Klarinet Archive - Posting 000141.txt from 1995/03

From: Fred Jacobowitz <fredj@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: eb sop. clar.
Date: Sat, 4 Mar 1995 23:58:13 -0500

Jeff,
Just an addendum to fy last epistle. I have also found that the
chief danger to intonation among novice eefer players is overblowing.
You cannot push as much air into an eefer and it will just squeak or go
flat or both if you do.

Fred J

On Wed, 1 Mar 1995, Jeff Bowles wrote:

> ``if you play this *&%^% instrument, please list specs, likes, dislikes
> adventures...''
>
> I have an old Selmer E-flat soprano, and the highest
> register (altissimo?) is about a half-step flat. It's
> positively maddening, because that's where the "money
> notes" are.
>
> It's interesting to look at the way the parts are arranged
> for concert band.
> 1. Sometimes the combination of piccolo, oboe, and E-flat
> clarinet are used for chords, to reinforce one another,
> etc. (That's neat.)
> 2. Sometimes, the E-flat just doubles the 1st clarinet,
> which is utterly uninteresting. (It's like when the
> alto clarinet lines double the 3rd clarinet or the bass
> clarinet. Big yawn.)
> 3. Sometimes, it doubles the flute parts. This is more interesting,
> because it adds a cutting edge that the flutes just can't give
> you.
> 4. Sometimes, it's an altogether different part, such as in
> the Hindemith Symphony in B-flat. In this, the first clarinet
> and E-flat clarinet toss ornamentation back and forth, and no
> other instruments get involved. It's pretty fun. Moreover,
> there's a strange rhythmic thingie at the end in which the
> E-flat has triples against duples everywhere else in the band.
> Sometimes, arrangers/composers actually write for the brightness
> and color of the E-flat clarinet. When they do, it's a lot of fun.
>
> But the intonation of that instrument is maddening. Completely.
>
> Jeff Bowles
>