Klarinet Archive - Posting 000190.txt from 2004/11

From: kimi <kimi_kimy@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Clarinets
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 00:44:21 -0500

Ok: Now what you said down below makes sense to me
plus what has already been said. Thank you for making
it more simple to understand. I am only trying to
gain a little understanding on what does what and how
so that if my daughter despites to expand her horizon
I'll at least have a little bit of information that I
can explain while we are looking around. It may be a
long while before she does add another to her
repetoir. She had told me the other day she wanted to
learn to play the bass for band but a student told her
that she doubted she could becuase they already had
two and I told my daughter to go to the band director
and ask that question because only he could answer
whether or not he'd allow another bass clarinet player
for symphonic band.

Personally from my standpoint and knowing her liking
for higher pitches, I'd love to get her a Eb or an A
clarinet for her to tackle and learn. She'd probably
enjoy the challenge.

k

--- Adam Michlin <amichlin@-----.com> wrote:

> 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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