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Contrabass-list Fri, 17 Oct 1997 Volume 1 : Number 11
In this issue:
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 23:26:39 -0400
From: Paul
Lindemeyer <paulwl@cyburban.com>
Subject: Re:
contrabass-list V1 #10
> Subject: Trying out Bass Clarinets to Low C
> Author: "Stephen Del Rea" <srea@uaex.edu> at Internet
> Date: 10/15/97 2:16 PM> Are there any other sources for Bass Clarinets to Low C besides Woodwinds &
> Brasswinds that I could go to try them out? W&B is in Indiana, and I'm in
> Arkansas, so, I'd like somewhere closer than that.
Don't know about other sources for new instruments, but I recently saw and heard a Selmer low C instrument with double register key, apparently from the 1920s, and flipped!! If it wasn't already sold, I'd have bought it.
What are my chances of finding a similar instrument and what will I have to pay? The Selmer was $2,200, cheap if you ask me.
--
Paul Lindemeyer (paulwl@cyburban.com)
_________________________________________________
CELEBRATING THE SAXOPHONE: An Illustrated History
At
your local bookseller from William Morrow & Co.
Subject: serial numbers
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997
23:27:07 EST
From: "peters"
<nlpeters@PROJECTLEADER.COM>
Does anyone have information on serial numbers and instruments? My EEb Contra-alto clarinet does not have a serial number anywhere on it. On other ones of the same model there are serial numbers (four digits long).
My particular instrument is a Selmer-Bundy. Do some manufacturers just leave off the number?
-Nick
Subject: Contra-alto clarinet
Date: Fri, 17 Oct
1997 00:39:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: CoolStu67@aol.com
Hey,
I've been playing, <shiver>, alto saxophone for 2 years at my middle school. I wanted to switch to bari, but another person wanted to and got to... bad huh? So I have been fascinated with the lower saxes (contrabass, bass, bari) and the lower clarinets. I love music, and hopefully I will play professionally someday. I want to join an orchestra, but since I play saxophone... well you can understand. So, I want to learn the clarinet, and since just about all of band music has a part for contra-alto and I can actually get reeds for it (as apposed to contrabass), I decided to try to rent one of those. The main point of this is to ask how much a good used or new one will cost me, and how much do reeds cost? Thanks for any help you can give me.
Thanks for listening...
Stu
Date: Mon, 06 Oct 1997 11:06:50 -0700
From: Peter
Koval <pkoval@sunflowr.usd.edu>
Organization:
University of South Dakota
Subject: Zampogna (Italian
Bagpipe)
Regarding the Zampogna query posted on 03 October, 1997, The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments under "Bagpipe", and the book Woodwind Instruments and their History by Anthony Baines (pp.205-208 in the 1977 third edition reprint) provide the information required.
In the large size of Zampogna, the larger chanter, aound 5 feet or 1.5 meters long, descends to the G (lowest line) of the bass stave or the F a tone lower, whilst the two drones are normally pitched higher--the larger drone a fifth above the chanter lowest note and the smaller drone an octave or a twelfth higher than the lower drone. The two chanters (there is a smaller one an octave higher than the larger) are conical, whilst the two drones are cylindrical. All are driven by double-reeds.
Regards, Peter Koval.
pkoval@sundance.usd.edu
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 11:19:22 -0400
From:
green@fr.com (GDG)
Subject: Contralto clarinets
Stu wrote:
> I've been playing, <shiver>, alto saxophone for 2 years at my middle
Alto sax isn't so bad :-) Although, for some reason, the saxophones at my high school (many years ago) earned the nickname "blatweasels" (don't ask).
> school. I wanted to switch to bari, but another person wanted to and
> got to... bad huh? So I have been fascinated with the lower saxes
> (contrabass, bass, bari) and the lower clarinets. I love music, and
> hopefully I will play professionally someday. I want to join an
> orchestra, but since I play saxophone... well you can understand. So,
> I want to learn the clarinet, and since just about all of band music
> has a part for contra-alto and I can actually get reeds for it (as
> apposed to contrabass), I decided to try to rent one of those. The
> main point of this is to ask how much a good used or new one will cost
> me, and how much do reeds cost? Thanks for any help you can give me.
> Thanks for listening...
There are a few orchestral saxophone parts. "Bolero", "Lt. Kije Suite", and a number of more modern works call for one or more saxophones. (Paul, Paul, care to expound?) However, it is true that most of the orchestral repertoire does not include sax.
If you seriously want to play in an orchestra, you're probably best off learning the soprano clarinet (or better yet, the bassoon). There are quite a few works that require bass clarinet, (more than need saxophone), but I've yet to encounter an orchestral piece that includes contrabass or contralto clarinet (I think there is one - perhaps only one).
But for band, contralto clarinet should be a great horn. Steve, were you the one who said he could get contraltos for $1-2K? I think a new one is likely to cost $6-10K for a good horn (probably $1-2K for a resonite Bundy). I obtain all my reeds by mailorder - I think they run about $25 for a box of 5 Vandorens. There's probably little or no price difference between contralto and contrabass reeds: they're often the same thing.
Grant
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 11:34:24 -0400
From:
green@fr.com (GDG)
Subject: Contra prices...
OK, an update. I just checked the WW&BW page for the current prices on contras.
(both "resotone")I haven't played any of the Vitos, so can't render an opinion as to whether they're worthwhile or not. WW&BW don't list prices for the Selmer, Buffett, or Leblanc, but will quote prices over the telephone (or by email).Grant
Date: Fri, 17 Oct
1997 11:36:46 -0400
From: green@fr.com (GDG)
Subject:
EDITOR'S NOTE: BACK ON LINE!
EDITOR'S NOTE:
Thanks to Scott, we are back online. He managed to reconfigure the list so that it now works: you can send posts directly to the List , and they'll actually go through. Good thing, because I've been posting from my office email account all day ;-) I can verify that the posts are appearing now, even if I'm not forwarding them.
Grant
End of contrabass-list V1 #11