Klarinet Archive - Posting 000187.txt from 2004/11

From: Adam Michlin <amichlin@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Clarinets
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 00:02:02 -0500

At 07:01 PM 11/4/2004 -0800, kimi wrote:
>I would think that the pitch would be different on all
>of them. I suppose that would be similiar to moving
>up and down a keyboard playing the same notes just in
>a different position/pitch. Bad analogy but one I can
>understand.
>
>So i suppose my question about them is a bad one.

No, in fact, your question is a very good question.

I will not attempt to address the historical reasons behind the situation
we clarinetists find ourselves in which is best left until after one
understands the clarinets which are commonly found in school bands.

The most common clarinet is the Bb Soprano Clarinet. This instrument is so
popular that one can safely assume when the term "Clarinet" is used the
person using it is, in fact, referring to a Bb Soprano Clarinet. If this is
not the case, blame the person using the term not yourself.

The second most common is the Bb Bass Clarinet, commonly referred to as the
Bass Clarinet. The Bass Clarinet is approximately twice the length of the
Bb Soprano Clarinet and uses the same fingerings as the Bb Soprano Clarinet
(which facilitates transition from one instrument to another). Twice the
length means the same fingering produces a sounding pitch one octave lower
than the Bb Soprano Clarinet.

Now we run into a bit of a problem. Wouldn't it be nice to have something
in between our Bb Soprano Clarinet and Bb Bass Clarinet? Unfortunately, to
do so, we need a length of instrument which is less than twice the length
and therefore will play a pitch, when using the same fingering, different
than the pitches (in octaves) played by said fingering on the Bb Soprano
and Bb Bass Clarinet.

One solution would be to use different names for fingerings on this in
between instrument (which, I should add, is called an Eb Alto Clarinet - Eb
being a pitch in between our octave Bbs and Alto meaning, roughly, middle).
Now imagine you've spent the last 8 years of your life learning Bb
fingerings and suddenly you are given this funny looking Eb Alto Clarinet
and told "It has all the same keys, but you have to relearn all your note
to fingering associations, but only when you play this instrument".

Not a good day, so we cheat and change the music such that we can use the
same fingering system (we actually also cheat a bit on the Bass Clarinet so
that we can read the same clef). This does mean that an Eb Alto Clarinet
will sound a different pitch when fingering the same fingering as either Bb
instrument. Few people are bothered by this and life is good, for the most
part. Eb Alto Clarinet will sometimes abbreviated as Alto Clarinet but
almost never as Eb Clarinet (you will see why in the next paragraph).

Now, if we halve the size of an Eb Alto Clarinet we get an Eb Soprano
Clarinet, commonly referred to as the Eb Clarinet (and not to be confused
with our Eb Alto Clarinet). Same issues and solution regarding sounding
pitch, but now everything is an octave higher and, in fact, also higher
than our Bb Soprano Clarinet.

The most important thing to understand is every clarinet of every size uses
exactly the same fingerings. There are plenty more sizes of clarinets, but
I kept to the most common school band instruments to simplify things.

In terms of which one is the most enjoyable... well, that would be like
asking us to determine the most enjoyable ice cream. I would say that one
should be able to play Bb Soprano and add the other sizes after doing so
but purely for practical purposes. There is simply a *lot* more Bb Soprano
Clarinet music in this world than music for the other clarinets.

Why Eb and Bb? I have my opinions, but not enough hard data to back it up.
More of a historical interest than a practical interest, anyway.

-Adam

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