Klarinet Archive - Posting 000281.txt from 2003/04

From: CBA <clarinet10001@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Piccolo +Eb
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 00:33:38 -0400

In the same manner that different Bb clarinets have different
intonations, etc, an Eb clarinet has problems that are
AMPLIFIED, making a traditional Selmer with flat throat tones
really clash with a traditional Buffet with sharp throat tones.
Just an example, of course.

Piccolos are ever MORE different than just makes and models as
in Eb clarinets. Some piccolos are metal and cylindrical, like a
flute, with a lipplate. Some piccolos are plastic or wood with a
CONICAL bore WITHOUT a lipplate (with a bare blow hole for sound
to be created in a somewhat different manner...YIPES! VERY
different intonation in EVERY register between the two types.

Considering the difficulties flutes and clarinets playing in
unison (in particular, over other pairings like flutes and oboes
or clarinets and oboes) adding MORE variables to instruments
with volatile intonation is a sure fire way to kill an
audience...and NOT with the beauty of the sound, if you know
what I mean.

Think of an old Ford or GM car with the steering like a bus...3
turns of the steering wheel all the way around just to turn a
corner. All cars feel different. Now take a newer, and possibly
much smaller car with a rack & pinion steering system like we
are used to today. If you turned the steering wheel even 1 time
all the way around, you are going in the opposite direction or
missed the curb altogether and are now in a ditch. The rack and
pinion steering is very sensitive to minute changes in your
driving. Every intonation problem on Bb clarinet and flute is
handled by MUCH smaller voicing and airstream changes on Eb
clarinet and piccolo.

Let's see...another example would be singers. A really good
baritone can extend head voice above a tenor's range, as most
tenors lose falsetto when their head voice matures (falsetto and
head voice are VERY different in sound and resonance.) Most
counter tenors are really baritones, who have an amazing control
of their falsetto in order to create the notes up there and sing
with agility. A tenor up that high would have too much power and
weight for the agility factor (like a Bb clarinet) to sing full
voice, so something, either technique or color, would have to be
compromised to sing the part that the baritone can pop out and
move around with ease, since it is all resonating in the top of
his head (falsetto,) and doesn't have to resonate through his
lower mouth and neck (head voice) or chest (full voice.)
Different sound. If the composer wanted a true tenor, he would
have written it a 3rd lower and asked for a real tenor.

Ever hear two coloratura sopranos singing in unison? If you did,
I bet it would be the LAST thing you heard...LOL!

Hope this helps.

Kelly Abraham
Woodwinds - New York City
--- "B. Rite" <b1rite@-----.net> wrote:
> Seriously, I don't see how piccolo + Eb would be much
> different than
> (say) 2 Bb clarinets, which has been done many times. If you
> don't
> like high pitched instruments, then it wouldn't work for even
> one
> instrument, of course, much less two or three or four (EEFER
> CHOIR
> !?!?!?) of them; but combining two different high-pitched
> instruments
> could increase the variety of sound character a bit, which
> would help as
> the pitch approaches the top of our hearing and perceived
> variety
> diminishes.
>
> I wonder if Sean Osborn is listening ??? <heh! heh!>
>
> If you want to hear some stunning piccolo concerti, easy on
> the ears - I
> promise you - (and one flute concerto), I recommend:
>
> "Les Concertos Pour Flute-Piccolo", Vivaldi, Calliope CAL
> 6630, which is
> available from B&N online among other places. I mistakenly
> posted that
> Rampal is the soloist, but when I looked more closely, he's
> the
> conductor. The piccolist (?) is someone named Jean-Louis
> Beaumadier.
> This CD also has "7 Fantasies" for piccolo by Telemann.
>
> Cheers,
> Bill
>
>
>
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