From: "Sung Hwang Wang"
Subject: [CB] Contrabass Clarinet Seating
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 10:12:17 -0800
Hello everyone,
Just wondering if I could get some feedback from the more
experienced. Where do contrabass clarinetists normally sit in the
band?
Our band is arranged as 3 rows of semi-circles.
Flutes and first clarinets are on row one, closest to and on
either side of the conductor.
On middle row, Oboe and bassoon are at center, starting from
middle, we have saxophones piccolo and flutes on the right, and second
and third clarinets on the left.
On last row, tubas are at center, then starting from middle, we
have baritone horns and French horns on the right, and trumpets,
trombones, bass clarinet, and me, contrabass clarinets, at the left.
Percussion at the very back.
So basically I am at the left side of the conductor, to his
furthest left.
Is this the optimum seating for contras? For practical
reasons and better blend of sound, I am thinking of moving over to sit
among the low brass and percussion. It will give me more rooms to
negotiate the monster horns and probably blend better with tuba,
baritone, and French horns. I am trying to convince my conductor.
I would appreciate any advise or suggestions.
Thanks.
Willy
---------------------------------------------------------
From: Ken Shaw
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 14:35:49 EST
Subject: [CB] Contra Floor Peg Slips
Sung Hwang Wang says:
> The contra alto has a peg that
sometimes slips. When I used to play it without a neck strap, when the
peg slipped without a warning, the bell ended up crashing onto the
floor, which can't be good. <
The bottom of the bell almost always has a keel-shaped
brace/shock absorber, which should prevent dents. However, the
long rods can easily be bent by the shock, leading to leaks and lazy
key action.
I think the best solution is the one Buffet uses on their
current bass clarinet pegs -- a golf ball sized rubber ball, which
holds at any angle.
The ball with the highest coefficient of friction is the
children's toy, the Super Ball. Get one and drill a hole very
slightly smaller than the floor peg. Be careful drilling, as the
rubber is very hard, yet brittle. If you try to hold it in a
vise, the rubber may crack. You'll probably do better starting
with a small drill to make a pilot hole and then put increasingly large
drills in. Drill a test hole in a piece of scrap wood to find
which drill bit matches the floor peg diameter.
Instead of trying to push the rod into the hole in the ball, put
the bottom of the rod on the floor and tap the ball down on it with a
wood or plastic mallet.
Ken Shaw
---------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22
Dec 2004 12:59:53 -0800 (PST)
From: john
webster
Subject: Re:
[CB] Contrabass Clarinet Seating
Interesting
question and I have two and 1/2 answers (three different conductors)
and my own opinion.
-
The conductor of the Palm Beach Gardens Concet band (and my
opinion the best of my conductors) is a clarinetest by training and
when I have suggested moving over to the low bass side siad he perfered
to keep me with the clarinets, inorder to maintain a clarinet choir
effect.
-
The director of the Symphonic band of the Palm Beaches
has the Contra, Bass clarinet and sometins the Alto all on the other
side of the band, with the tubas bassoons and baritones.
-
The director of the Royal Palm Beach band didn't seem to
have a strong preferance but did suggest I move over with the tubas
etc.but this may have been because of limitations on the space
available. I endorsed this because it got me away from the
percussion.
-
some years ago a director of the Symphonic band placed the
Bass clarinets (we had no contra at that time) in the middle, just
behind the flutes.
Conclusion - It's a matter of the conductors perception of what
sound/blend he wants to obtain
Sorry there is no clear answer. John
---------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 15:24:07 -0800
From: "Grant Green"
Subject: Re: [CB] Contrabass Clarinet Seating
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Sung Hwang Wang"
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 10:12:17 -0800
>Just wondering if I could get some feedback from the more
>experienced. Where do contrabass clarinetists normally sit
in
>the band?
In the SJWS, we also sit in semicircles, roughly:
oboes/EH ..flutes.. picc.. flutes
bassoons .. efer...clarinets .........
contra, bass cls, alto cls, saxes, horns
trombones .. euphs .. tubas
.. trumpets ..
string bass .. percussion ..
Thus, from the audience's view, I'm at the end of the 3rd row to
the right of the conductor. Nothing really lines up after the third
row, due to the shape of our practice room. There's essentially nobody
behind me, with the back rows shifted towards the center of the room.
Bass clarinet and contra often double the same part (in unison
or octaves), so it is good to keep them together. Contra also often
substitutes for contrabassoon (particularly in transcriptions), so it
is good to be close to the bassoons. In terms of blending timbres, the
contra often goes with the bari sax and/or the string bass. I like
having a bit of distance from the tubas so that I can hear myself :-)
The setup I liked best was the SJWS's previous organization:
oboes/EH, flutes & picc(s) in the front row; 2nd row starting with
contra, 2 Bs Cls, 2 Alto Cls, then the rest of the Bbs and efer; 3rd
row bassoons, then saxes, etc.; 4th row string bass, trombones, tuba,
etc. That way, I had the bass clarinets to my right, the bassoons
immediately behind me (with bari just to the right of them), and the
string bass immediately behind the bassoons. Those instruments provide
the "woodwind" timbre bass voice, as distinct from the "brass" bass
voice (tubas and euphs, bass trombone). It also helps to sit at the end
of the row when you have one or more large horns to wrangle: if I had
to climb over half the band with Bb contra, Eb contra, and Bb bass,
there would be significantly more disruption.
Enjoy!
Grant
--
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Grant Green Contrabass.com
Sarrusophones & contrabass winds
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