I would like to know how all you bass clarinet and contrabass clarinetists transport your clarinets. Unlike flute, alto sax, horn, trombone and everthing else our insturments are heavy! I try to carry mine to school but it kills my arms (school is like 10 blocks away). I have resorted to bungee cords and a luggage cart thing. It works really well and my sholders don't hurt anymore. I haven't been able to rig it up to work in snow yet though....
Snow?.... I hope you're not exposing a wooden bass clarinet to those low temperatures!
What kind of horns do you have?
When I was in the college wind ensemble, one season I played Bass Clar, EEb contra, and BBb contrabass all in one concert. I just had other people carry my stuff for me....
The luggage carts are great. A cello case works great for a 2-piece contra like the Selmer rosewood and straight metal Leblanc contras. You have to make your own padding inside for the parts of your horn, but cello cases are made to be worn on your back. The composite cases usually have wheels, too.
As for my bass clarinet- I carry it. To and from school every other day, sometimes everyday, depending if I have afterschool rehearsals for other ensembles. Sure, it's slightly heavy, especially because I have a wooden Low C model. And the But I've gotten used to it. It doesn't make people too happy on days when the bus is crowded though (I ride the bus in teh afternoons, but I walk a little more than half a mile from the bus stop. farther if I ride the late bus.) If I ever purchase my own horn, I'm getting a soft-case or casecover, with shoulder straps. A girl at the GMU honor band I went to had one, and it was really nice!
Contrabass-wise? My god that thing is impossible! The case is about 8 inches taller than I am. It pretty much lives at school. When I need to take it to, say, solo ensemble, it barely fits diagonally into my mom's car. It extends from the back between the front seats and onto the passanger front seat.
I'm not really looking forward to taking both to solo ensemble this year, though- I'll probably get a friend to carry the bass for me while I'm lugging around the contra.
yea... in 7th grade i had one at school and one at home. 8th, not so lucky. lets just say a lot of people on the bus hated me. when i went to high school, my band teacher bought yammaha 2005 series bass clarinets, and they come apart in the middle like a clarinet so the case is a little smaller than an alto case, but it still ways a ton! lol
i lucked out. my odyssey of the mind state competition is the same day as solo ensemble, so i don't have to figure out how to get the contra-bass to solo ensemble, as i'm not going.
I played bass clarinet, and currently tenor and bari sax. The roling thing is a great idea, and I have considered it, but my band teacher lets me leave my tenor at school, and he has another bari so I can leave one at hoe and bring the mouthpiece to school. See if there is another bass clarinet at school that isn't being used. If there is, then you maybe can do what I do with the bari, but if there isn't, the cart is probly the best idea.
Yeah that's definitely a problem.
Just carrying my contra across school out the car hurts your arm.
They are pretty heavy.
I really don't know how to help though.
searching...
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(I ride the bus in teh afternoons, but I walk a little more than half a mile from the bus stop. farther if I ride the late bus.) If I ever purchase my own horn, I'm getting a soft-case or casecover, with shoulder straps. A girl at the GMU honor band I went to had one, and it was really nice!
