Klarinet Archive - Posting 000069.txt from 2004/02

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.oxford.ac.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Clarinets in A and C?
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 06:35:26 -0500

Most clarinettists having only a B flat instrument will learn to transpose
parts for A and for C clarinets before they get to acquire such instruments.
Personally, I preferred transposing an A part - if not too difficult - to
playing a part written for a B flat instrument with a large number of sharps.
It seems psychologically easier. Professional players may feel otherwise - I
don't know. In the U.K., at least, C clarinets seem to be pretty rare
overall, even though affordable instruments are readily available.
Roger S.

In message <BC4A03C8.2FE01%bearwoodson@-----.net> klarinet@-----.org writes:
> Hello, Klarinet List.
>
> I'm still weeks behind on reading, storing and
> answering E-Mails to people on several Instrument
> Lists. Only tonight did I finish storing the January
> 2004 E-Mails, and haven't read any of this month's
> Klarinet Digests. Therefore I don't know if anyone
> has already explained this, but I have a few
> questions.
>
> How common are Clarinets in A and C? I would
> guess that Bb Clarinets are the most common, for
> young students playing Tonal band music, and all
> of my former orchestral, chamber and Solo Clarinet
> Works have been for the Bb Clarinet. Lately I've
> written a new work for Double Reeds, that I'm
> transcribing to Clarinets.
>
> "Trio No. 1 for Oboe, English Horn and
> Bassoon" (Dec. 2003, 5 mvts., 19 min.) also
> called my "Double Reed Trio No. 1".
>
> I am transcribing it to these other woodwinds:
> Oboe:
> to Flute, or Clarinet No. 1 (in Bb, A and C);
> English Horn in F:
> to Clarinet No. 2 (in Bb, A and C);
> and Bassoon:
> to Bb Bass Clarinet.
>
> The problem is that after I completed the Bb
> Clarinet Transcription a few days ago, I noticed
> that the 2 Soprano Clarinets have many passages
> that use a lot of Sharps. I'm only about half-way
> through transcribing the 2 Soprano Clarinets to A,
> but they are already using a LOT less chromatics,
> and more of those are in Flats. BUT since the
> Original Oboe Part does go up to the High D and
> E a few times, these do become High F's and G's
> on the First Clarinet in A. (Ouch!?!)
>
> I'm guessing that Orchestral Clarinetists own
> Clarinets in C and A. (I can think of a Mozart
> Piano Concerto and the Beethoven 7th Symphony
> in A, as well as the beloved Schubert Great Sym-
> phony and the Prokofieff 3rd Piano Concerto, both
> specifying Clarinets in C.) I've never owned, nor
> been a player of, any woodwind instrument, and am
> never around them. Unlike Woodwind-Performer
> Composers, I can not hear the difference between
> the brightness of the Bb, A or C Clarinets.
>
> Since Bass Clarinets are only available in Bb, I
> guess they'll just have to deal with some passages in
> Sharps. But I hope that by transcribing these Part
> Books to Clarinets in Bb, A and C, I can allow each
> player to decide which version is more comfortable
> for the individual player. Does this seem practical?
>
>
> Bear Woodson
> Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA
>
> "Bear Woodson" <bearwoodson@-----.net>
> http://www.fluteconnection.net/
> Then click on "Contemporary Composers",
> then click on "Bear Woodson".
> http://catalog.lib.asu.edu/search/a?SEARCH=McGale
>
>
>
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>

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A scholar is just a library's way of making another library.
-- Daniel Dennett ("Consciousness explained")

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