Wood bass clarinet bell

[DaveLeBlanc]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_0Mb7YJqaU

now i don't have to spend 500 dollars to get one

[andybeals]

He keeps doing great favors.  Too bad he hasn't done a video telling us that a low Eb instrument is sufficient.

I do agree that the wooden bell sounds sweeter ("creamier" per Michael) higher up.  Not much difference at the bottom.

[DaveLeBlanc]

I don't think the "improvement" in tone really warrants spending that much.  Unless you're a bass clarinet soloist, I guess, the you might care.  But for normal folks...

[andybeals]

Actually, I found a thread on his site where he states that everyone (students, too!) should have a low C instrument.  Too bad the market for kidneys has collapsed, or I'd have one, myself. 

[DaveLeBlanc]

The problem with that is that there is so little demand for low notes like that.  If you're ever in a position where you need a note that low, you probably already own a contra alto

[andybeals]

Basically.  I do see pieces in my community band that calls for a low C bass.  They may be the same ones that have contra alto parts as well.  Occasionally, I'll run across something that calls for the low bass that doesn't have any lower clarinet parts.  I've told a couple of composers that you'll find the low C in places where people can afford to drop $10k on an instrument and in the next breath tell them that I could get five driveable cars for that much.

[rezzie]

Basically.  I do see pieces in my community band that calls for a low C bass.  They may be the same ones that have contra alto parts as well.  Occasionally, I'll run across something that calls for the low bass that doesn't have any lower clarinet parts.  I've told a couple of composers that you'll find the low C in places where people can afford to drop $10k on an instrument and in the next breath tell them that I could get five driveable cars for that much.

...and I just told Sam Hazo in February that he should write the bass clarinet part down to low C when it makes sense musically.  We were rehearsing his Arabesque, which starts with a sustained D below the staff - he was looking for the contra (we don't have one) and I mentioned that it would be no big deal to take that note down an octave.  We left the discussion at "let's see what Mike Sweeney says" and moved on.  I played the note down, and I think it worked.  BTW, my old low C Selmer bass cost me about 3 grand, but that was fifteen years ago...

Here's the performance.  I think it worked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6DfEJcB5Bs