Low-Effort Woodwind Doubling: Contra Alto Clarinet
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- Опубліковано 21 тра 2022
- The 2nd Least appreciated member of the Clarinet family next to the Alto.
We DOUBLIN'!!!!
So yeah, Low Effort Woodwind Doubling...it's not really a series getting too deep into technical aspects or repertoire. It's more about finding different woodwinds and their unique voices and having fun watching me stumble around my words talking about how awesome they are, and what your average run-of-the-mill creative musician could use them for!
This episode, we bring out the contra alto clarinet, which IMHO does a better job at bass than the bass clarinet does and is a fantastic alternative option for composers looking to beef up their low end with an instrument that not only has a larger useful range down below, but is handy for all us Bari sax soloists as we don't have to worry about a second transposition to worry about...(hence Low Effort)
NOTE: When going through altissimo fingerings, I forgot F...(low effort...ahem...) For the F, overblow throat Bb. Easy peasy.
JAZZLORD: (n) A gender-neutral honorific describing anyone who is an enthusiast of the music (player or not...doesn't matter) and isn't a giant, steaming bag of cockroach farts about it.
that is a contra alto clarinet.. now more comonly known as an e flat contra bass.. i played one of these great instrument, which has a reedier sound that cuts through other instrument ''voices''... thanks for opening up the eyes of others!
The most useful thing about Eb Contra-alto clarinet (and Eb Bari sax) is that you can read bass clef music (for tuba, string bass, bassoon, trombone, etc) as treble clef by adding 3 #'s to the key signature.
With a Bb or F instrument we add only 2 or 1 #, respetively.
@@lamaspacos With Eb instruments, there's no work past accidentals though. The bottom line of the Bass Clef (G2) is the same as the bottom line of the Treble Clef when read by an Eb Bass instrument (E4 transposes up 3 semitones and down 2 octaves to get G2)
For Bb instruments, a similar trick works with Tenor Clef (Trombone players love this trick). And God forbid, if you ever have to read Mezzo-Soprano Clef, the same trick works with F instruments 😅
I'm still kinda confused, so for example the tuba part has one flat, do I get rid of that flat when I add the 3 sharps or do I add them on top of the flat?
@@_grim_7399 Sharps and flats cancel out, when you're doing stuff like this. So 1 flat (F major) for Tuba = 2 sharps (D major) for Contra-alto Clarinet or Bari Sax
@@TheodoreBrown314 thank you soo much! This helps me alot!
I’ve been playing this instrument for one year and I absolutely love it. I carry the base section.
It’s so useful. You can move around and be heard, which sometimes is an issue in the clarion on the contrabass.
Thanks for this! Yes, I'm a bass & alto clarinetist and just bought a sweet contralto clarinet! I'm psyched to explore the depth of this beautiful instrument. I also love your contraction of "contra-alto" to contralto, makes much more sense. I'm going to use "contralto" too, Thanks!
It may be wrong but I can't stop saying it that way...let the nerds figure it out, lol
Thank you!
@@AlbanothemadmanI have the exact same Bundy EEb contralto clarinet and use a George Bundy 3 mouthpiece and medium soft plastic reeds. It speaks quite easily in most registers. Keep the videos coming.
Digging the frequency of these new videos!
They are easy to do and the algorithm seems to favor longer videos...and not so much shorter music videos, unfortunately. That can come later. Ill do a whole series like this because it's something i'm interested in, and they're super easy to do! Hopefully we can get some traction!
Nice work Joe!
Thanks, Dude!
From a bass clarinetist. The length of the instrument muat make it difficult to mic up. I use a Piezobarrel mic on the neck but some players use three close acoustic mics for concert performances.
Bring It !!!
Any tips on getting your notes this nice and round sounding? Many people (including myself when I tried bass clarinet) get this sort of overly resonant, slightly barky sound. Enlighten us!
Not much too it really. Medium to medium soft strength reed, oral cavity pretty open while still maintaining control of the airstream, flexible but not too loose embouchure. Play a lot of ballads to work on finding a tone that suits you. No reason to play super hard setups on the big bois. IMHO anyway. No magic...just practice. That's all! Hope that helped a bit.
Thanks for this nice intro to the Eb contra clarinet. Do you also prefer the bassoon stand for this instrument?
Is there still a manufacturer of this instrument? Because in Brazil you can't find it anymore, even using it is difficult.
Yes. I believe conn/selmer (old leblanc) still makes the vito plastic contra alto. The "professional" option is the selmer paris.
Great video! Which strap are you using there? It looks to have two hooks.
Friend, what is the fingering of the treble D6 E6 F6 and G6 on the contra alto clarinet? I have one and I can't find it
why is the contralto and contrabass still in treble clef
Cuz we took a look at bassoon and said miss us with those 3 separate clefs...we're gonna be lazy
What about Octocontralto ?
If I remember correctly there's only 1 and it's sitting in a museum in France somewhere I believe. Pity.
@@Albanothemadman If you're interested, Foag has started producing an octocontra*bass* clarinet for the low price of €60500 😆
cool instrument but i hate the name oof it like its contra but also alto which those contradict each other and it sucks
I just think of it as an Eb contrabass. Some people call it the “great bass” but nah. Not anymore, lol!
@@Albanothemadman great bass is a better name but nobody is gonna call is that so its best to just call the contras EEb and BBb contra clarinets
A lot of people call it the contralto clarinet, but it's actually a misnomer. It's actually called the contra-alto clarinet. There IS a difference; contralto is more of a vocal term and describes an alto singer (alto is in fact a contraction of contralto). Contra-alto, on the other hand, literally means "octave below alto," which is exactly this instrument's pitch range, an octave lower than the alto clarinet.
I know it sounds like a nitpick but it's true, and I love sharing musical knowledge
I actually play this for my concert band. Second lowest, only to the tuba.
do you have any tips on how to not squeak? i’ve played a normal b clarinet for over 5 years and recently started the contralto last year and can’t stop squeaking. i know the basics but every time i take a breath i squeak on the next note.
@@jetzayra Try to think more about a circular embouchure, as opposed to the normal Bb clarinet. I also move my mouth up and down the mouthpiece depending on how high or loud I'm playing.
I'm looking on buying one to add to my instrument collection. Any idea where I can get that particular model for a decent price?
I'd just go on Ebay and set up an automatic alert for a Bundy Contra. They're astonishingly cheap and they're excellent instruments. Also, you'd be surprised how many professional pit musicians have this boi in their arsenal. Worth it.
@@Albanothemadman should I buy a used one or a new one.
@@user-qv9tg5su9v i believe they don't make the bundy contra anymore, so the only option would be used. They do make new vitos (or leblancs? I can't remember what they branded them as) but they're significantly more expensive and just don't sound as good IMHO.
@Albanothemadman I did look, and I sadly didn't see some on eBay. However, I did find some on other websites like Musicians Repair Service.
@@user-qv9tg5su9v they're out there. Just give it a bit of time and google searches.
I accidentaly broke one of these one time😅
12:39
can you give a link to the mouthpiece please
No particular link I’m afraid. I got mine on eBay, geo m bundy. It’s a pretty common hard rubber student mpc. I’d just google around for the lowest price.
@@Albanothemadman ok found one thank you!