The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2005-02-08 22:06
I have the A clarinet that I've been trying to get since August!
The cheque that I gave for it cleared recently (and noone bothered to tell me, I only found out because I went to the music store to buy some music and the sales assistant asked how my clarinet was going, and when I told him that I didn't have it, he found out that the cheque had cleared, and I could take the clarinet.)
I am really, really, pleased with it. As I mentioned in my post where I was trying A clarinets out, the intonation and response are both good, and the sound is incredibly even over the different registers.
I have a few complaints, though...
1. It hasn't fixed my tendency to bite
2. It hasn't improved my technique
3. It hasn't improved my hand position (That is actually the clarinet's fault, the thumbrest is too high)
4. It hasn't fixed my tonguing
5. In fact, it hasn't fixed any of the problems in my playing! Is it only the Buffet R-13 that turns you into the perfect player?
:)
I need some music for it. What music is written for the A clarinet? (I know the more obvious ones like the Mozart and Nielsen concertos, Mozart quintet, Brahms Trio and Quintet, Stravinsky 3 pieces, Schumann Fantasy Pieces etc)
Post Edited (2005-02-08 22:12)
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Author: LeWhite
Date: 2005-02-08 22:11
Is it only the Buffet R-13 that turns you into the perfect player?
Absoloutely NOT.
__________________
Don't hate me because I play Leblanc! Buffet
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2005-02-08 22:13
Hello, LeWhite. I suppose you're going to tell me that it is Leblanc clarinets that do that?
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2005-02-08 22:53
EEBaum wrote:
> With your fussing about brands, what brand did you buy?
>
Yamaha.
And it isn't fussing. I was joking.
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2005-02-08 23:29
You were joking? I was going to say that I always tell my students to take their pro instruments back for an immediate refund if they do not immediately play like a pro in at least 3 of the 4 areas you mentioned in your original post
One possibility for music if you like symphonies is to look at the Orchestral Musician's CD ROM series, since there is plenty of A clarinet material there. I believe there are about 4 volumes available now, so you could look for a favorite composer to start with.
I also use my A to play Irish tunes with my husband, because they tend to fall in much better keys on the A clarinet.
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Author: Tom A
Date: 2005-02-08 23:54
Someone beginning with "H" wrote a sonata for A clari, anyway, but I don't have time to search now. Honegger? Horowitz?
Stanford's Concerto also.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-02-09 00:21
Or have some REAL fun and use the A clarinet for Bb clarinet parts, doing the transposing as you go. It'll sound right, but the fingerings will be all wacky.
Alexi - Who doesn't transpose, but revels in the ability to come to an online forum and poke at others to try it.
US Army Japan Band
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Author: dummer musiker
Date: 2005-02-09 01:35
The Sutermeister Capriccio!!!! Its an awesome piece for A clarinet!!! I just performed it again on Monday! Always seems to go over well too....:-)
(I bought a Yamaha A clarinet last year...mine plays beautifully...)
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."
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Author: LeWhite
Date: 2005-02-09 02:25
No Rachel, only practice and experience.
__________________
Don't hate me because I play Leblanc! Buffet
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2005-02-09 03:34
Um...LOT'S OF GOOD STUFF FOR A CLARINET!!
Sonata from a composer beginning with H...
Franz Hoffmeister...not my favorite piece, but still a nice older piece. It's published by Musica Rara.
Of course the Sutermeister is beautiful! Also a staple for A clarinet.
Monologue for An Actor by Shulamit Ran is also for A Clarinet and it is a BEAR. Good luck with that if you decide to try THAT one!
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2005-02-10 23:48
>>No Rachel, only practice and experience.
That can't be right! I'm almost positive that it is all to do with your equipment.
Then again, I'm almost positive that the Earth is flat, that education has overheated my brain, and that I can teach my cat to be hardworking.
GBK- Thank you. I hadn't thought of using the database.
William the Conquerer- The Honegger is for the A clarinet.
I am spending half my practice time trying to convince myself that I am NOT horribly flat, and that it is MEANT to be a semitone lower than the B flat. (Then, when I switch back, I am too sharp and too bright.) When does this stop?
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Author: LeWhite
Date: 2005-02-11 00:07
A couple of weeks for me - and once the instrument is 'blown in' (if you believe in that), then it will be much better.
__________________
Don't hate me because I play Leblanc! Buffet
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2005-02-11 08:22
Yes, if you build a bomb, put your clarinet in a room, and bomb the room, then yes, the clarinet was 'blown in' the room...
Rachel, do you have perfect pitch? For me the small difference in pitch between the A and Bb clarinets is not noticable.
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Author: LeWhite
Date: 2005-02-11 12:19
Whereabouts are you anyway Rachel? I'm in Melbourne.
__________________
Don't hate me because I play Leblanc! Buffet
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2005-02-11 22:16
clarnibass- Yes, I do have perfect pitch. Usually it is very useful, but in cases like this it can be a bit of a nuisance.
LeWhite- I'm in Brisbane.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2005-02-12 08:40
Isn't transposition instrumnets like clarinet are always a bit of a nuisance for people with perfect pitch? I mean, you hear C but need to think D.
One of my teachers said that when he was young, he came to a concert and the piano was almost a half step flat. He could barely play.
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2005-02-13 02:22
Well, the clarinet was the first instrument I started on, so because I learned that. for example, C was C, that is the note I hear it as. My sense of pitch does adjust itself (mostly) to whatever instrument I'm playing. Perfect pitch (in my case, anyway) recognises the notes by tone colour as much as by pitch.
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Author: LeWhite
Date: 2005-02-13 04:43
So you have timbral pitch? I have that too. Apparently perfect pitch can be very annoying.
__________________
Don't hate me because I play Leblanc! Buffet
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2005-02-14 00:08
Well, I work it out by both timbre and pitch, so I suppose I have both.
Perfect pitch is only annoying when people play quite badly out of tune. You learn to adjust to small differences in intonation and overall pitch. Otherwise I would throw my radio out the window for being sharp.
Do you have any information on timbral pitch? I just did a search on Google and it didn't come up with anything.
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