Klarinet Archive - Posting 000114.txt from 2004/11

From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?ferengiz=E2de_dani=EAl_shawqy?= <rab@-----.de>
Subj: Re: [kl] Playing scales three octaves up
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2004 05:55:11 -0500

I am afraid a lot of confusion has arosen because of the pitch nomenclature.
Could we agree on the international (Helmholtz-) notation: the lowest
clarinet E is: e, the throat is e', the first after the break (in the lower
clarino) is e'', the first in the altissimo is e''' and the highest would be
e''''. Key A (440 hz) is fingered on a Bb instrument: b'.
Following this: does anybody out there maintain, a 14 year old should be
required to play above g''' (the highest Brahms goes in the quintet)?
I know perfectly well that it's possible to play all the notes up at least
d'''', you could probably train a chimp to play them in 4 weeks, on many
instruments (especially with French layout) they do in fact come out
frequently at times when the player would have rather played a lower pitch.
Yet they sound awful and making them sound good is a very tiresome process
(even with a Viennese outfit). With my disciples I use to push them up very
gradually as in bel canto singing, a half step at a time, secure it, make it
smooth and mellow, then slowly proceed another half step. I don't see a
point in rushing, especially as the clarinet offers a lot other time
consuming problems and difficulties that are far more essential. Unless, as
I said, you'd have to play Spohr (a 14 year old couldn't play "Le chute
d'icare" or Xenakis anyhow) there is not really much use for those notes
above g'''.
Best wishes,
danyel

----- Original Message -----
From: Lacy, Edwin
To: klarinet@-----.org
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 5:42 PM
Subject: RE: [kl] Playing scales three octaves up

<<<After four years of playing, a student should have the capacity to
play all the way to a high C. With enough practice and experimentation
with reeds, the sound should free up and become less shrill.>>>

By "high C," do you mean the second C above the treble clef? If so, I
have to respond to this one. In part this depends on what is meant by
"four years of playing." If you mean four years of private lessons
under a highly-qualified teacher, then this might be reasonable
expectation for players of above average ability, and perhaps some of
average ability also. But, if you are referring to the far more common
experience of most students, meaning four years in the school band, with
no private lessons, and more than half their time spent in the marching
band, then it essentially never happens.

Ed Lacy
University of Evansville

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