So I bought a bass clarinet...

Ever since I came back from Paris, and heard "Epistrophy" by Eric Dolphy, I've had a pretty crazy dream: to some day retire to Paris and spend my days playing under the Eiffel Tower. The bass clarinet has always sounded like one of the most beautiful instruments: the lows especially vibrate parts of me I didn't know I had.

There's just one problem: bass clarinets are expensive. Bass clarinets in playable condition even moreso.

When I started this quest, I put an add in craigslist just looking for one. Brandi from The Music Box contacted me. She told me she was actually a bass clarinet major at Iowa State! We talked about exchanging bass clarinet lessons for bass lessons, but she didn't have any bass clarinets in stock. She did eventually sell me a nice alto sax that I played with for a while. It wasn't the same. Eventually I stopped hearing from her and I'd pretty much given up.

Then, yesterday, I stopped into Mister Money to do a little pedal shopping, when I saw an entire shelf of BAND INSTRUMENTS real cheap! It's like Harold Hill had to leave town and sell everything for a bus ticket! Best of all, not ONE but TWO bass clarinets!! The other had a case and was $299.00, but the other, a Bundy, was marked at $99!! I went to the counter and pointed out some dings and rust, and they sold it to me for $70!!!!!!



Well, the next thing is to get a reed. I went straight to Uptempo Music in Beaverdale. When I brought it in, Dave was like, "Wow, a bass clarinet!" then while I was showing him, he looked at the price tag.

"You did NOT pay 99 dollars for this"
"I didn't. I paid $70."

I also told him they had a much nicer Vito in a case for $300. I think he's gonna go get that one.

I bought a reed,and then talked about what few repairs it would need to be playable. He mentioned that the person who does his band instrument repairs was actually a BASS CLARINET MAJOR in college! Guess who??

Next I took it to Polk City, where my Ladyfriend gave it a fresh cleaning and she and her daughter (who play Alto Sax) took turns playing it! Yes! It works!

More on this story as it develops...