Klarinet Archive - Posting 000125.txt from 1995/09

From: Everett J Austin <BrendaA624@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Possible Dumb Question About "A" Clarinets
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 1995 20:18:01 -0400

I am sure you will get many responses to your question. The A clarinet
sounds a half step lower than the B-flat clarinet: if you compare them side
by side you will see that the A clarinet is a couple inches longer (I never
checked the exact difference) and feels slightly bigger in the hands. It
also blows a little different than the B-flat and may have a little darker
les brilliant tonal tendency. The standard A barrel 65mm long whereas the
standard B-flat barrel is 66mm long! With this exception, all the parts of
the A are a bit longer than the B-flat and the bores are a little different.
The barrels, besides being different standard lengths, are generally not
interchangeable because of subtle differences in bore: the intonation will
suffer with the wrong barrel and unfortunately changing barrels won't result
in a B-flat to A conversion: you really have to buy another clarinet (unless
you want to transpose Mozart, Brahms, Reger, Coleridge-Taylor, etc