Klarinet Archive - Posting 000081.txt from 1997/06

From: Mitch Bassman <mbassman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Use of different key clarinets
Date: Sun, 8 Jun 1997 11:41:31 -0400

PROLOGUE:
I originally sent this message almost a week ago.
(Date: Sun, 01 Jun 1997 23:58:15 -0400)
Then the list went into a coma, and my message bounced. Now that we have
been collectively revived, I don't intend to try to revive the complete
thread; rather I'm asking a related question that I cannot recall being
discussed during my several years as a member of this mailing list.
END PROLOGUE; BEGIN RESEND OF MESSAGE:

Dan L. retold the story of the clarinetist who feigned a switch between his
A and B-flat clarinets. And even though Dan reversed the keys of the
instruments in a subsequent paragraph --
>Conductor ... stopped and asked him to play in on an A
>and not the B-flat. But here the story changes.
>
>Stalder did not have his B-flat with him, so he made some body motions
>as if to change clarinets and went back to his A.
-- I always enjoy that story.

Now I have to tell another conductor story and then ask what the
play-the-specified-instrument purists use for "Peter and the Wolf." I have
read and been told several times that this piece was definitely written for
B-flat clarinet with a low E-flat extension; yet most of us do not own such
an instrument and, therefore, play the part on the A clarinet.

On one occasion when I had the opportunity to play this piece, the conductor
noticed (only after several rehearsals) that I was using my A clarinet
instead of my B-flat. He hadn't observed a color difference or any
difficulty in my playing; rather he simply noticed a later switch to B-flat
for the next piece. He then offered to transpose the part so that I could
use the B-flat instead of the A! His explanation was that he had observed
in the past (with other clarinetists, of course) that the A clarinet tends
not to
speak as easily as the B-flat; on the other hand, he had not observed that
I was having any trouble getting my A clarinet to speak on time!

Well, the edition already included both A and B-flat parts (with several
wrong notes in the transposed A part), and I politely explained that the
B-flat part
called several times for the low E-flat, which I would be unable to play.
(He apparently hadn't realized that the part went below the range of the
B-flat instrument.) I continued to play on the A clarinet in subsequent
rehearsals without any pretense of switching instruments or any further
comments from the
conductor. And, yes, this was *not* a professional orchestra.

So now I ask: do the pros out there all make a point of playing "Peter and
the Wolf" on a B-flat clarinet with a low E-flat? Or do you just play on
the A and hope nobody notices (or cares)?

Mitch Bassman
mbassman@-----.com
Burke, Virginia, USA