Klarinet Archive - Posting 000103.txt from 1995/06

From: SCOTT MCCHESNEY <scmcchesney@-----.NET>
Subj: Bb Clarinets vs. The Rest of Them
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 21:43:02 -0400

Well, now I know there's at least some interest in this...

For starters, Mr. Leeson: I was not even sure if my premises were
correct. I figured not, but it was the only thing I could think of. A
thousand thanks for giving me a more probable evolution of Clarinets.
Next: to the person who said that a 1/2 step could not make such a
difference in tone color. We have had discussions about "tone color" and the
now-forbidden use of "dark" and "bright" for reasons of vagueness.
Nevertheless, there seems to be some agreement that there is a distinct
difference between the tone color of Bb and A Clarinets - only a half-step
apart. Many people have read things - I have read a few - where a choice of
instrument was not simply due to key convenience but to tone color.
For my own readings, I have heard that the C Clarinet died out mostly
because it was too "Bright" - which was explained as being too incisive. I
have never heard a C Clarinet (maybe Frances can tell us of her exploits), but
I am told that they have a much harder edge to the sound and do not blend as
well. That, of course, could be due to a number of things which have nothing
to do with the key of the instrument. I wouls also bet that the journeys into
the more "difficult keys" (aka away from C) also made the C Clarinet less
preferrable than the Bb or A. Musicians have a certain laziness to them, as do
all people, and anything to make the job of performing music easier is
probably going to be accepted if it proves workable to a large-enough segment
of the population.
As for guitar players using sharp keys while winds use flat keys,
that's usually for ease of play. Guitarists, unlike the string complement of
an orchestra, do have some fingering problems when working with flat keys - the
combinations, unless one uses a barre (which changes the tone color of the
strings), get a little strenuous on the fingers. And most wind instruments -
as you pointed out - are in flat keys, thus making the flat keys easier for
fingering. Why use concert A and give people fits when Bb is so much easier?
This question again delves into "key color", which I did not get into and will
not resurrect here.
I guess that, in the end, the D Clarinet was simply not meant to be in
the world of "matched" clarinets. It is still being made, and a few people use
it, yet I hardly ever see it. I see information from the very composers who
wrote using it saying it was a bad choice. I do not know if the instrument is
fundamentally flawed, though I would find it hard to believe that one
instrument of an entire group exhibits problems not found in any other when
they are all based upon the same system. Mayhaps it is a matter of intonation
- I do know that some instruments are hard to tune because of the key they are
pitched in. The Eb, for instance, with it's tuning notes of either G or F#,
poses some problems, given those notes on the clarinet. I have played an Eb
before, and the concept of tuning on throat tones scared me back then...

-- Scott