Klarinet Archive - Posting 000174.txt from 1994/07

From: Jeff Bowles <jab@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Quality vs. color
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 1994 02:52:00 -0400

``I can tell the difference between Bb and A at a concert, but I doubt if the
audience (and, often, the conductor) can tell the difference. Chamber music,
yes, but not symphonic music.''

Okay, I'll bite.

I understand that you can tell when someone's playing an A
clarinet or a B-flat clarinet when the notes they're playing
around around the edge of that register. (For example, if a
B-flat instrument is playing a throat-tone concert-A-flat,
there is a WORLD of difference on between that note and the
A clarinet's version of the same pitch. Let's not talk about
the 'trill fingerings' for middle-line B-natural and C at
the moment, okay?)

But for your plain, average, vanilla B-flat (pardon) notes,
like middle-C or whatever, is the difference between an A and
a B-flat *that* noticeable?

Obviously, I've never had an A clarinet. Perhaps if I had,
I'd feel that the answer was obvious. (In high school, I
transposed the A parts because, well, I was poor and couldn't
afford two clarinets. How I *hated* parts written all those
sharps!)

So what *is* the difference between the two horns for the
middle of a given register?

Jeff Bowles