This is my attempt at sevenstars0828’s arrangement of Kurousa-P's famous song Senbonzakura. I overdubbed myself playing each part (except for the contrabass part, see explanation below)
Original video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-AWxNG7ueY&list=TLGKutG7hWB4MAqH7r7FlLoYmrGcuhJ_FW
They were generous enough to provide links to download the sheet music in the video description. The arrangement is for a clarinet sextet: 1 E-flat, 2 B-flats, 1 alto, 1 bass, and 1 contrabass.
Anyway, I will say it now. This was bad. Very BAD. My attempt at recording myself playing all parts merits no comparison at all to their video. First off, this was done while I had more important school stuff filling up my schedule; I only got to practice and record when I had free time. Secondly, this was all the effort of one guy. I didn’t have anyone else help me when I played this arrangement, so obviously it is very sloppy. Thirdly, the only recording equipment I used was my home computer and GarageBand.
I had access to school instruments, but many clarinetists will laugh till Kingdom come upon seeing my mouthpiece, ligature, and reed setups. Plus, the alto clarinet was incredibly out of tune throughout its whole range: very flat in the lower chalumeau, super sharp from upper clarion upwards. Also, do you hear all the tempo and intonation issues? (Sigh, there goes any of my musical merit.) Worst of all, that is not a contrabass clarinet you hear. It is me playing the part on bass clarinet and taking the audio down an octave. I think this discredits me from being allowed to ever touch a contra clarinet…
Even then, I am still proud of this little side project of mine (I am satisfied with the tone I have on the Eefer). I just couldn’t resist trying it. And I know that overdubbing myself is a little hobby that I will continue to do.
I hope I can get together an ensemble one day to play this arrangement right!
• E-flat Sopranino* Clarinet (Buffet E11, Vandoren B45 mouthpiece, stock ligature, Rico Royal #5 reeds)
• B-flat Soprano Clarinet for both clarinets 1 and 2 (Buffet R13, Vandoren 5RV Lyre mouthpiece, Bonade Inverted ligature, Mitchell Lurie Premium #5 reeds for clarinet 1, Vandoren V12 #4 reeds for clarinet 2)
• E-flat Alto Clarinet (Selmer Bundy, Yamaha 4C mouthpiece, stock ligature, Rico Royal #3 reeds)
• B-flat Bass Clarinet for both bass and contrabass clarinets (Buffet Student Model with a hole in the bell to allow low D, stock mouthpiece, stock ligature, Rico Grand Concert Select #3.5 reeds)
*I feel as if the eefer can be designated as a sopranino or maybe even a soprano. But I wouldn’t call it a piccolo. “Piccolo” clarinet would be used to refer to the rare A-flat and G clarinets, in my opinion.