This thesis included a chronological register of historical bass clarinets dating from c. 1750 to the twentieth century. Using this register as an outline, the early history of, and the development of the physiognomy of the bass clarinet were narrated. An effort was made to point out the discrepancies that exist between major sources which mention the bass clarinet. It was hoped that this thesis would serve as a starting place for future research concerning the bass clarinet. (Eighteen illustrations.) / text

The purpose of this study is to trace the development of a comparatively young orchestral instrument, the bass clarinet, and its use in the symphony orchestra. The first chapter concerns the development of the bass clarinet from the earliest imperfect specimen to the modern day instrument. The second chapter discusses physical characteristics that are peculiar to the bass clarinet. The third chapter deals with the particular methods of using the bass clarinet in orchestral literature by various composers, from its introduction into the orchestra by Meyerbeer through the present.

Student clarinet performers often encounter bass clarinet for the first time in a high school or university wind ensemble, so it is logical for clarinet pedagogues to encourage and assist their students in learning this wind band literature. In addition to becoming familiar with this oft performed repertoire, students will develop a set of specialized bass clarinet skills that one cannot learn on soprano clarinet. These skills include increased air capacity and support, timbre consistency in differing registers, intonation tendencies of the lower instrument, voicing flexibility, right hand thumb dexterity for keys that do not exist on soprano clarinet, technical facility for eleven pinky keys (as opposed to the seven pinky keys on a typical soprano clarinet, and effective altissimo fingerings. The purpose, then, of this document is to provide a performance guide for select bass clarinet solo excerpts from the wind band literature and to provide supplemental exercises intended to help students acquire the specialized bass clarinet skill set they will need in order to perform the selected excerpts successfully. The solos discussed in this document are excerpted from H. Owen Reed’s La Fiesta Mexicana, Florent Schmitt’s Dionysiaques, Percy Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy, Frank Ticheli’s Blue Shades, William Bolcom’s First Symphony for Band, and Andrew Rindfleisch’s The Light Fantastic.

The idea of reducing popular and musically satisfying operatic or orchestral works to smaller instrumental forces is not uncommon, but the idea of reducing large scores for the exclusive use of orchestral excerpt pedagogy is. Although there are a multitude of excellent resources detailing how select excerpts from both the clarinet and bass clarinet orchestral repertoire should be performed, no resources for clarinetists or bass clarinetists provide a piano reduction of orchestral scores. Through piano reduction of orchestral scores, bass clarinetists have access to a resource that simulates the experience of playing in an orchestra. Bass clarinetists using a piano reduction will learn the pitch tendencies of the instrument. Consequently, the performer will discover ways to study excerpts in-tune with other instruments that will not compromise for the shortcomings of the bass clarinet. Use of piano transcriptions will also aid with recognition of important moving lines, harmonic textures and rhythmic ostinatos that might otherwise be overlooked by score study and listening alone. Finally, many of the excerpt transcriptions provided are taken from several bars before the primary bass clarinet excerpt, unlike many excerpt books currently available. This provides bass clarinets a more contextual view of an excerpt by facilitating the need to count rests correctly and play solo entrances in the correct style and affect presented by the preceding orchestral material.

Harry Sparnaay was a major contributor to the development of unaccompanied works for the bass clarinet and commissioned over 100 pieces for bass clarinet alone. While Sparnaay's book, The Bass Clarinet: A Personal History, includes a list of works written for him, there is minimal information available regarding most of these pieces. This project fills the information gap for this repertoire by providing publication status/score availability, performance challenges, recording history, program notes, and composer information. Each work is classified into three categories based on its publication status and recording history, providing a framework for understanding which works have entered the standard repertoire for the instrument.

abstract: New works for the bass clarinet as a solo instrument are uncommon. In the interest of expanding the repertoire of the bass clarinet, three new works for bass clarinet were commissioned from three different composers, all with different instrumentations. The resulting works are Industrial Strength for bass clarinet and piano by Kenji Bunch; Dark Embers for two bass clarinets by Theresa Martin; and Shovelhead for bass clarinet and interactive electronics by Steven Snowden. Although all three works feature the bass clarinet, they are all very different and pose unique challenges to the performer. To accompany these pieces, and as an aid to future performers, a performance practice guide has been included with recommendations for individuals who wish to perform these works. Included in the guide are recommended fingerings, practice techniques, and possible adjustments to the bass clarinet parts designed in collaboration with the composers that make the works more technically accessible. Accompanying this guide are full scores of all three works, a recording of them performed by the author, and a chart that contains recommended altissimo fingerings. / Dissertation/Thesis / D.M.A. Music 2012

No description available.

O presente estudo teve como objetivo demonstrar a relevância da reestruturação técnica de uma obra, ou seja, uma reelaboração musical às particularidades de novos meios, focando o clarinete baixo como instrumento central, desencadeando um futuro aprimoramento e adequação aos novos recursos do instrumento e à sua linguagem. Além deste, o trabalho teve como finalidade apontar a proposição de um experimento deste instrumento a um repertório original não idiomático. Para tanto, o procedimento metodológico utilizado observou como referências as reelaborações já realizadas e compreendeu as maneiras com que foram concebidas. O trabalho contribuiu com o desenvolvimento teórico e prático da pesquisa em reelaborações para clarinete baixo, desta forma, favorecendo a disposição de um novo vetor experimental, baseado nas reelaborações feitas. Assim, conclui-se que esta pesquisa, diferentemente do rigor e fidelidade a qual geralmente a reelaboração é aplicada, enfatizou o processo como ferramenta criativa e dialógica. / The present study aimed to demonstrate the relevance of the technical restructuring of a work, that is, a musical reelaboration to the particularities of new media, focusing on the bass clarinet as a central instrument, triggering a future improvement and adaptation to the new resources of the instrument and its language. Besides this, the purpose of the work was to point out the proposition of an experiment of this instrument to an original non-idiomatic repertoire. In order to do so, the methodological procedure used observed references as reworkings already performed and understood the ways in which one was carried out. The work contributed to the theoretical and practical development of the research in reelaborations for bass clarinet, in this way, favoring the arrangement of a new experimental vector, based on the reelaborations made. Thus, it is concluded that this research, in contrast to the rigor and fidelity to which the reelaboration is usually applied, emphasized the process as a creative and dialogical tool.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Music, June 2003. / For flute, B♭ clarinet, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, violin, viola, violoncello, double bass, and percussion (marimba, vibraphone, flexatone, castanets). Also available on the Internet.

abstract: This project includes a recording and performance guide for three newly commissioned pieces for the clarinet. The first piece, shimmer, was written by Grant Jahn and is for B-flat clarinet and electronics. The second piece, Paragon, is for B-flat clarinet and piano and was composed by Dr. Theresa Martin. The third and final piece, Duality in the Eye of a Bovine, was written by Kurt Mehlenbacher and is for B-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, and piano. In addition to the performance guide, this document also includes background information and program notes for the compositions, as well as composer biographical information, a list of other works featuring the clarinet by each composer, and transcripts of composer and performer interviews. This document is accompanied by a recording of the three pieces. / Dissertation/Thesis / shimmer / Paragon / Duality in the Eye of a Bovine, Movements I and II / Duality in the Eye of a Bovine, Movement III / Duality in the Eye of a Bovine, Movement IV / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2016