Here in Edinburgh there seems to be a strong distinction between beggars and
buskers. The former often squat near cashpoints, and look the part -- which
has something to do with the social engagement of eye-contact. The buskers,
more often than not, are dressed in full highland rig and are playing
bagpipes. Maybe it's because I don't get out much, but I seldom see anyone
singing with a guitar, nor conservatory kids playing for beer money.
As for bass clarinets, I heard Alan Hacker, a virtuoso in the classical
tradition, early on, so I've long been both fond of the sound, and familiar
with the instrument's capabilities. Hacker played custom-written Maxwell
Davies and Birtwistle material. Among his instruments was a bassett
clarinet, a hybrid of an ordinary Bb instrument with a bassethorn extension
adding a deeper lower range. Mmmm....
And then there's the double-bass clarinet. Of all the gorgeous sounds, oh...
(sounds like we're talking about chocolate cakes ;)
P
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to
> poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Kenneth Wolman
> Sent: 16 January 2007 09:12
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: If music be the food of subways....
>
> Joseph Duemer wrote:
> > Ken, I'd like to hear you play Dolphy's clarinet for 10 minutes.
> So would I. "Back in the day," bass clarinets came from
> either Buffet or (more likely) Selmer. I started playing the
> "regular" Bb clarinet in elementary school, quit for years
> after high school, then went back in the late '90s. I
> discovered the sound of the bass not through the usual
> suspects--Tchaikovsky and Wagner--but through Eric Dolphy
> doing an extended improvisation around "God Bless the Child."
> It took getting used to: a man playing an instrument with
> that size and power with the agility a flutist brings to a
> flute. In my mind it was rather like some dude playing the
> Satie Gymnopedies on a euphonium. But it worked. I bought
> myself a used Selmer school marching band bass from a
> repairman and my first experience of it was almost to explode
> my eardrums: the vibrations rattle your head. Then I got
> into it. Then I got it overhauled and repadded. Then I went
> positively(:-) nuts.
>
> I've thought more than once of learning 10 ballad standards
> and, when I'm out of a job (an increasingly common state of
> life), going up to New York and playing in the subways. NY
> is not Paris were you have to audition to become a "sturdy
> beggar" or wandering minstrel, I. I've heard people play who
> didn't know which end of the instrument went in their mouths.
> I got to talking with a young man who could play to die for
> the Meditation from "Thais" on the violin. And my
> favorite--a man who got on the local one night carrying a
> tenor sax with all the lacquer worn off, scratches and
> dents...and then he began playing and I'd swear Coleman
> Hawkins or Ben Webster was on the train that night. I had no
> money but I gave the guy five dollars. He'd earned a lot more.
>
> I have seen violinists, Bb clarinetists (an old guy with a
> yarmulke playing klezmer), flutists, Latin and African
> drummers, saxes of various sizes. Never have I seen a bass
> clarinet. I wonder if subway begging comes with benefits....
>
> Ken
>
> --
> --------------------
> Ken Wolman andreachenier.net rainermaria.typepad.com
>
> DO NOT ADJUST YOUR MIND: IT IS REALITY THAT IS MALFUNCTIONING
>
|