In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Darcy James Argue <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes
> I think I will ask, gently, about one contrabass clarinet (with one > bass clarinet and one Bb clarinet) and two contrabassoons (with one > bassoon). This at least avoids the problem of bruising the > principals' egos by asking them to play an instrument they consider > beneath them. That's an unfair comment. I think you have missed John's point about different instruments in a family needing time and practice to play well. Principal players may well not even own the lower pitched members of the families you are asking about, and would have to put time and effort into obtaining not only a satisfactory instrument but also good reeds appropriate for the player/instrument combination. There's an additional problem with contrabassoons in that their fingering system is not totally standardised. When my bassoon-playing daughter borrowed her teacher's contrabassoon it came with a little personalised (instrumentalised?!) notebook that had details of all its non-standard fingerings. I hope you manage to achieve the orchestral colour you are after - it sounds fascinating! Patsy -- Patsy Moore AGSM ARCM <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Teaching accompanist Conductor, arranger, etc. etc. Newbury College Late Starters' Orchestra Web site: http://www.mooremusic.org.uk _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
