Klarinet Archive - Posting 000795.txt from 2000/02

From: Richard Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Rhythm training, was: daily playing
Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 00:15:55 -0500

Bryan,

The "natural" scale of the clarinet is not Bb. One could argue that the most
natural scale on the instrument is a F scale (putting fingers down one at a
time from thumb F down to low F and then back up). But I don't want to confuse
you. The clarinet is "pitched" in Bb. That means that when the player plays a C
note or plays a C scale, a Bb note or scale actually comes out of the
instrument. Everything you read and play actually comes out one full step
lower. When writers write for the Bb clarinet, they know this and adjust the
part so that the note they want to sound comes out. This is called transposing
the part for the Bb clarinet. They write it up one full step.

Bryan Cholfin wrote:

> Thanks for the advice. It does seem to have helped. Still having a little
> difficulty with volume control, but already finding that I can produce the
> higher notes more reliably with much less physical exertion. I even got to a
> high E. It wasn't very good, but it was definitely an E.
>
> Okay, here's another dumb question, but it's kind of driving me buggy that I
> can't figure it out. Probably because my knowledge of scales is still pretty
> rudimentary. If the natural scale of the clarinet is B-flat, and indeed we
> find that it plays B-flat between the C and the A, shouldn't there then be
> an E-flat between the D and the F? Instead it plays E. Am I missing
> something or is the horn just perverse?
>
> ----------
> >From: "Jay Webler" <webler@-----.net>
>
> > Almost always there is a marked improvement in the intonation of the
> > clarion range when they grasp this concept.
> >
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
> Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
> Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
> Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org