Klarinet Archive - Posting 000497.txt from 1998/05

From: "David B. Niethamer" <dnietham@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] A clarinets - new
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 00:26:43 -0400

on 5/10/87 10:17 PM, James Rosen wrote:

>I have an r13 set, and if they
>hadn't been used, I wouldn't have bought them as a set. The A is the most
>gorgeus work of craftsmanship, but the Bb is only an average r13. Although
>this makes it a decent horn (and it works with me), it is nowhere near to
>the quality of the A.

James, I think you have the best scenario here. A clarinets are a bit
less numerous than Bb's. Thus, if you have an A you like, you can try to
find a Bb with a similar feel and sound. I think it's more likely that
you can try many Bb's until you find a good one. Trying many A's could be
well nigh impossible.

Several posters to this thread have mentioned "matching" the
resistance/tone color of the two instruments, and indeed, I've always
tried to do this. But in light of many discussions on this list, I wonder
if we really want to match the tone qualities. Shouldn't we be striving
for a little bit of difference between the two? As to buying a "set", I
agree that this is some sort of marketing gimmick. Find a good A, and
find a good Bb to match - then you'll have your "set".

Cindy Field wrote:

>An A
>clarinet, as you may know, is just a couple inches longer than the Bb
>clarinet. The fingerings are the same. You can use your existing Bb
>mouthpiece. Switching from A to Bb and vice-versa during a performance is not
>a big deal...you just move the mouthpiece from one to the other. Keeping
>track
>of which clarinet you SHOULD be using on any particular page can be a bit
>tricky if there are many changes back and forth ;-) But getting used to
>playing an A clarinet itself takes all of about 5 minutes.

I think 5 minutes might be a bit quick. There's a subtle but annoying
difference in the span between the keys which only rears its ugly head in
difficult passages [ ;-) ] until the spacing is completely assimilated by
a lot of practice. Then there's the blowing resistance. My students all
have difficulty feeling *completely comfortable* with their reeds on A
clarinet until they've played one for a while. I have different thumb
rest cushions on my horns, mostly for the pit, where it's a little harder
to see just what you've got when it's dark. Which leads to...

Jack Kissinger, who wrote:

>there is a fairly long clarinet solo and, you guessed
>it, the orchestra's principle clarinetist played it (untransposed) on the
>wrong clarinet.

Just last week I did exactly that in a new piece, which began with a
clarinet solo, then added string accompaniment. It still sounded fine
until the flute came in in parallel seconds! Then the composer pointed
out that it was for A clarinet. I had egg on my face, but so did the
conductor, who took a while to figure out what was wrong! OUCH!

Shoryu wrote:

>when you get an A clarinet, it wouldn't hurt to
>get shorter barrels as well - 65s and 64s. A clarinets have a tendency
>(usually) to be a hair flat with a standard Bb clarinet setup (as in 66
>barrel).

It's my understanding that the standard barrel for an A clarinet is 65
mm. Also, on almost every A I've played, the throat Bb is lower than I'd
like, and lower than on most Bb's, relative to the A and G below, and the
B and C just above. A good Moennig or Chadash barrel of the proper length
(you may have to try a few to get the right one) should put this right.

David

David Niethamer
Principal Clarinet, Richmond Symphony
dnietham@-----.edu
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/

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