] Sudbury and rosin

Grant Green wrote,
>My wife comes from a family of violin-makers, one of whom told us
>that around the turn of the century (the previous century), it was
>not uncommon for pit orchestra musicians to expire from respiratory
>ailments caused by inhaling the rosin that rained down on them from
>the stage over the years.  It used to be common practice to dust the
>stage with rosin so that the dancers (and actors?) wouldn't slide.
>Apparently intensely irritating to inhale...

Gymnasts and boxers have similar problems.   I rosin the neck of my bass sax
lightly, to prevent it from slipping down out of the "drainpipe."  My bass is
 Conn.  The neck inserts straight up into the "drainpipe" and gravity tends
to pull it straight back down.  I'm careful with that stuff and never use the
powdered form.  I use a cake of violinist's rosin that's attached to a square
of felt for handling, so that I never touch the rosin itself.

Powdered rosin for traction in the boxing ring is why the referee in a boxing
match dusts off the gloves of any fighter who's fallen to the canvas.  The
ref takes hold of the gloves and rubs them against his own shirt.  It used to
be a common dirty trick for fighters to deliberately contaminate their gloves
with rosin and then grind it into the opponent's eyes.  That's how a doctor
figured out what was wrong with the violinist who periodically went blind
when he practiced.

The doctor had asked to watch the boy practice.  This boy had multiple
nervous tics (the reason another doctor had too easily labelled his blindness
hysterical).  One of these tics surfaced whenever the student made a major,
train-wreck mistake, which was not often: he was a talented kid.  Muttering
angrily to himself, he would stop playing and go through a whole little
re-set routine that included (among other things) re-rosining his bow, then
rubbing his eyes with his knuckles.  The doctor, a boxing fan, noticed that
the lump of rosin had no protective felt.  The felt had come unglued and the
student had thrown it out.  The doctor realized at once that the student was
getting rosin on his hands and rubbing it into his eyes.  After doing this
enough times, he developed a hyper-sensitivity to rosin so severe that he
would experience blindness and asthma whenever he practiced, whether or not
he actually rubbed it into his eyes again during that session.

My husband plays the violin, BTW, but he's a boxing fan, too.  He's careful
with the rosin.
---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 17:07:37 -0800
From: Grant Green
Subject: [CB] Unbouncing...
 

A bit of administrativiata...  A number of addresses are bouncing
consistently (and have been bouncing for over a month), and I am
getting ready to delete a number.  If your address only *appears*
dead, and you suddenly stop receiving the list (or digest), please
let me know.

Thanks,

Grant

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grant Green
Sarrusophones, contrabass reeds, &
other brobdignagian acoustic exotica             http://www.contrabass.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 18:15:58 -0800
From: Grant Green
Subject: [CB] Paul Whiteman
 

While looking up the answer to another question off-line, I came
across a reference to the Paul Whiteman Orchestra.  According to G.
Joppig, the PWO (and Bechet) began experimenting with sarrusophones
at about the time the French makers stopped making new instruments,
in the early 1920's.  Is anyone familiar with the Paul Whiteman
Orchestra and its output?  Can anyone point to a particular
recording?  Where are our resident jazz historians...?

Grant

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grant Green
Sarrusophones, contrabass reeds, &
other brobdignagian acoustic exotica             http://www.contrabass.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
---------------------------------------------------------

From: Clarinetmama
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 21:20:27 EST
Subject: Re: [CB] Paul Whiteman
 
 
 

Just found this article on Whiteman,
http://www.redhotjazz.com/whiteman.html

Jean
 

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

Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2002 22:05:52 -0800
Subject: Re: [CB] [CB Digest]
From: Jim Katz
 

> Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2002 10:56:24 -0800
> From: Grant Green
> Subject: Re: [CB] largest smoke stack would toot
>
> According to
> http://school.discovery.com/homeworkhelp/worldbook/atozgeography/s/537
> 980.html, the actual height is 1250 feet, resulting in a frequency of
> 0.4096, still about Ab-6, assuming standard temperature and pressure.
> An extra 12 feet of length would bring it into tune, or we could lop
> off the top 58 feet, and bring it up to A concert...  ;-)  I wonder
> if this is within the hearing ranges of elephants or whales?
 

Has anyone contacted the company to see which tuning solution they would be
in favor of?
Has anyone written a piece that might use it?  (The StINCO sonata p'raps?)

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

From: (Louis Rugani)
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 22:04:14 -0600 (CST)
Subject: [CB] LeBlanc complaints

I saw Don Fox, the LeBlanc plant manager, tonight and told him about the
talk on this list about plating delays and other service-related
discourse. He said that LeBlanc tries to emphasize good service, and
anyone having any such problem should call him:

Don Fox
1-(800)-558-9421, Extension 1600

Don also says LeBlanc has one octo-contrabass clarinet, which is
currently in Paris but it has made the trek to Kenosha and back, riding
in its own paid-for seat on the transcontinental flights.  There's a
photo of it in the LeBlanc lobby.

Regards....
Lou
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ **-=\/=-** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The opposite of bravery is not cowardice, but conformity.
       ~ Robert Anthony

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

From: Heliconman
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 23:29:55 EST
Subject: Re: [CB] Paul Whiteman/Chloe
 
 
 

In a message dated 1/8/02 9:24:33 PM Eastern Standard Time, Clarinetmama writes:

> Just found this article on Whiteman,
> http://www.redhotjazz.com/whiteman.html

That was the first website I went looking for, except I tried <hotjazz.com>
only to find that the domain name is being sold for $10,000! Glad you were on
top of this!
If you poke around the various links on this website there are many great
real audio files to listen to! One of the recordings by Whiteman's Orchestra
was of a tune called "Chloe". STEADY, you Spike Jones fans! This is probably
the recording that Spike based his spoof upon! Now, I'm not at all familiar
with the sound of the sarrusophone, but there is a real nice sounding low
reed instrument featured on this 1928 recording! The link to the tune is <
http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/whiteman/chloe.ram> and you need a real audio
player to listen to it. Perhaps it might be a good time to download and try
out the new "Real One" player that came out in December, too!
Let me know what you sarrusophone players think this instrument is!
Gotta go! "Someone's callin'!"
 
