Klarinet Archive - Posting 000893.txt from 2001/10

From: EClarinet@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Band vs orch eefer range
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 03:24:03 -0500

Luby asked:
<<Your post brings about an interesting topic. While playing through
American Civil War Fantasy, I had to play a bar going all the way up to the
high G on
the Eb Clarinet. Is this common to find Eb Clarinet parts written so high?>>

Then Walter replied:
<<In orchestral music, yes. You see it all the time.
In band music, no; as the composers/arrangers know that they might be
dealing with less experienced players there that might not be able to handle
that register.>>

I just don't know where people get the idea that band eefer parts do not go
up as high as orchestral ones. I have played eefer on 3 concerts this year,
and every piece I played had at least a high F in it. Two of the pieces had
high G's.

I mentioned in my post of 10/16 on this list that it really depended on whose
music you were playing; "I think it is our job as clarinetists to know the
literature well enough that we can tell the director the difference between
real eefer parts, where the composer is using the instrument deliberately for
its unique color, and parts where the guy only wrote a part because his
publisher told him to, and so he just has the eefer double the flutes or 1st
clarinets."

When the Eb clarinet is written up that high (F and G), the first clarinets
almost never are. It's a bit easier to get up there on the eefer than on Bb,
but not by much. Usually it's the fingerings that work better, because I
find that it takes just as much embouchure pressure to play an eefer's high F
as it does to play a double Bb on the Bb clarinet, since you are effectively
playing the same note. I have seen lots of band parts where the composer
wanted the clarinet sound up really high, but gave the part to the eefer to
play, since the fingerings work out being easier as the notes are down a 4th
from what they would have to be on Bb clarinet.

Of course, it is never easy to play that high on eefer, and the throat Ab key
helps a lot to get those notes above E out, but I find that I am most
successful when I resist the urge to bite to get those notes, and just really
voice them as small as I can. I had to play the Carmen Dragon arrangement of
'America the Beautiful' 5 times this year (!), and you should just check out
THAT eefer part! I got a lot of practice voicing up all those crazy notes!
:-)

hope this helps......
Elise Curran
Orlando, FL

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