Klarinet Archive - Posting 000177.txt from 2002/09

From: Nick Simicich <njs@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Period instruments --- were any of them "better" ?
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 10:01:47 -0400

On Fri, 13 Sep 2002, William Wright wrote:

> Now that subscribers have returned from their summer activities, I hope
> that I am forgiven for re-posting a question.
>
> (Abandoned features in the piano family and sarrusaphones have already
> been mentioned. Now I'd like to re-ask the question with special
> emphasis on chalumeaus and basset horns and other early members of the
> clarinet family.)

I just came into an interesting book titled "A Pictorial History of Civil
War Era Musical Instruments and Military Bands". They are talking about
the US Civil War. It is available by mail order, I can let you know the
e-mail address of the vendor if you are interested.

The early chapter leads in through the "typical composition of early
American bands" and then talks about the move to brass and what caused it.
The claimed reason for the move to all brass from Clarinets, Oboes, and
Bassoons (with unkeyed/unvalved Trumpets and Trombones) in the 1830
timeframe was that instruments such as the keyed bugle and ophicleides
could simply project farther in the open air. Since the keyed bugle, in
particular, could play a diatonic scale (supposedly the first brass
instrument to be able to do this, although I suppose that the slide
trombone could play at any pitch in its range) it could replace, in
particular, the clarinet as the carrier of the melody of a song with a
great deal more volume.

The stated reason that the keyed brasses were abandoned in favor of the
valved brasses was that the latter simply played better. There was also
some crossover. There is one picture of a "Soprano Saxhorn" which has
three rotary valves and five saxophone like keys. According to a note in
the text, the valves were used to play lower notes, where they worked
better, while the keys were used to play higher notes, where they worked
better. This system was not widely accepted.

They then talk briefly about the move, after the US Civil war, from the
"single colored sound" of the brass band, which by then mostly consisted
of Saxhorns and Cornets, to the multi-colored sound of modern brass
instruments and woodwinds, all with some persussion added.

There was a lot of variation in names and shapes of instruments, by the
way. They can be classed by the shape of tube, the direction that the
bell points, or range.

There are some brief discussions about the disadvantages of the period
instruments as well. It is clear to me, from the descriptions, that there
are lots of advantages to modern instruments.

In any case, the book is especially good or someone like me who wants an
introduction to the field, and who is fascinated by period pictures and
the like. And the photographs are good enough that you can draw your own
conclusions about the instruments if you do not agree with the authors.

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