Hey, LuFin's Dad....
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Do you play the clarinet a/k/a the misery stick?
I used to double on it, long ago, and had this dreadful instrument, made in communist Poland of all places.
During my confinement, I've bought a decent new one and started playing again - mainly because it's a lot quieter than the sax and lets me play a reed instrument without howls of protest from all and sundry. It's actually more fun than I remember, more difficult too.
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@Doctor-Phibes said in Hey, LuFin's Dad....:
Do you play the clarinet a/k/a the misery stick?
I used to double on it, long ago, and had this dreadful instrument, made in communist Poland of all places.
During my confinement, I've bought a decent new one and started playing again - mainly because it's a lot quieter than the sax and lets me play a reed instrument without howls of protest from all and sundry. It's actually more fun than I remember, more difficult too.
Yes! Back in the days when I used to play somewhat decently, I used to play in Pit Orchestras. I would have to switch between Alto, Tenor, Bari, Clarinet, and Bass Clarinet. I actually quite enjoyed it. The difficult bit was all of the 16th note 32nd note runs you would get, but those tens were easier than on saxophone...
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@George-K said in Hey, LuFin's Dad....:
Mozart loved the clarinet.
He also hated the flute.
Take that for what it's worth - which is probably nothing.
The flute and sax both have octave thumb-keys, so the upper register is the same fingering as the lower. The clarinet thumb key moves it up by a 12th - so the upper register has different fingering from the lower. A bloody stupid idea, although it means the clarinet has a bigger range.
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@LuFins-Dad said in Hey, LuFin's Dad....:
Yes! Back in the days when I used to play somewhat decently, I used to play in Pit Orchestras. I would have to switch between Alto, Tenor, Bari, Clarinet, and Bass Clarinet. I actually quite enjoyed it. The difficult bit was all of the 16th note 32nd note runs you would get, but those tens were easier than on saxophone...
That sounds like fun - I never did pit work, I wasn't really up to it on the sax until I got older, and by that time I had a proper job which rather interfered with it.
My sax teacher when I was a kid told me stories about being able to play in 4 or 5 bands in an evening - this would have been in the 1930's, moving from one place to another - he played alto, tenor, clarinet and his main instrument was violin. I suspect he may have been one of those annoying blokes who play in Italian and French restaurants and come up to the table.
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@Doctor-Phibes LOL, my first teacher was a renowned accordion player in the 50’s... Well, renowned regionally - Western PA, Maryland, Eastern Ohio... Glad I escaped that fate...
One summer I was hired to play in the for a small local community production of Brigadoon. It was put on in an outdoor amphitheater and the director didn’t want the instruments warming up and tuning in front of the audience, so we had a green room to prepare then had to walk out as a group with our instruments. I had a Bari strapped across my back, tenor tucked under one arm, alto in the other, clarinet in one hand and bass clarinet in the other. I was told by the percussionist that I looked like a highlander going off to war. Of course, that bastard just had a handful of mallets and brushes...