Sunday, June 06, 2004

Shall now continue the story about yesterday...

So... the four of us got onto bus 156 after a long wait at the station... found 4 really good seats right in front of the TV, where we continued to watch Miss Universe... unfortunately for us, they were already at the QnA session... so I missed out on thier catwalk section... which was quite sad.. cause it was the part where Miss Australia did really really well in... anyway, think that most of the finallists answered pretty badly... except Miss USA who really showed her intelligence... actually the more I think the more I feel that Miss USA should win the pageant... cause Miss Australia is really too young already... dun think that she will treat her work (as Miss Universe) too seriously, unlike Miss USA, who shows passion in wadever she does...

Anyway, we reached SJI on time and whilst walking, we saw this class gathering... think I saw class of 1954... den this guy came out and asked if we were here for the gathering... dunno whether he was joking or not.. but dunno wad came over me... cause that person quite persistant lah... den summore asked in a ang moh tone... so I replied back in the ang moh accent "Definitely not!!" and just walked off... think I really very rude to that person!! Hahah... anyway, the concert was pretty good I must say... not because the quality is good, but because its entertaining... the band played Vesuvius!! Hahah... but definitely not as good as NJ band... summore this concert was the first time where the conductor suddenly stopped the band halfway while playing and asked to restart again... hahah... pretty wierd concert... there was a really good oboeist inside... so I commented to CJ that he was like the only good player in the whole band... den realised that he was not a member of the CJ band, but rather a member of the police band who just helped out for the concert!! Hahah... so cheat lor!! There was the guitar ensemble after that... have to say that it is way better than the NJ one... sorry Cheryl and Xia Xia!! But they were really very good!! Esp the soloist... wonderful!! Anyway, saw Cheng Jong's crush finally... pretty bad of us... cause we kept on calling her Kim Pang.. very funny!! But she din hear it... until the end when we parted (cause we were all talking together)... guess I said Kim Pang really loudly... and her fren heard it and told her... so funny!! Dunno wad happened now... must call up CJ to ask him someday!!

Anyway, just visited this great site where I read more about the family of clarinets... found out that there is actually 27 different types of clarinets constructed throughout the years... really saw a lot of very interesting clarinets... the lowest clarinet (Sub Contra Bass clarinet also called Octo Contra Bass clarinet) can even play notes that are so low that most people cannot hear this frequency!! Another (saxonette) is a cross between a clarinet and a saxophone... looks really cool!! So shall post some details here for all my readers (which I noe is very very is a really mediocre number)... sorry this post may take a pretty long time to load due to the large number of pictures... and sorry if the pictures seem too big/small, cause I have got not much time to resize it...


B-flat clarinet



This is the most common of all clarinets... and also happens to be the first instrument that I've played in the band... really liked the clarinet and its sweet mellow tone... but it is extremely hard to produce a good tone in a short period of time... takes years to develop a nice sweet tone as well as the technicality to play the instrument...


A-flat clarinet



Haven't seen this before... but supposedly very small... smaller than a recorder... in fact the smallest clarinet in the family... has a very high pitch too... highest in the band as well... in the same range as the piccolo... but not really that frequently used in the band... I haven't even heard of such a clarinet before!!


G Clarinet aka Turkish Clarinet



This clarinet is frequently used by the Turkish in their folk music because of its tone and flexibility... slightly larger than the normal clarinet... cannot tell the difference between the G clarinet and the A clarinet?? Look at the lower body of the 2 clarinets... and have to say that the logo on the bell looks fantastic!!


Bassette Horn


Really cool instrument... slightly smaller than an alto clarinet... noe wad is the coolest thing about it? There are two looks for the bassette horn... one is the straight clarinet version and the other is the bent clarinet version... and both of them produces exactly the same sound!! So interesting rite?? Better show ya the pictures if you do not understand wad I said... anyway look at the lower portion of the straight clarinet... doesn't it look taunting??






Alto Clarinet



Nothin much to sae abt this... have this in NJ band... but I dun play this... cause dun really like the tone... but shld try someday, cause the scores for the alto clarinet are actually quite tough!! Somewad like the parts for clarinets!!


Bass Clarinet

Ah... my favourite instrument... played the bass clarinet for more than 3 years already.... always liked the tone that it produces... so low... so nice... but the scores dedicated to it is really simple... even for really tough pieces... moreover, a lot of people thinks that the bass clarinets are actually redundant in the band... even composers (from the way they just duplicate tuba scores for bass clarinets)... so since bass clarinets are not true basses, they are usually very useless... most seem to forget the beautiful 3 octave range that a bass clarinet can play... so we bass clarinetists are just downgraded to playing the most bottom octave... which is really boring... anyway... here are the pictures... the first picture is the one that I play in NJ band... pretty limited range... unlike the one I play in Cat high, which is shown on the second picture... that was my absolute favourite... really missed playing it... looks cool rite??






Contra-alto Clarinet


Had the chance to play this really wonderful clarinet when I performed as guest player (sounds cool rite!!) for the RGS concert at the SCH two years back when I was in sec 4... the clarinet belonged to another guest player... it was great playing that instrument... except that it was really long and I had to like sit on 2 chairs... larger than the bass clarinet by quite a lot!! But it was enjoyable nonetheless...




Contra-bass Clarinet


Another really cool instrument... lowest clarinet for the modern band (there are way lower clarinets too... but they are really obsolete already... cost a lot to produce... my old bass clarinet costs 5000 over bucks already... think it will cost at least $10,000!!) Really low.... would like to play it if I have the chance... cause I really like playing low clarinets... the lower the better!! There are also 2 types of contra bass clarinets, the straight clarinet and the folded clarinet... the folded one is totally made of metal I think... see for yrselves!!






Here is a comparison of the sizes of the low clarinets... to show you all the exact size of these clarinets... hope you dun get a shock to see the size!! The one on the left is an alto clarinet (just slightly smaller than the bass clarinet that I play in school), the centre one is a bass clarinet extended to low C (longer than the bass clarinet that I play) and the extreme right is a contrabass clarinet... so cool right??



Credit goes to http://hem.passagen.se/eriahl/clarinet.htm and http://www.kjerstin.com/jayeaston/galleries/
clarinet_family/clarinet_p_low_clarinets.html for the pictures and some of the info regarding the clarinets... you people shld go to their websites for more information on clarinets... clarinet rox!!