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I just received today, after a 5 week wait, the bass clarinet I had bought on Ebay back at the end of January. I bought it on a whim, if you will (chorus sings Whim Away, Whim Away), as I have wanted to find an instrument that would be fairly easy to learn due to its similarity with sax. I thought about and dropped the idea of it being either a flute or an Aerophone for a number of reasons each. I considered the trombone for about 5 minutes while in the throes of some kind of evil spell but fortunately woke up in time. Horror of horrors it is actually more difficult and inexplicable than the trumpet, which I have already tried over the past couple of years. Not enough time left in life for that torture, so while listening to Eric Dolphy I saw a light bulb catch on fire. So here it was at last, after 4 weeks held hostage for ransom by Spanish Customs thieves. And I am now already as of this afternoon and evening in the process of learning how it works and how to play it so I can enjoy it just as I do all my saxes, T, A, and S.
I'm going to post about my experiences, impressions, and progress with this thing that I've always thought looks somewhat like a tenor sax on Aicd as seen from the standpoint of a long-time Saxophone-Only player. It is one odd bird I'll say that much to start. This thing appears to have more Keys than Alicia could ever dream of having but in fact, after counting I discovered that there are only 3 more than on my tenor. It it had a high F# key that would make it only 2 more. Thankfully I don't have nor want a high F# key as that note is easy enough to blow with the Front F. However the BC does seem to have more multi-clusters of jammed together think pinky type keys and that is kind of curious at the same time as a bit off-putting.
Actually it's not the number of them as much as more of where and how they are placed and how you have to play them that seems strange to me. Take for example the LH thumb rest which in fact isn't really a thumb rest but actually a key touch that you have to let up on to get G. Is there any key on a saxophone that you have to keep you thumb on but need to not press it in order to get a G? And how exactly you do that without losing a grip on this long tall Sally of an ungainly thing? That seems to be my first task to figure out. I watched a video online of how to play a scale down from there and it's not that hard actually other than remembering to depress the "thumbrest G key" again for all other notes. My mind automatically wonders if there couldn't be a more practical way to play G without it being the place you rest your left thumb in order to play the register key, or what I assume is the or a register key. But never mind that for the moment on to playing it.
This afternoon and evening I tried it with a number of reeds, different in both brand and hardness. I only have tenor reeds so far, but since people here have said they are fine, I think I'll stick with them for now. The 4C seems to want a med-hard reed so I started with a Plasticover 3.5 that seemd to do well, or as well as could be said for a newb. I tried a La Voz 2 but way too soft and a Rigotti Gold 2.5 also too soft so then I played it with my Forestone White Bamboo 4.
This is the only one of those I have ever bought back when I was playing 4s on my 100 Berg. To my surprise it is about as soft as a 2.5. Either it started that way or just softened down to that, don't know. Mystery to me that I need to ask others about. I don't get it, but a 4 it is not. Might be more like a 2 of anything else. So it plays sorta okay on this 4C however I like the Plasticover 3.5 better and then when I went to a PC 4 that was even better. I'm going to try some 4s in other brands like a Rigotti, Java, and Select Jazz to see how they sound tone wise. This is all an unknown universe to me, you realize, and part of learning to play it is learning about what it likes and needs....kind of like a wild animal I have taken in as a pet. My experience playing the 3 Sax woodwinds has given me the ability to suss out what works and doesn't work and what to do to perfect my playing by trial and error.
First off the embouchure. On the video I saw by a school BC teacher she said to cover the lower lip. Mostly because she was talking to teens and they might actually put their teeth on the reed. I of course use the lower lip as a pad and not over my teeth and play that way on all 3 saxes. But in defference to her, I covered my teeth. I also tried playing with my upper teeth both covered in a double embouchure as well as on the reed. I'm just feeling it out to see what works best as the size of the mpc....or rather its width.....is new to me. I also am working on how the mpc should go in my mouth since it angles upward and makes the reed actually at an oblique angle to the tongue. Does one blow into the reed, down on the reed, or up at the tip of the reed? Trying all three to see which doesn't create the most godawful screech heard this side of the River Styx. Horrible.
And how much mpc tip do you take in. It seems from my trials today that it's much less than with a tenor and much close to the tip of the reed. The other issue is if the reed tip should be aligned exactly with the mpc tip edge or down a few hairs. I started out placing it right at the edge as I do with all my tenor mpcs and it seemed to deaden the volume. When I lowered it down a tiny bit it opened up a lot and sounded fuller tonally too. However I would not say that this horn is very loud.or even as loud as I thought it would be. Very mellow sounding low end. Then again that could be my underdeveloped BC chops and not the horn. So far I can play all the low notes from G on down but I don't have the chromatic order down yet because my poor pinky doesn't know that cluster of keys yet. That will come soon I am sure, however.
