Klarinet Archive - Posting 000735.txt from 1999/10

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Eb Clarinet technique
Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 18:56:33 -0400

Andrew J Middup bought an Eefer, and wanted to know:

<<<By getting good advice at the outset, I would like to try to reduce the
time needed to become proficient on the Eb and I would like to ask list
members who play the Eb what they consider to be the most important
differences when converting a soprano technique to the Eb. My specific
problems (based on my first week's experience !) relate to fundamental
problems with intonation from altissimo E upwards and in making pianissimo
entries in the altissimo range.>>>

Golly, Andrew, I think that it's only taken you a week to sum up the primary
problems that every player of the little beastie has!

I play a fair amount of Eb. Some observations (that others may feel free
to disagree with--and most certainly will):

-- As with anything else, you have to practice it to get better. You can't
expect to "double" on the thing, only taking it our every other year when
needed for a concert and expect to sound any good at all. I play it fairly
regularly in 2 wind ensembles, probably as much as the Bb in those groups.
After a couple *years* of this, I'm equally comfortable on both horns, and
have no difficulty at all in switching from one to the other from piece to
piece (or even within a piece).

-- The mouthpiece is perhaps *more* critical than on the larger horns.
Make a sacrifice, and buy the best one you can find. The Hite is pretty
good for the money, and plays fairly well in tune. The Dan Johnston gets
the best sound I've found so far, but takes more work. (Dan Johnston played
Eb in Buffalo for a long time. Peter Hadcock loudly proclaimed the goodness
of his Eb mouthpieces. 'nuff said). I've now switched to a Greg Smith
mouthpiece on Bb & A; at some point I plan to try his as well.

-- I find that reeds, on the other hand, tend to be *less* critical on the
Eb. For orchestral use (where you'll want to crank up some volume, for
Mahler etc.), I use Bb reeds with the butt cut down to fit on the shorter
mouthpiece. For wind ensemble work, where you spend a great deal of time
trying to "blend" with (ugh!) flutes, I use plain-vanilla Vandoren Ebs. I
can play softer on the smaller reeds, and have somewhat less time with the
conductors' palm in my face. I find that the Eb reeds last a great long
time, for whatever reason.

-- Your Eb is not in tune -- at least not if you insist on using the same
fingerings for the altissimo that you use on the larger horn. (This is a
hint--fingerings on the Eb are different. Sorry.) I STRONGLY suggest that
you immediately trot down to your music store (or go to
www.sheetmusicservice.com) and get a copy of Peter Hadcock's Eb excerpt
book. He's got most of the major excerpts there (good!), a FULLY-TRANSPOSED
PART for Till (even better!! Yay!) and, best of all, an expansive cheat
sheet of special Eb fingerings, with notes on where to use them! I bring
this book to every rehearsal to Eefer goes to, just in case.

Now you have an additional problem, in that Mr. Hadcock's fingerings are all
for the Buffet R13, the horn he used. Your Eb is a wee bit different
(larger bore, I think, with little tone hole undercutting). If you Noblet
Eb is like my Noblet C, the right hand notes in the lower register will be
sharp. This is a design trade-off; Noblet/Leblanc decided to sacrifice the
low notes to make the clarion register dead-on. Since no one hires an Eb to
play low, this seems the right decision. You will have to experiment with
fingerings.

With all that said, your altissimo is *still* likely to be a bit flat
overall. We cope with it. I heard of a John Bruce Yeh master class
(hearsay, I know . . . ) where, when asked how he played a particular
passage so well in tune, he stated that he played the passage a half-step
higher and lipped it down.

This may be an apocryphal story. I do know, however, that I have used that
technique -- but won't tell you where ;-)

Good luck!!

kjf

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