Klarinet Archive - Posting 001439.txt from 1998/05

From: Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.Net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Please help me / Chalumeau / clarion etc
Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 14:12:05 -0400

Roger Shilcock wrote:
>There are plenty of orchestral 1st clar. parts going up to "top" g#
>and/or
>a - Delius and Britten wrote parts going up to the B flat. The Spohr first
>concerto
>actually has an arpeggio passage ending on a top c.
>Whatever Klose wrote in 18??, plenty of players do have to learn to play
>these notes.

Can't argue with you, Roger, because you've been in places I never got to.
But I do think one could amend "plenty of players" to "some players.". In
55 years of clarinet playing I've never seen that Bb or C in a score. Of
course, I've never played in a symphony orchestra of any kind, although I
have held down first desk in symphonic wind ensembles. I've to play A in
altissimo in concert bands a couple of times, and I think I learned B and C
as well, but I have never been asked to play them. Why, if a composer wants
those notes, doesn't he score the part for an Eb sopranino?

By the way, when I went back to my old Klose method book to check what he
said about notes above F concert, I ran into something under Position of
the Mouthpiece in the Mouth that made me think of all the recent posts by
musicians whose teeth are cutting grooves in their mouthpieces: "The upper
lip must be slightly pressed downwards to prevent the teeth biting the
mouthpiece and damaging the quality of tone." When I read that, I picked up
my horn to see what I do, because I had no conscious memory of how I form
the embouchure. I found that my teeth do touch the mouthpiece, but only
touch it, because my upper lip is slightly tensed and bears on the top of
the mouthpiece clear across. I've never had a problem with teeth marks on a
mouthpiece. Then again, I've never played on one of the mouthpieces they
make now out of a softer material. Why do manufacturers do that? To sell at
a lower price?

Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.net>

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