 

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

Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2002 22:56:01 -0600
From: Jim Quist
Subject: Re: [CB] LeBlanc complaints

> Don also says LeBlanc has one octo-contrabass clarinet, which is
> currently in Paris but it has made the trek to Kenosha and back, riding
> in its own paid-for seat on the transcontinental flights.

I have hoped to see this horn in person, but I've always missed it when
it was here. If anyone catches wind of when the mighty octocontrabass is
due again in Wisconsin, please send notice to the list. Oh, when do we
get to hear it?

Jim

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

From: Francis Firth
Subject: [CB] Peter Maxwell Davies Strathclyde Concerto No. 9
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 08:50:18 -0000

Dear list,
does anyone have a recording of Peter Maxwell Davies's Strathclyde Concerto
No. 9 for piccolo, eb/bass clarinet, cor anglais and contrabassoon?
If so would you be prepared to make me a copy/dub of it as it is now out of
print?
Thanks,
Francis Firth
---------------------------------------------------------

From: "Patrick.Scully"
Subject: Re: [CB] LeBlanc complaints
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 01:38:04 -0800

Lou,

I thank you for letting Mr. Fox at the Leblanc factory in Kenosha know about
the very serious problems Leblanc contra clarinet owners have encountered in
trying to obtain even routine maintenance items such as pad sets for our
beloved instruments.

In giving you his telephone number, and in agreeing to have it posted here
on a public listserv, Mr. Fox demonstrates that he is a capable manager,
willing to step up to a responsibility that may not be, in a formal sense, his.

Unfortunately for me and several other correspondents here, the people in
Leblanc's executive suite --  who supervise Mr. Fox and decide what he and
his staff will produce and when -- have already ensured that Leblanc contra
enthusiasts all over the world were forced to have surgery done on our
instruments in order to install saxophone (or in several other cases,
bassoon) pads.  Waits of 3 to 6 months (or even "indefinite") for simple
pads are still the order of the day at Leblanc.

BTW, the contra clarinet surgery necessitated by Leblanc's neglect, per one
of the originators of the operation,  involves the amputation of a little
nub (a threaded receiver) at the base of each of some 36 keycups with bolt
cutters, followed by the floating of pads of more typical design in molten
shellac.   My Leblanc BBb contrabass just got this "sub Saharan female rite
of passage"  two weeks ago; it's all over, folks.  It was either that, or
give up playing my Leblanc contrabass indefinitely, or toss that
nickelplated Siren down the Sudbury stack for recycling followed by the
purchase of  a $9500-$15000 Selmer.  These choices are all catastrophic for
the Leblanc customer or Leblanc itself...yet the obvious and easy solution
is for Leblanc to simply sell a few pad sets to some hurting musicians!

According to one correspondent here on contrabass.com, contra pads are not
made in Kenosha and thus, Mr. Fox would be of little help other than to
serve as a therapeutic whipping boy and lightning rod.   I would also note
that Mr. Fox's bandwidth to solve customer problems is limited.  Neither he
nor anyone else from Leblanc has uttered so much as a peep, in writing or by
phone, to me or any one else I've spoken with who has had similar problems.
But our email addresses have been here, in full public view, for months.
Further, I have sent several emails to Leblanc's VP Communications via the
public website...all unanswered.  Let me assure you, colleagues, Leblanc had
ample opportunity to make this ridiculous issue go away before you ever
heard of it.  No dice.

The thing that Mr. Fox may be able to change is the availability of "heavy"
replacement parts in the future.  This will be, for the moment, something
that others here will need to test for themselves.  For me and many others,
Leblanc's "grey suits" have prevailed.  Early this week, my tech confirmed
that Leblanc will ship UNPLATED keyguards, since ANOTHER delay of 4 weeks to
plate said items would just about end my days as a contra clarinet player altogether.

Did I mention that the Leblanc paperclip contra clarinets have an incredible
sound (given the right setup), are a total rush to play, will gain their
owner admission to just about any wind ensemble, and, barring the total
disintegration of Leblanc (and perhaps even if that occurs), are very good
financial investments?   They do, they are, they have been.  Perhaps one
must have some bitter to appreciate the sweet

Patrick Scully
 

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

From: ZIPPYTPH
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 07:53:36 EST
Subject: Re: [CB]
 

I don't contribute much, but may i say this list is great .  smoke stacks,
Whiteman and SPIKE JONES! Wow.
sande hackel

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

From: corwinmoore
Subject: Re: [CB] Paul Whiteman
Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2002 23:28:17 +0000

Start your research on the AMG Web site: allmusic.com

That is probably your best online resource for jazz history. Search on "Whiteman, Paul" or any musicians that you know from that orchestra's era.  There should also be a discography for the group.

Also, if any of you have recorded your own CDs and would like a review and indexing on the AMG site (which Yahoo has called "the best online jazz resource"), send me a sample CD, a biography (and a picture of yourself or your group), a discography (if you can put one together), and other kinds of information such as that which you see on the AMG Web site:

  Corwin Moore
  c/o All Media Guide
  Suite 400
  301 East Liberty
  Ann Arbor, MI  48104

I'll see that it gets to our reviewers and others who supply information to the AMG databses.

I'm also available at:  (734) 887-5600 x 177 (8 AM to 5 PM daily)

- Corwin Moore
***End of Contrabass Digest***


 
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