So far I have not tried the two oter registers mainly becasue I don't know how to get them and what the scale is since it is not another octave. Only time and practice will get that for me, but I feel that I can learn it because my first impression is that I like it and the tone it has. That woody resonance that only a bass clarinet has is very nice music to my tenor player's ears.
All for now
JIA
I'm going to post about my experiences, impressions, and progress with this thing that I've always thought looks somewhat like a tenor sax on Aicd as seen from the standpoint of a long-time Saxophone-Only player. It is one odd bird I'll say that much to start. This thing appears to have more Keys than Alicia could ever dream of having but in fact, after counting I discovered that there are only 3 more than on my tenor. It it had a high F# key that would make it only 2 more. Thankfully I don't have nor want a high F# key as that note is easy enough to blow with the Front F. However the BC does seem to have more multi-clusters of jammed together think pinky type keys and that is kind of curious at the same time as a bit off-putting.
Actually it's not the number of them as much as more of where and how they are placed and how you have to play them that seems strange to me. Take for example the LH thumb rest which in fact isn't really a thumb rest but actually a key touch that you have to let up on to get G. Is there any key on a saxophone that you have to keep you thumb on but need to not press it in order to get a G? And how exactly you do that without losing a grip on this long tall Sally of an ungainly thing? That seems to be my first task to figure out. I watched a video online of how to play a scale down from there and it's not that hard actually other than remembering to depress the "thumbrest G key" again for all other notes. My mind automatically wonders if there couldn't be a more practical way to play G without it being the place you rest your left thumb in order to play the register key, or what I assume is the or a register key. But never mind that for the moment on to playing it.
This afternoon and evening I tried it with a number of reeds, different in both brand and hardness. I only have tenor reeds so far, but since people here have said they are fine, I think I'll stick with them for now. The 4C seems to want a med-hard reed so I started with a Plasticover 3.5 that seemd to do well, or as well as could be said for a newb. I tried a La Voz 2 but way too soft and a Rigotti Gold 2.5 also too soft so then I played it with my Forestone White Bamboo 4.
This is the only one of those I have ever bought back when I was playing 4s on my 100 Berg. To my surprise it is about as soft as a 2.5. Either it started that way or just softened down to that, don't know. Mystery to me that I need to ask others about. I don't get it, but a 4 it is not. Might be more like a 2 of anything else. So it plays sorta okay on this 4C however I like the Plasticover 3.5 better and then when I went to a PC 4 that was even better. I'm going to try some 4s in other brands like a Rigotti, Java, and Select Jazz to see how they sound tone wise. This is all an unknown universe to me, you realize, and part of learning to play it is learning about what it likes and needs....kind of like a wild animal I have taken in as a pet. My experience playing the 3 Sax woodwinds has given me the ability to suss out what works and doesn't work and what to do to perfect my playing by trial and error.
First off the embouchure. On the video I saw by a school BC teacher she said to cover the lower lip. Mostly because she was talking to teens and they might actually put their teeth on the reed. I of course use the lower lip as a pad and not over my teeth and play that way on all 3 saxes. But in defference to her, I covered my teeth. I also tried playing with my upper teeth both covered in a double embouchure as well as on the reed. I'm just feeling it out to see what works best as the size of the mpc....or rather its width.....is new to me. I also am working on how the mpc should go in my mouth since it angles upward and makes the reed actually at an oblique angle to the tongue. Does one blow into the reed, down on the reed, or up at the tip of the reed? Trying all three to see which doesn't create the most godawful screech heard this side of the River Styx. Horrible.
And how much mpc tip do you take in. It seems from my trials today that it's much less than with a tenor and much close to the tip of the reed. The other issue is if the reed tip should be aligned exactly with the mpc tip edge or down a few hairs. I started out placing it right at the edge as I do with all my tenor mpcs and it seemed to deaden the volume. When I lowered it down a tiny bit it opened up a lot and sounded fuller tonally too. However I would not say that this horn is very loud.or even as loud as I thought it would be. Very mellow sounding low end. Then again that could be my underdeveloped BC chops and not the horn. So far I can play all the low notes from G on down but I don't have the chromatic order down yet because my poor pinky doesn't know that cluster of keys yet. That will come soon I am sure, however.
So far I have not tried the two oter registers mainly becasue I don't know how to get them and what the scale is since it is not another octave. Only time and practice will get that for me, but I feel that I can learn it because my first impression is that I like it and the tone it has. That woody resonance that only a bass clarinet has is very nice music to my tenor player's ears.
All for now
JIA
