A Busted Clarinet Mouthpiece

really bummed me out. I suspect that it was dropped or knocked over at some point (it's been 20 years since I played, so who knows). As it turns out, there are lots of things to know about mouthpieces--I had no idea. I wound up picking up a Selmer "Golden Tone," for $14. It sounds familiar, too. I can still sight-read like a maniac, and, although it's difficult, a #3 reed is working fairly well, especially in the upper register.

That free-jazz dude with the bass clarinet at 1190 really got me thinking about that instrument again. It's too bad that I gave it up after beating that kid up with his baritone sax in 9th grade. I think that it's time to re-discover the bass clarinet, folks. It's totally a comical instrument, like a slide whistle or a trombone, but I really really loved to play it. Most of all, though, I was pretty damn good (good enough to take 1st clarinet when I switched schools to one without a bass clarinet). I won't ever get to be in a band playing one, but I'm okay with that.

I'd never heard a contrabass clarinet, but it's pretty damn hilarious (one octave lower). Dig it: