 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Won Kim
Date: 2001-10-23 03:23
What is the highest note that can be played by Bb clarinet? I have a fingering chart by Gustave Langenus, and I use it for some really high notes. After I practiced it, I could play c major scale in 3 octaves. The highest note that I can hit with proper fingering is high Db( 4th one). I'm still wondering that what is the note..can anyone tell that? Thank you
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Sara
Date: 2001-10-23 03:46
The highest note on a B flat pitch clarinet is a high C, the one above the one two lines above the staff. Thats what I've been taught, but hey there might be a Db.
Sara
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2001-10-23 05:36
Tom Ridenour's book actually shows fingerings on up to E. In theory it's probably possible to keep right on going up from there but ... what's the point? (or are you hoping to carve yourself a niche along with Kenny G's successor in the Guiness book of world records?) ;^)
Best regards,
jnk
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ron b
Date: 2001-10-23 06:14
I've mentioned before that I once knew a guy who could play piccolo parts on his Bb clarinet during practice time (U.S. Air Force). It was a kick listening to him do it. Okay. So what? He didn't win any awards for his effort, he just had nothing better to do at the time. No, I take that back... he also drank lots of whiskey when he wasn't playing :
- ron b -
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Allen Cole
Date: 2001-10-23 06:20
I believe that Benny Goodman hit a high E-flat in the Carnegie Hall performance of Sing, Sing, Sing. On my R-13 it comes from the same fingering as the 4th C, though it doesn't sound terribly pleasant.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: graham
Date: 2001-10-23 10:00
BG does float up to the E flat, but makes it sound like an after thought, or even a happy mistake. I think he approaches it from a C, which means it is likely he did not change the fingering, but that it flipped up a harmonic. He covers the 'mistake' beautifuly by repeating the e flat in lower registers, to make a feature out of it.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Dee
Date: 2001-10-23 15:56
In theory there is no upper limit as you could go on triggering partials ad infinitum. In practice however it is an entirely different story.
Klose recommends considering the G four ledger lines above the staff as the practical limit as he felt notes above that shrill and unpleasant. This will allow an amateur clarinettist to play the vast majority of parts written for the clarinet that he or she is apt to run across although I've seen a couple of pieces crop up in amateur bands that do require the A above it (including at least one Sousa march I think). Professional orchestral players need to have the ability to go to the C just above the 5th ledger line as this does occur in a some orchestral works.
Let's not encourage composers to think that the clarinet is suitable for ultra high notes. The beauty of the instrument really lies in its chalumeau and clarion ranges with a bit of altissimo for "spice."
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Kyle
Date: 2001-10-23 21:16
I can hit the super high G (clarinet G), it's the second G above the staff.
~Kyle~
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ron b
Date: 2001-10-23 22:00
In my opinion, I can't imagine why anything higher than a high G is pleasant to listen to (maybe composers throw 'em in to keep the audience awake 8|
As Dee says, a little 'spice' goes a long way. It's nice to be able to season your playing that way but I wouldn't waste a lot of time floating around up there. It makes your listeners restless :|
- ron b -
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Dale Rodgers
Date: 2001-10-23 22:31
In "The Woodwinds" 2nd ed-Timm, pub. Allyn & Bacon, the fingering chart goes up to the 2nd C#/Db above the staff. Are these notes practical to play? No. So what's the use of these notes? In my opinion, if you can play these notes, in tune, it shows what control you have over the instrument. In theory, you should be able to play the rest of the instrument with ease. Just an opinion.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Micaela
Date: 2001-10-24 00:00
In short, it's too high. Higher than you want to hear in ordinary circumstances.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Suzanne
Date: 2001-10-24 00:06
I practice those super-high notes in scale patterns, just because it makes the "lower" altissimo seem so much easier.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Won Kim
Date: 2001-10-24 00:48
Thanks all for your comments..
I'm curious about one more thing.. I hear that there is a clarinet called Ab piccolo clarinet. Yet, I've never seen it. I think it will go really really high.. I also think that there is no point to play that high. I'm only curious...
p.s. trying to beat a piccolo player in my school..--;
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Amy
Date: 2001-10-24 02:09
i heard a high c...some people in the band in my school can hit it, and it's not ever very pretty
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ron b
Date: 2001-10-24 04:40
Won Kim -
You may be able to beat a piccolo player with a switch but it takes a LOT of high note practice to do it with a Bb clarinet :o)))
- ron b -
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Carmen Izzo
Date: 2001-10-25 03:37
theres a picture of the Ab at http://hem.passagen.se/eriahl/clarinet.htm
Why do we want to go higher? If you ask me, the altissimo register is only pleasant in Coplands Clarinet Concerto! Fun Stuff! Now thats spice!!!!
~Carmen
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Anna
Date: 2001-10-25 08:14
why not just play Eb?! The Ab clarinet is really too small to play unless you have tiny hands - I don't have big hands and sometimes I find even the Eb can be a bit squashed - there are just too many keys in too small a space! But on the original question; I've never had anything higher than a high Bb in an orchestral work (for Bb clarinet, that is!).
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ed
Date: 2001-10-25 17:08
I have some fingerings that can get up to the eb and e above double c. I can get them as long as the reed doesn't give out, but all the neighborhood dogs go running! ;-)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Pegel
Date: 2001-10-27 16:42
I saw one girl hit the G above that unpleasant C. That was it; I "saw". I could just barely hear anything because it was so soft and high , but I knew it was a G!
