I can`t believe that people think of the bass clarinet as meaning you suck on Bb! The bass is important, maybe it just depends on the song. In my high school wind ensemble we played this one.. i can`t remember what its called.. and it had this really cool bass clarinet line! It was really cool and they did it well. If bass clarinet was not important for band then it would not be used very often! Kinda like the Eb clarinet.......I think that is easier than Bb

you don`t get it, if the bass clarinet wasn`t important duh we won`t have bass clarinet players in band, but it`s just that what i am saying is that BASS clarinet players are crappier players than bb soprano clarinet players,
and no...have you played eb before? it`s the hardest of them all

Bass clarinet players are not crappier than b-flat players, you`re probably either jealous, afraid or biased against them and that`s why you say these things. I mean, have you ever even played the bass clarinet? I`ve been playing bass clarinet for about two years and I played b-flat for three years before that. If I were to audition for a seat in the B-flat section, I can bet you I would get at least third chair-most likely second. So, really, what do YOU know?

I don`t know how old you are but making that comment with little musical experience is very naive. Yes it may seem that the bass clarinet is easier but that is just because most wind band composers are not aware of the capabilities of the instrument. I believe both instruments are difficult but playing very fast passages, tuning, and playing extended techniques is quite hard on bass. Why, easy, bigger mouthpiece, bigger instrument. Bass clarinet is a modern instrument, if you would hear music written for the bass you would see its very difficult and takes lots of years to master. Classical or Romantic music is in most cases easier than modern music! And how do I know all of this...I major in Bass Clarinet at the University of Calgary!
Matt

Soory, but was that directed at me or the person who keeps saying bass clarinets are junk? Because I will admit that I am kinda naive and underexperienced. However, I will agree that playing the bass clarinet well is actually very hard to accomplish, and trying to do so has made me a much better musician.

That`s like so NOT true. I know one of the best Bb clarinet players who played bass clarinet last year. This year she`s going back to Bb, and I`m taking her place. So get your facts straight first!!!!

Absolutely that was not directed at you Allie! No worries, sorry if I might have upset you. You support the bass, thats great!

well ive been playing bass for only one semester and i think i cought on very quickly faster than most
completely of topic i love the sound of an english horn its soooooooooooooooo planitve and i love it in sorrowful pieces............ anyways my band director, the coolest peson in the world, said I probably make All-State in my freshman year of high school so ya but i dont think im that good(im an eighth grader)anyways i still play my soprano but i want to buy a new one I heard about Buffet Selmer-Paris and LeBlanc im leaning towards LeBlanc but im not sure I have a $5000 bugdet that i earned my self!!!!dont say any thing about mouthpieces or reeds i already have my own setup Check out Cajun Folk Songs II by Frank Ticheli It has an awesome BC part and an EH (English Horn) solo

plaintive

Well, whoever said Bass Clarinet was the most commercially used instrument, I would think that`s a great statement, but I rather think the bassoon is more used in commercial music and cartoons.

yeah they are both used alot and many times together but I hate to admit that I think the bassoon is used more I love bassoon especially the higher register but I love the BC in the low register. I love all low reed instruments
like the contrabassoon the EH or Bass Oboe the basson and all Clarinets below an alto and of course all saxes below tenor and one who say people who play those intruments suck can just go and die becuase those intruments are hard cause as has been repeated you need a huge lung capacity and intrumants like the bassons and the EH are very hard no matter what clarinet_obbssesor probably doesnt know what the struggle is like and I was 2nd chair in a band of 55 so ya I was one of the best people and I chose to switch

If any of you play the above mentioned instruments your rock you also rock of your play the oboe or piccolo ( ya I know its weird but cool)

hey, man. I don`t know what your problem is, but you don`t know what you are talking about. I play bass clarinet by choice and am one of the best if not the best musicians in my school. If I was you, I`d shut up before I got jumped cuz youre gonna find yourslef at a school with good players and they`re not gonna take any crap from you.
john

DUDE NO WAY ARE U RIGHT! this one dude in our band plays bass clarinet and DUDE HE ROCKS he can play anything you give him.

I think by now, after 11 pages of contradiction, whoever it is who posted this post thingy really ought to reconsider what he/she/it said and actually try bass clarinet for a while and see how much better of a musician it will make him/her/it.

As our first bari sax says, "Bigger is better!!!!"

losers, at MY honor band, where i was first chair, the bass clarinets SUCKED!


and listen, I AM NOT SAYING ALL BASS CLARINETISTS suck, but face it, in many bands the less expereinced clarinet players do get banished to playing bass clarient

and i don`t deny there are very exceptional bass clarinetists out there, but they are NOT the majority

now before you go saying i don`t know anything, please read my posts clearfully

by the way, i have played the bflat soprano, bass clarient and eb soprano clarinet before, and the eb is the hardest!

get it?