Klarinet Archive - Posting 000213.txt from 2004/01

From: Nick Shackleton <njs5@-----.ac.uk>
Subj: [kl] American move to the Boehm system
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 06:17:35 -0500

Dan wrote:
>Interesting answers but lots of holes. Is there any evidence that one
>system or the other has superior intonation? Is either significantly
>more or less expensive to manufacture? Were mouthpiece consideratons
>involved in the technological change? Were there any other
>manufacturing considerations? Is it cheaper/better/easier to add keys to
>one clarinet system as contrasted with another.
>In other words: what on earth caused this extraordinary shift?
>In what way are Albert systems not truly chromatic? That is a statement
>begging to be better explained. Also I would argue that the need for A
>clarinets is well fixed and unrelated to a need for chromatic playing.
>C'mon people! We need some heavy thinking and serious contributions
>here, or are we going to spend the rest of our lives asking about which
>mouthpiece or which reed gives us the darker sound?
Clarinets made by Albert before 1900 were regarded as having better
intonation than Boehm system instruments of that time. I dont see any
reason why that would not still be the case if the two systems were in
competition in the US.
Boehm system instruments were always more expensive because they are more
complicated.
Mouthpieces are not (in my opinion) an issue here.
Albert systems are fully chromatic but I think most people who have
experience with both, agree that in technically difficult passages the
Boehm is frequently easier.
There is (especially in Italy) more tradition of playing everything on a
B-flat among Boehm players than among Albert players and Boehm instruments
with a low Eflat are much commoner than Albert's. But I don't thing this
has any relevance to Dan's question since one-instrument players were
always a small minority.
I do not think that manufacturers had a big influence since Buffet and
Selmer both provided both systems for the US market and indeed I believe
that Buffet made advanced versions of Albert system (with more rings)
specifically for the US market. On the other hand the very fact that the
"top of the range" instruments were Boehm must have influenced those buyers
who felt they could afford the best.
I believe that the answer is down to individuals, and particularly to those
individual high-profile players who were brought to the US from Europe by
conductors of the leading orchestra's. These were the people whose example
and teaching brought about the change. So a survey of the hirings among the
top orchestra's would probably give the answer.
It would be an interesting project, if anybody archives eBay clarinet
sales, to survey the proportions of each type according to maker and date;
this would give an indication of how fast the change was, overall.
Nick

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