Klarinet Archive - Posting 000527.txt from 1996/09

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: B-flat
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 14:52:38 -0400

Barry suggests that the standard clarinet have a low E-flat if for no
other reasons than using that fingering with the register mechanism
produces a B-flat the 12th higher.

It is a good idea but seldom works effectively. One of the difficulties
of a clarinet is the unassailable acoustical fact that it is much harder
to created two well-in-tune notes a 12th apart than two well-in-tune notes
an octave apart.

One can argue that this is the very reason why clarinet players are obliged
to have so many pitched instruments. In an attempt to improve the
fingerings of clarinets, a hole might be drilled that gives a wonderful
sound, but its pairing a 12th higher is terrible. That's not as true
with an oboe. You drill a hole and the note you get is good as is also
the note an octave higher using that same hole.

I have several clarinets that had the low E-flat mechanism and I would
use the key frequently when playing B-flat. But if it were to be
sustained, it was something that could not be done because the note
was too awful for sustained use. But where the note is played quickly
(such as the 2nd clarinet part of the Dvorak wind serenade) it works OK.

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Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
(leeson@-----.edu)
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