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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 >