Klarinet Archive - Posting 000082.txt from 2006/03
From: "Kevin Fay" <kevinfay3020@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] R-13 vs E-11 Eb clarinet
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 18:47:48 -0500
Lori asked:
<<<I'm looking to purchase an Eb clarinet. Any recommendations from Eb
players out there? I'm currently using a friend's Noblet which is alright.
Also, I would like to know your opinion on the Buffet R-13 vs E-11. The
price tag is pretty high on the R-13 ($3,000) vs. $1300 on the E-11. I need
the Eb for orchestral, wind ensemble, and trio work.>>>
. . . to which Forest Aten replied,
<<<I perform on Eb clarinet quite a lot. If you have the money...spend it on
the very best clarinet you can. The R13 is a great instrument. Keith's Fox
Eb is a terrific instrument but will cost you a bit more than the Buffet and
you will wait until Steve has it complete. The E-11 or Noble[t] serve
well...but are not professional level instruments.
Intonation issues are critical on the Eb. You won't resolve all of the
problems with the professional level instrument....but the intonation
problems becomes manageable...not a constant nightmare. I know so many
people that have purchased student line instruments with the intent to
perform at a professional/semi-professional level (and save a buck)...with
the instruments now hiding in the back of some closet because they were
simply not usable at that performance level.>>>
First, I'll "me too" what Forest says - he plays Eb for a living, and
obviously has spent some time taming the little beastie.
Since you say that the Noblet is "alright" I have to assume that you're not
playing Eb in a professional capacity - and I'll bet probably not yet in
college. I've nothing against Noblet in general as a brand (my C is a
Noblet, and it does an OK job above middle C). I've never played a Noblet
Eb that I didn't think was quite substandard, and consistently so; the bore
design is just not very good.
Will the E11 work as well for you as an R13 (or other "professional"
instrument)? It depends how good you want to sound when you've finished
developing your playing. If you can't tell a meaningful qualitative
difference between the two models, then by all means save the money and buy
the cheap one. Just be aware -- by "cheaping out" you will be limiting how
good you *could* sound with teaching, experience, and practice, practice,
practice.
Eepher is *hard.* You have to listen twice as hard to sound half as good;
the margins of error are much smaller. While some folks can get by using
the same fingerings as the larger horns, I find the more I play Eb the less
in common my technique is with the larger siblings in the clarinet family.
The primary reason that most folks sound like dog doo on the little horn is
because they don't spend any time on it. No one would expect you to play
trumpet well just by picking it up a week before the concert -- but the
uninformed expect you to play a piccolo clarinet in tune without significant
practice? Stupid.
My point here is a simple one -- before you make any decisions on how
to spend a lot of money, you need to have enough playing time on the little
horn so that you can begin to make an intelligent decision.
There are a couple of wonderful resources for the emerging (and
accomplished) Eb player -- keyword here is "Peter Hadcock." Peter Hadcock
was the Eb player for the Boston Symphony for 25 years, and the Eastman Wind
Ensemble before that. He wrote an *excellent* excerpt book for the
Instrument, a must-have for the fingering chart alone, which has about a
special fingerings with instructions on where to use them. In
addition, he devotes a fair bit of his book "The Working Clarinetist" to the
instrument.
As far as equipment goes, I have a Buffet R13. I consider it a very fine
instrument. To get it that way, I spent a fair amount of money on a good
custom mouthpiece, a replacement barrel, a Fobes extension and had Morrie
Backun tweak a few tone holes. While others have posted success with other
brands, the vast majority of professional Eb players use this instrument --
even more so than the Bb. Mr. Hadcock's fingering chart was written for this
instrument; that alone should be a factor in your purchase decision.
With that said, however, I have head good things about the Yamaha (basically
that it is a very well-made Buffet clone, with some tweaking) and the
Patricola. As with everything else, you need to try the instruments out
critically (with a tuner and maybe a tape recorder) before purchase. As I
said before, I'd get some proficiency first so that you can begin to make an
intelligent decision.
Best of luck on the little guy.
kjf
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