Klarinet Archive - Posting 000792.txt from 1998/12

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: [kl] The trumpinet
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1998 13:33:18 -0500

Well, it's the silly season, and I did say I'd tell you about it....

You can have a cylindrical tube closed at 0, 1, 2 ends.

(Agreed?)

Yet, it would seem that you can't play a cylindrical tube closed at 2
ends.

(Non e' vero?)

********* But, this Christmas, you can! *********

OK. Remove the bell of your B flat clarinet.

Sit down, cross one leg over the other, and press the end of the lower
joint against your leg, sealing it off. If this is difficult, press the
end of the lower joint against a hardish cushion. It doesn't have to be
a complete seal, but it's best if it's quite good.

Finger low E, blow down the clarinet, and open the speaker key to let
some air pass through the system. You'll find that, changing your mouth
shape, embouchure and air pressure, you can play a complete harmonic
series, minus the fundamental, starting on a sharpish E flat (top space
of treble clef). In other words, the next note is a sharpish B flat a
fifth above, then E flat again, then G, and so on.

The sound leaks out of the speaker hole, so it's rather weedy. The
quality is rather like a muted trumpet.

To obtain the low E flat, and thus get a complete series, you have to
let the sound out of the side (RH) E flat instead of the speaker key,
just for this note. The hole for the E flat is halfway down the tube as
opposed to a quarter of the way down, so you get the fundamental. (Keep
fingering low E as you open the side E flat!)

It's worth working out for yourself why this is. (Hint: think of
a cello.)

Once you've got the hang of it, you can experiment taking off, say, the
third RH finger when you're playing the B flat. This gives a C one tone
above. With a bit of practice, you can play little tunes.

If you leave the bell of the clarinet on, it still works, at a lower
pitch of course; but then the fundamental and the first harmonic are
very out of tune with the other harmonics, because the bell is much
larger and decidedly non-cylindrical. On the other hand, I find that
it's easier to play the little tunes, because more of the 'trick'
fingerings work (like low F instead of low E) -- and anyway you need to
be up where the harmonics are closer together for most tunes.

What might we expect from the Heifetz of *this* instrument?

I'll leave it to y'all:-)

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
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"'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none
Go just alike, yet each believes his own."

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