DaveLeBlanc\'s Clarinet Video of the Week!

[DaveLeBlanc]

After a slight hiatus, I have restored my Video of the Week thread!

Here is my pick for the week.

Mr. Curly, the contrabass clarinet.  This is NOT what you would expect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu60MwpMiow

[Skyfacer]

Very entertaining and an excellent sound on both \'Clarinets\'
It also proves , once again , if it ever needed proving , that the
Clarinet is not a Horn as it\'s bore is cylindrical, not conical.

[DaveLeBlanc]

does that make the tarogato and saxophone a horn?

[Skyfacer]

does that make the tarogato and saxophone a horn?

And the Oboe as well, as it has a pure conical bore. Oboists never call their instrument a horn though as that  would sound silly.
And the recorder has a reverse conical bore, that is , it\'s larger at the top end than the lower end.
As for the Saxophone and the Tarogato, they would certainly pass off as being a kind of woodwind \'horn\' as they both have very pronounced conical bores.
As for the Clarinet however, to call it a horn is completely illogical because of its basic cylindrical bore. I think the Jazz musicians started this nonsense.
The only true Horns are the \'Saxhorn\' group of brass instruments. which include the Bb Cornet / Eb Alto (\'Tenor Horn\') / and Be Tenor (\'Baritone Horn\') which have a narrow conical bore.
And the Tuba group which includes the Bb Flugal Horn/ Bb Euphonium (Tenor Tuba) / Eb Bass Tuba / Bbb Contrabass Tuba. These have a wide conical bore and are regarded as the true Saxhorns.
And finally of course the \"French \' horn in F / Bb. which is actually cylindrical through some of it\'s length and then pure conical the rest of the way.

[Skyfacer]

And the confusion of termology just keeps on going on.
There\'s the Cor Anglais (English Horn) Actually an Alto Oboe in F. It\'s neither English or a Horn.
And the Basset Horn (\'Little Bass\' Horn) , the Alto Clarinet in F. It\'s certainly not a Horn either but I\'m not sure about the term \'Basset\' . It could be it\'s named after the dog breed

[DaveLeBlanc]

Isn\'t the cor anglais different than the English horn?  (so many different oboes...)

And I don\'t think anybody knows why the F alto clarinet isn\'t just called the F alto...

[Skyfacer]

Isn\'t the cor anglais different than the English horn?  (so many different oboes...)

And I don\'t think anybody knows why the F alto clarinet isn\'t just called the F alto...

Cor Anglais is French for English Horn.
\'Basset\' Horn is the popular name for the F Alto Clarinet.
Incidentally , the F Alto Clarinet has the same bore size as the
Bb /A Soprano Clarinets but the Eb Alto belongs to the larger
bore sized Clarinets.

[BLMonopole]

Just my two cents on a variety of topics mentioned here....

1.  Love the video.  I\'m thinking I\'d like to make a \"Curly\" of my own (far cheaper than a Bb contrabass clarinet, I\'ll wager!)
2.  I use \"horn\" as less of a technical term, and more as a generic category referring to my instruments in total.  (Of course, you\'re technically correct that clarinets aren\'t \"horns,\"  but that\'s a distinction without a difference to most of the world at large)
3.  Don\'t forget Oboe d\'Amour in A (I like to find music written for it and play it on my A clarinet....it considerably expands its repertoire!)....I love all of the oboe varieties almost as much as I love all the clarinet varieties!
4.  Join me in re-branding the Eb alto clarinet to the \"Eb Basset Horn\" (since Basset Horns typically cost as much as my car, and you can hardly give away an alto clarinet these days!)

[Daltonl]

Re your item #4

    I\'ve seen advertisements from the UK still using the Bassett Horn nominclature and I have a little interest in the new Ridenour A Bassett but I don\'t really know what makes it a Bassett horn.  I do see that they have the full Boehm compliment of keys but is there more ??

[Skyfacer]

Hi BL. No doubt you are familiar with the G.P.Telemann Concerto in A major for Oboe d\'amore. This is my favourite work for this instrument , and I can imagine it\'d go down well on A Clarinet as well. There\'s a good recording of it on U-tube.

[DaveLeBlanc]

the only visible difference between alto and basset horn is the basset horn has a more curvy neck.  trying desperately to be a bass clarinet, but falling slightly short.  sad story.

basset clarinet in A...  I believe it is just a normal clarinet, but extended to low c.  which makes the thing super long but i think it plays the same.

what does basset mean anyways?

[Skyfacer]

Basset. A cute dog breed with short crooked legs and long body used for hunting:P
Basset. \"Little Bass\" (my own interpretation of the word when used in a musical instrument name)
There is a notable difference in appearance between the F /Eb  Alto Clarinets.
The F Alto has an extended range which despite it\'s tonality being one tone higher is longer than the Eb.
The Eb Alto has a slightly thicker body as it belongs to the larger bore Clarinets.
Concerning the Eb Alto, it is an authentic Clarinet in it\'s own right and if a quality instrument, has a beautiful sound, perfect for adding the Alto Voice to a Clarinet Choir.
The Eb use to be called the Tenor Clarinet in some countries but that tonality belongs to the Bb Clarinet below it, now universally known as the Bb Bass for some illogical reason.
The real Base Clarinet is the Eb Bass one octave below the Eb Alto.
I still follow the old rule of wind instrument classification in that the tonality of a musical instrument is determined by the sounding of one note , the written C above middle C . Whatever the instrument actually sounds when playing that note, that is it\'s tonality. It has nothing to do with the range (compass ) that  the instrument may have.
For some reason , this old rule has been completely lost sight of, even by those you make the instruments.
The old classification follows the scientific rule of \'Occam\'s Razor (\'Keep it Simple\') In this case , the Old simple classification is correct.

[DaveLeBlanc]

ohhh bassette (ette meaning little!) that makes sense, as you said Barry - little bass

[DaveLeBlanc]

My newest clarinet video of the week!

(Sorry for the hiatus).

Except this time... Its actually a bassoon (close enough).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Professional-Concert-full-automatic-oboe-C-key-/160949245365?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item25795295b5

Feast your eyes and ears on this!

[gkern]

The bassoon seems to be a transparent Chinese oboe...

Here\'s my nomination for COTW:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqn77yVKwXo

And seems no matter what the instrument is, it\'s called an axe here.