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Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 16:51:53 -0800
From: Grant Green
Subject: [CB] Sub-tubax
I have further details about the "Two Tubax" project. It is apparently *two* tubaxes, Peter A. Schmid's tubax in Eb, and Thomas K.J. Mejer's forthcoming tubax in CC (on order, expected to arrive this summer).
Apparently, Eppelsheim has already made one or two tubaxes in BBb, an octave below the bass sax. Now hunting for details... ;-)
Enjoy!
Grant
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Grant Green
Sarrusophones, contrabass reeds, &
other brobdignagian acoustic exotica http://www.contrabass.com
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---------------------------------------------------------From: "Merlin Williams"
Subject: Re: [CB] Sub-tubax
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 23:11:39 -0500Geez....a CC Tubax would be SOOOOO cool for playing contrabassoon parts....
Visit Merlin's Mouthpiece
Jupiter Saxophone Artist/Clinician and member of the the Sax Ring.---------------------------------------------------------
From: "Patrick.Scully"
Subject: Re: [CB] Sub-tubax
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 20:19:05 -0800The contra arms race is on...but is anybody noticing or will Eppelsheim have
the lowest of the low woodwind notes to themselves? By my reckoning, the
BBb tubax contrabass saxophone will "undermine" the extended contrabassoon
by a half step and the BBb extended contrabass clarinet by a whole step!Patrick
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From: Opusnandy
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 01:22:02 EST
Subject: Re: [CB] Sub-tubax
In a message dated 2/13/02 10:20:27 PM, patrick.scully writes:
<< The contra arms race is on...but is anybody noticing or will Eppelsheim
have the lowest of the low woodwind notes to themselves? By my reckoning, the
BBb tubax contrabass saxophone will "undermine" the extended contrabassoon
by a half step and the BBb extended contrabass clarinet by a whole step! >>Well, technically, it'll be a tie. I believe Orsi will still make a Bb
Contrabass Sarrusaphone on special order. Also there is a bassoon
manufacturer (I'm forgetting who now) who makes a contrabassoon to low Ab
(there's a picture of the horn in an old (late eighties/early nineties)
Double Reed Journal). And let's not forget about the
no-longer-produced-but-still-existing octocontraalto and octocontrabass
clarinets!Still, if a sub-Tubax is being made, I know where my lottery winnings are
going! Now, if they'll only pick my numbers...Jonathan Carreira
Carreira Music Productions
---------------------------------------------------------Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 23:44:49 -0800
From: Craig Durham
Subject: Re: [CB] Sub-tubaxOk, I'm confused here. If the bass sax and contrabass clarinet are in the
same range, wouldn't the new 'true' contrabass sax (BBb) be in the same
range as the octocontrabass clarinet? For that matter, doesn't the octo-CB
own the title of lowest woodwind? I remember a Guinness book from the
early 70's that listed a "sub double contrabassoon" as the lowest
woodwind (at something like 8Hz!) but there are no known surviving
examples. Pity, that.By the way, I located some alphorn samples - nice sound. Sort of
baroque trumpet - meets - french horn. I would love to hear a group
of these things in their natural setting.Craig
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From: "Patrick.Scully"
Subject: Re: [CB] Sub-tubax
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 01:06:45 -0800The extended EEb contra alto clarinet's range encompasses the ranges of the
EEb contrabass saxophone, Bb bass saxophone, and Eb baritone saxophone, with
the exception of the lowest written B and Bb of the EEb contrabass
saxophone. The extended BBb contrabass clarinet has in theory the same
compass as the extended EEb contra alto clarinet, only transposed down a
fifth (my experience with the Leblanc paperclips is that the altissimo on
the BBb is less accessible and usable than it is on the EEb, which has a
different double octave mechanism). Thus the theoretical compass of the
extended BBb contrabass clarinet includes virtually the entire range of the
new BBb contrabass saxophone (excepting the lowest written B and Bb), the
entire range of the EEb contrabass saxophone, and the entire range of the Bb
bass saxophone.The octocontrabass clarinet, which was made in a metal paperclip style by
Leblanc, is actually a laboratory curiosity and road show freak. A few of
us here would probably sell their houses to get one of these, nonetheless.
I'm not sure if comparing prototype instruments to real, commecially
available product is especially useful, though. The EEb and BBb contra
clarinets and the EEb and BBb contra saxophones are currently in production,
but I'd guess that 50 contra clarinets are sold for every contra saxophone.
Both have distinctive and incredibly sonorous voices that are underused and
badly needed in ensemble scoring, but the contra clarinet costs the same as
a Hyundai, whereas the contra saxophone costs what a Lexus does. Guess
which instruments the procurement departments of school districts all over
the US purchase more often.I'm hoping the tubax-style contrabass saxophones will change this. They
are half the cost of "traditional" wide bore contra saxophones.Patrick
---------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 08:48:18 -0500
From: "John Webster"
Subject: [CB] Re:PhantomWe have only used the Warren Barker arrangement. Strictly a grade 3 or 4 Band arrangement, but we have used it with vocalists on occasion. The scream is in the percussion score and occurs between bars 91 and 92 ( the transition between "Angle of Mercy" and "The Phantom of the Opera". Although she is an Alto the scream (which she also uses when she sees a roach) gets up there into dog whistle land. Sorry we have gotten off topic - She is hardly a Contr-bass. john
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From: Opusnandy
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 11:46:02 EST
Subject: Re: [CB] Sub-tubax
In a message dated 2/14/02 1:44:49 AM, bitwise writes:
<< If the bass sax and contrabass clarinet are in the same range, wouldn't the new 'true' contrabass sax (BBb) be in the same
range as the octocontrabass clarinet? >>By definition, the bass sax and the contrabass clarinet are in the same range
because they transpose the same (sounding two octaves and a whole step lower
than written). But the contrabass clarinet has a much lower range; simply
because it's written range goes much lower. The lowest written note on a
bass sax is the Bb below middle C (I have seen one example that went to low
A), while the contrabass clarinet extends to at least the Eb (E on some very
old models) below that; with many extending to the D or, more commonly, the C
below that. The new Bb Tubax would transpose the same as the octocontrabass
clarinet, but would not have as low of a range due to the lower written range
(to C below middle C according to Terje) of the octocontra.Jonathan Carreira
Carreira Music Productions
---------------------------------------------------------Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 12:40:52 -0800
From: Grant Green
Subject: [CB] ebay watch
Not exactly contrabass-oriented, but for the collectors among us, "pfertig" has now finally re-listed the straight octavin
(opening bid US$1K, no bids yet), as well as a metal Bb bass clarinet of interesting shape, a metal oboe, an Orsi alto flute with an extra L4 key, an old baritone with Berlinner valves, and a metal clarinet (Albert system, 2-piece body).Enjoy!
Grant
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grant Green
Sarrusophones, contrabass reeds, &
other brobdignagian acoustic exotica http://www.contrabass.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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