Klarinet Archive - Posting 000239.txt from 2004/01
From: "Shaw, Kenneth R." <krshaw@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Why There Are Clarinets in A, B-flat
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 17:38:09 -0500
Dan Leeson says: Every clarinetist on this list should, if asked, be
able to give a lucid explanation about why there are clarinets in A,
B-flat, and how this phenomenon came about.
Here's my 25 cents.
There seem to be two possibilities: technique and tone.
TECHNIQUE
Unlike other woodwinds, the clarinet overblows at the twelfth and thus
requires several keys to bridge the gap. While there were three-keyed
clarinets, they required the clumsy lipping down of notes in order to be
=66ully chromatic. The Mozart-era clarinet had five keys, and even then
the thumb key did triple duty, alone for the throat Ab, together with
the A key for throat Bb, and as the register key. Even with five keys,
many notes had to be cross-fingered, with contrary finger motion needed
in almost all key signatures.
Thus, as Dan has reminded us, the key signatures Mozart and his
contemporaries used for clarinet were very limited, for the physical
reason that cross-fingerings were difficult to do quickly, and the
acoustic reason that cross-fingered notes were often dull sounding
(though, at least for the natural horn, the equivalent stopped notes
were used for musical effect). I hope I'm not carrying Dan's ideas too
=66ar if I say that the key restrictions in Mozart's time eventually
acquired a quasi-religious force of their own, remaining even after
additional key mechanism was added to the clarinet.
Thus, if a composer wanted to write in the key of, say, D major (which
is congenial to string players), and also use clarinets, the Bb clarinet
could not be used, for the physical and religious reasons that playing
in the key of E was difficult and non-kosher. The A clarinet, however,
could easily play in F, and that's what composers wrote for.
TONE
Modern clarinets in Bb and A have slightly but noticeably different tone
and playing qualities. Without using The Forbidden B****t and D**k
Words, for me, and I think for most people, the Bb usually has more high
=66requencies in its tone and quicker response than the A.
While there can be argument about how much difference in tone there is
between the Bb and the A clarinet, there can be no denying a large
difference between, say, the Bb and the Eb clarinet. At least with my
instruments, there is a dramatic difference between my Bb and my C
clarinets (both Buffets). Certainly composers took advantage of these
differences, or at least took them into account when they wrote for
different pitch clarinets.
Dan has said that these differences were expected, and thus each
clarinet part should always be played on the instrument it was written
=66or. I only half agree, and at least some eminent players (e.g.,
Augustin Duques in the NBC Symphony) have written that they routinely
transposed parts where technical ease required it.
=46LUTISTS, OBOISTS AND BASSOONISTS PLAY EVERYTHING ON INSTRUMENTS IN C.
WHY NOT CLARINETISTS=3F
This is more or less guesswork, but at least for me, the tone of the C
clarinet does not match or blend with the other woodwinds as well as the
tone of the Bb or A clarinet.
WHY NOT PRETEND THE Bb CLARINET IS IN C AND TEACH BEGINNERS TO PLAY WITH
DIFFERENT FINGERINGS=3F
Again, this is a guess, but the clarinet came late into the orchestra,
and at least at the beginning, or for many orchestras, was a doubler's
instrument, played by a flutist, oboist or bassoonist, who switched
instruments for a composition or a movement. The new embouchure was
enough of a hazard without having to learn new fingerings, too.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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