I'm so happy! I got a new bass clarinet yesterday - a Yamaha 221 mark ii. It is only the ABS resin one, but the wooden one was double the price It plays so much better than the Normandy I was borrowing - at last I can play my part of Flight of the Bumblebee in my clarinet quartet to speed! I just want to keep playing and playing it!

Yay! sounds like a good one!

cool! *very jealous!* i want one!

The current Yamaha clarinets (bass or otherwise) do seem to be excellent instruments! I've tried a resin 221 and it does play really well in my opinion.

With your brand new bass Appassionata you'll have to search out some bass clarinet solo work! Seems a shame to just do bass lines with it!

Barry (clari)

Yes you're right - I've been looking for some solo works but can't find a lot. Do you have any recommendations?

There is a reason why you're finding it hard to find solo works for bass clarinet Appassionata- there isn't a lot around - you'll probably have to order it in specially.

An awful lot of bass clarinet solo works are transcriptions - I'm fishing my way through the Clarinet and Saxophone Society's library list as I write this, and can see an arrangement of movements from J.S. Bach's cello sonatas amongst others. I'm sure there was a piece by York Bowen for bass clarinet and string quartet that I came across once. If you're a member of the Clarinet and Saxophone Society, you can take pieces out from the library on loan, good for those obscure/out of print clarinet pieces!

I'll let you know if anything else springs to mind!

Barry (clari)

Henri Bok influenced some solo bass music. Have a look at his website.

Oh yes, Henri Bok. Probably THE main figure in bass clarinet today. He was responsible for the 1st bass clarinet convention in Holland last year, where there was a choir of about 150 bass clarinets playing! That must have been very interesting to listen to!

A composer whose works I am now exploring is Othmar Schoeck (Swiss), who wrote a Bass Clarinet Sonata Op.41.

This and some other works on a cd: http://www.crotchet.co.uk/MDG62405562

Oh yes! I forgot about him! I saw him play live at an opening of a music shop - he was amazing!

Look out too for any recording by Josef Horak, a Czech bass clarinettist who sadly passed away late last year. He was certainly one of the first(if not the very first!) musicians to make a career out of playing bass clarinet as a solo instrument. You'll probably pick up a few ideas there Appassionata.

Wasn't it Horak who gave the first ever bass clarinet recital, the 50th anniversary of which inspired last year's convention in Rotterdam?

I've bought a few pieces for my bass clarinet, but most of the repertoire is either transcriptions of varying quality, or involve diverse advanced techniques. Try as I might, I can't do glissando, flutter-tounging or multiphonics

I've just had a look at the latest issue of 'Clarinet & Saxophone' magazine and yes you're right Deborah, Horak was the first person to give a bass clarinet recital. I can do a (rather feeble and short) glissando on the bass, on a good day. As for flutter tonguing or multiphonics, I think I'll have to do rather more work!!!!!

As an aside, I've just had a thought, I wonder how much call there would be for bass clarinet grades (6 to 8), like the ABRSM do for bass trombone at grade 6 to 8? It might encourage more composers to write for the instrument. It would improve the awareness of what the bass clarinet can do as well.

Any thoughts?

Barry (clari)

Bother, you've identified my source of information!

Grades 6 to 8 bass clarinet? It certainly appeals to my clarinet-exam-certificate anorak streak! It would need an awful lot of repertoire to be written or transcribed for bass clarinet, but with enough thought I'm sure it could be done. I know Guildhall had a couple of options for bass clarinet on their Grades 6-8 syllabus, so it's certainly not beyond the realms of possibility.

Would the Board then be forced to introduce higher grades for Eb clarinet as well, or couldn't they risk the potential damage to examiners' hearing? Joking aside, if they did introduce exams for bass clarinet they'd probably have to introduce exams for piccolo, cor anglais and contrabassoon as well.

It would be helpful if the diploma syllabi gave a few suggestions for alternative instrument options. OK, I could play some bass pieces if I wanted - any clues as to which ones might be acceptable?

Maybe having bass clarinet options at grade 6-8 would be an option, just as recorder players can choose to play one piece not on treble in the higher grade exams.

There's one piccolo option that I am aware of for grade 8 flute, in the study section.

What a good idea! I'd definitely do the exams!

Isn't there another board that allows this? Trinity or Guildhall I think.

Trinity allows a List C piece to be a piccolo piece (or in place of scales, can't remember which)

Theoretically, you can use more than 1 clarinet in Grade 5 + exams (e.g. Schumann Fantasiestucke on an A, the rest on a B flat)

[quote name='neil.clarinet' date='Feb 2 2006, 09:05 PM' post='248386']

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Isn't there another board that allows this? Trinity or Guildhall I think.
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There isn't a board that you can just do the whole exam on the bass clarinet at the moment - I've just checked the Trinity, Guildhall and LCM syllabus. You can only play one piece from Grade 6 - 8 on the bass.

If you want bass clarinet solo pieces go to www.bassclarinet.org. there are unaccompnied and accompnied bass clarinet solos for sale plus a list of other solos that you can look for.