Klarinet Archive - Posting 000521.txt from 2000/02

From: Shouryu Nohe <jnohe@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Boehm on height of fingers
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 19:07:50 -0500

On Fri, 11 Feb 2000 SoulClarinetAdam@-----.com wrote:

> Okay, i've head you guys talk about this multiple times but payed no mind,
> when you talk about the Boehim(spelling?) system, what are you talking about,
> and you where talking about other systems to? Is this the type of mechanisms
> on the clarinet? Is there any article in sneezy about it? I looked, and i
> didn't see any, might be going blind!!!
> thanks much in advacne!

Adam, Boehm refers to several things. To clarinetists prominently, it
refers to a specific system of clarinets. This system is also called the
French system, as that is where it was developed. More on this later.

There are primarily two systems of clarinets currently in use in the
world: Boehm and Oehler. The Boehm system has closer relations to flute
and saxophone, as the Boehm clarinet is based on those very principles.
Oehler system, I think, would be better compared to oboes and bassoons.
Primarily German and Viennese clarinetists use Oehler system clarinets.
If you have ever glanced at a CD cover with Sabine Meyer, Dieter Klocker,
or any other German or Viennese player, you will note that their clarinets
do not have the same key work - Oehler clarinets have rollers, and more
forked fingerings. Boehm system is used elsewhere (mostly, but not
always), and is most likely the system you play on, unless you play
Wurlitzer instruments. Oehler clarinets are also different in bore and
mouthpiece - they typically take a smaller, harder, and thicker reed.

The Boehm clarinet was developed shortly after the Boehm flute, and
despite its name, Theobald Boehm had absolutely nothing to do with the
development of this instrument. At the time it was conceived (mid to late
1800s...I'm not sure when the idea was actually CONCEIVED), clarinets in
use were based on Mueller's design, and were not necessarily bad
instruments. They typically had about ten or so keys (not including
modifications made by the players), and were sort of experimental -
builders were aiming for a clarinet that could be played in A or Bb by
changing the lower joint and barrel while retaining the upper joint and
mouthpiece.

Hyacinthe Klose was currently the head of the French school of clarinet
playing at this time. This is the same guy who wrote the Klose Method,
obviously, and the reason the Klose method is so extensive and works so
well is because he wrote it for HIS clarinet. Really, the Boehm clarinet
is the invention of Klose, as it was conceived by him, and put into motion
by his friend, August Buffet, who actually built the instrument to Klose's
specifications. The clarinet gets it's moniker on the fact that Klose
designed the instrument on Boehm's theorems, which Boehm himself had put
into practice with the FLUTE about twenty years prior. Because Boehm's
principles had such an astonishing improvement upon the instrument, Klose
only saw it fit to apply the principles to the clarinet as well.

Clarinets at this time were still being built to ergonomic specifications,
sort of. Finger holes where where they felt natural, and where they could
be covered easily. Boehm's principles, however, dictated that due to
physics of acoustics, in order to acheive true tempered pitches in their
clearest forms, the holes should be placed in a mathmatical ratio in
relation to the bore of the tube, and all the holes should be of a size
relative to the pitch it was to produce. However, if this was done, a
person's fingers could not reach all of the holes because of the distance
between them, and the larger holes would be too big for fingertips to
cover even if our fingers did reach them (both flute and clarinet). Boehm
solved this problem by padding the flute and installing the key and rod
system we are familiar with today, and Klose would apply the ring, key and
rod system to the clarinet also, to make up for it. This is why for notes
such as the low Bb, an additional key is necessary - our fingers cannot
cover a large hole, so we have two keys, one of which is automatically
closed by the ring on the right hand first finger.

Not only did Klose now bring the instrument closer to natural acoustical
balance, but he also decided to add enough rings and keys to allow for
alternate fingerings so that nearly any passage is playable. Probably his
only oversight was the need for the left pinky Ab/Eb key, which we now
have. However, his method, especially in his mechanical excersizes on
page 16 and 44 to whereever, are written specifically for finding all the
odd spots where the Klose (Boehm) clarinet isn't quite perfect. These
excersizes expose the notes on the instrument that are likely to pop out
in such passages, or the use of flips and organ fingerings and slides.

So, in truth, the Boehm system clarinet should REALLY be called a
Klose-Buffet system clarinet, but the theorems on which it was designed
were Boehm's, and that's where that comes from.

As you are probably aware, flutes use a similar fingering system, however
it is different, as the instrument itself is different. The saxophone is
also based on Boehm's theorems, and although not exactly like the flute or
the clarinet, it's acoustical properties were close enough to them that
when Sax inveted it, he built the system upon the flute's, but again,
being a different instrument, it is different. The sax is actually a
good bridge between the flute and clarinet fingering systems, but this is
of course because all three instruments are built according to Boehm's
theorems.

Does that clear it up for you?

J. Shouryu Nohe
http://web.nmsu.edu/~jnohe
Professor of SCSM102, New Mexico State Univ.
"If I wanted a 'job,' I'd have gone music ED, thank you very much!"

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