I can squeak out the E directly below that, but the way it sounds makes me sound like I was playing chalemeau and got hit in the balls suddenly.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tom H
Date: 2021-12-10 09:49
I can reach the high Eb on my Selmer student model ("plastic") clarinet if I have my Legere reed on perfectly even with the mouthpiece top.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: hans
Date: 2021-12-10 11:08
It's probably not as high as the tenor sax (played by Sam Donahue, I believe) reaches at the end of Kenton's Body and Soul recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiyjbPn8oiw
Hans
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2021-12-10 14:07
I can get up to the high C (a bit flat). It feels a bit like playing at the very top of the violin and when I do it.
I can feel the violin-playing bit of my brain taking over from the clarinet-playing bit, when it happens, and then I want to start playing jigs.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Lagace
Date: 2021-12-10 18:12
There are no theoretical 'highest' note limits. We are just finding fingerings that allow different high overtones to play. The limits are in the reed tip and the tip of the mouthpiece facing where these 'squeaks' are trying to vibrate.
The highest clarinet here is the Ab baby clarinet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjERmUZUY78
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2021-12-10 19:24
Zx (zed double sharp) is the highest note.
There is a recent video of Julian Bliss where he hits a C8 which is the same as the highest Bb on a piano or 3rd 8ve Bb on piccolo.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2021-12-10 19:29)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ebonite
Date: 2021-12-10 22:51
If you put your teeth on the reed, the sky's the limit!
(though the experience might not be very enjoyable for the people around you)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: seabreeze
Date: 2021-12-10 23:09
The player determines the highest note. If the player is Mate Bekavac, for instance, the highest note would be at least C8, a full octave above the usual limit on fingering charts of C7.
Here's a sample of what Bekavac can do: (Top hit on page)
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Bizet+Sarasate+Bekavac+Carmeen.
Tom Ridenour's book on altissimo fingerings goes a few notes over the usual C7; an earlier edition of the book is online as a PDF. Google search Ridenour clarinet fingering chart PDF.
Post Edited (2021-12-11 00:31)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: BethGraham
Date: 2021-12-11 00:43
You do realize that you're responding to a 20-year-old message, I hope. It's been an interesting one to read, though.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2021-12-11 00:45
I think there is a limit. For one thing, as any overtone series ascends, subsequent pitches get closer together. The series therefore tend in the real world to converge to limits.
Also, there's something going on involving what, for lack of a more learned term, I'll call "focal length." Higher pitches seem to have an external vibratory focus nearer the tip of the reed plus an internal one nearer the tip of the tongue. The ability of either reed or tongue to support tiny vibratory lengths is limited.
There's ways around those factors that I'm unclear on, but one thing seems to do with almost a multiphonic effect where a combination of pitches can result in a higher overtone than a single one. I admit I don't know what I'm talking about, but that's the feeling I get.
As for teeth on the reed, that can help reach very high pitches, but it's hard to control. The exact placement and pressure of the teeth can have more to do with what pitch comes out than any other factor, including which holes are being opened and closed on the instrument. It's also tricky to switch smoothly between lip on reed and teeth on reed or vice versa.
Decent sound through G#7 is doable with practice. It seems to get harder from there, but up to C or C#8 also seems potentially usable. Up through E8 can be done, maybe requiring teeth on reed, but ultimately those notes may not be very repeatable or usable. Going out further on my limb, I'll suggest that F8 is the limit.
Incidentally (and off-topic,) the singer Dimash Kudaibergen has a performance range between C2 and D8.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: SecondTry
Date: 2021-12-11 01:38
"The notes I play on my clarinet are so high....."
"How high are they?"
I don't even know I'm hitting them unless I play with an oscilloscope by my side.
(Cymbal crash)
Post Edited (2021-12-11 01:39)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Burt
Date: 2021-12-11 07:54
In high school, I figured out by trial and error the fingerings up to written Eb7 on bass clarinet. With slight modification, they worked on Bb clarinet. Now I use Legere reeds, and C7 is my limit. The highest note I have seen in a published composition is C7 in the Artie Shaw concerto.
I think the theoretical limit is where the quarter wavelength is approximately equal to the bore diameter, somewhere near C8.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tom H
Date: 2021-12-11 08:05
I've played the Artie Shaw a dozen times and at times can gliss. from the G to the C. Still searching for a foolproof way to do that EVERY time.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tom H
Date: 2022-04-07 06:06
I've recently begun to convince myself that I've got a "little bit" if you will of high E. Eb is now easier. Then when I go to my R13 and wooden reed I have trouble with that. Going up the scales, first slurred then tongued has been my method. I do think there are two aspects-- your equipment and just plain figuring it out (with fingerings, embouchure, etc.) with lots of practice. Why am I working on such a thing? Something to do in retirement other than write on clarinet forums and watch TV.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jarmo Hyvakko
Date: 2022-04-09 10:44
There is a story about a horn player, who went to warming up room in an audition, played one extremely high note and went to cafeteria. Everyone started to try to get that note. The hornist came back from the cafeteria and won the audition.
Jarmo Hyvakko, Principal Clarinet, Tampere Philharmonic, Finland
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
