is this the sax forum or the clarinet forum

Hold your fire!!! *shakes finger* Now now, if you read the developments of this, you would understand how my saxes came up. since Contrabass, or alto thing is in one of the rare key/size groups, it was natural to inquire upon the keys. I merly asked a question regaiding saxophones, which aren`t that different from clarinets anyway. Any good player can play or learn the other fairly quickly. So... many of the fine people on this forum responded nicely, and I thank them. You, on the contrary, responded in a negative fashion. Of course, I can understand why you would not want saxophonist posting in this forum, but please follow the developments before respondind. The nice people mentioned the "vintage" horns, and I only replied that I had one, so as to help anyone with more question. Thank you for listening in.

Though I concede to Andy. I guess I was getting mixed up with the other topic. Got overexcited anyway. *shrugs* Just commenting on my vintage horn.

Im pretty sure there are more than five bass saxes, bieng as my sax teacher told me yesterday that he used to own one.
Only five contrabass or sub-contrabasses?

How rare are contrabass clarinets?

well it depends which contrabass the contra alto isnt hard to find just about most school districts have one but the B flat contra ,which is lower than the contra alto(e flat contra), is alot harder to find. the newer b flat contras dont loop around like the old ones they just make them even longer now u can look at them on selmers site or wwbw.com

and if u dont know what i mean by looping around....next time u go to buy reeds look for a contra bass box(vandoren) of reeds and they have the outline of it on the box

Hello! I just wanted to say hi because I found this forum and I just started playing the Bb Contrabass clarinet. I`m one of two players in my school and I used to play the alto saxophone. I took it up eight days ago and already know most of the notes (now if only I could play them with out having to look at a fingering chart).

Do any of you other contrabass clarinet players out there have any advice for me? It would be much appreciated! Thanx!

Do you know anyone who wants to sell a contra alto clarinet?? I just need one, contra alto or contra bass....It´s haaaard to find!!!!!

my schol owns a selmer contrbass which is the best cntrbass out these days which costs about 20,000dollars. i played it during last year, and it i the most awesome instrument in the world. and i made it into the all-state band (not that there was much competition). i found that te key to playing the contrabass is to use a whole lotta air and dont be afraid to play out.

Okay, so lots of air and play out. What about 16th and 32nd note runs? I`ve got quite a few 16th note runs in my music and many of them are from middle B to middle A, that`s not an easy move to make. Any tips on those?

Lots of air. Air is the secret to everything. Don`t stop the air... ever. Even if you have to use your tongue somewhere, keep the air going behind the tongue. If a passage has a lot of notes, especially going over the break, make sure the air keeps moving so each individual note can be heard.

(Also, practice it very very very slowly so that it`s absolutely perfect. Don`t go any faster until it`s absolutely perfect).

I`ve played the contra alto for a few years, but It`s impossible to rent one because it is so rare...
Anyways, there is one more type of clarinet...
the octo-contrabass aka the sub-contrabass.
Mr. leblanc himself has one of the only ever built. It`s about twice as tall ass the standard contrabass, and, well, it`s just a monster.

Omg i went from the b flat clarinet to that huge thing and man it was different, it felt like the freakin room was moving lol. i was not expecting that and then we had some guy come in a talk to our band on everything and he points me out of the whole band and sits there and tells me MAKE THEM FEEL IT and so i`m sitting there for like 10 minutes just blowing my brains out lol. it was horable lol

Yea, I hear ya. When I changed from Alto Saxophone to Contrabass Clarinet it was a big change. It took a while to get used to the room shaking back and forth and trying to see the director. It also takes a big change in ombiture (your mouth) that I`m still getting used to.

By the way, does anyone know how to tune a contrabass clarinet? I know to pull out the neck piece if it`s sharp, but what if I`m flat, it doesn`t go in any further. If someone knows I`d really like you to share your knowledge.

I play contrabass clarinet (Bb) my school didnt own one so i bought my own. It is a leblanc. one of the straight ones. Its so shiney During a fire drill i didnt have anywhere to lay it down so i took it outside with me and the sun was reflecting of its keys and body and it was so awesome. Yea the room shakes but you kinda just get used to it. Also if you look at a computer screen and play it gets waving (to you only... so dont be like me and yell "the computer screen is wavy!") Just use lots of air. and for high notes use alternate fingerings to fine which sounds the best on your instrument. and if the low notes sound kinda bad a rattley then try a higher strength reed. It will sound way better all over and it just takes a lil more air but you get used to it. I love playing it. Does anyone else take private lessons on the Contrabass clarinet? Or am i the only one? hehe