 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: missclarinetist
Date: 2005-08-03 04:34
Hey guys, I'm planning to play in a pro orchestra someday in Germany. Do you know what equipment they use over there?
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Author: donald
Date: 2005-08-03 05:33
keine Boehm (if you want to play in an orchestra) it also helps if you studied with the principal clarinet of the orchestra you are applying for, or one of his friends/students
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2005-08-03 08:46
As Donald says, keine Boehm.
They use German system (usually Oehler system) clarinets, mostly made by relatively small firms such as the various Wurlitzers (not to be confused with the American Wurlitzer company), Hammerschmidt, Uebel, Schwenk & Seggelke and others.
Cheaper instruments of similar design are made by Schreiber (who also make the cheaper Buffet models) and Yamaha.
The fingering is different. More significantly, the mouthpieces, reeds and bores are different. To get the best out of these instruments, you would probably want to find a teacher who has studied in Germany.
The Germans will tell you that they insist on this type of instrument in order to preserve the unique sound of their orchestras. The real reason they do it is to keep foreigners out. (Ducks for cover.)
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If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
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Author: Firebird
Date: 2005-08-03 10:22
Make sure you can get into the pro German orchestra before you even think of that. Most German orchestras insist that you have Oehler system systems.
Chan
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2005-08-03 13:06
It sounds as though you're not familiar with the German system. Here's a link to one of the German manufacturers listed above -- they seem to have the best photos available of their stuff:
http://www.hammerschmidt-klarinetten.at
Click on the "Modelle" link for a list of their models and pictures, then you can get an idea of what you'll be up against if you're not familiar with the system. If (like me) you've only played Boehm, it looks pretty alien.
________________
Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.
- Pope John Paul II
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-08-03 18:07
"How did Alessandro Carbonare play in the Berlin Philarmonic?"
By showing up each week for rehearsals?
(Barump, bump)
While the Oehler style (and Albert style, for that matter) keywork is "alien" to the eyes of a Klose-Boehm student, there's not really all that much difference. The length of the horn and the empirical placement of the basic tone holes is very similar, and most of us only have ten fingers and toes.
(There is, I have once read, an area in Spain where local inbreeding has perpetuated a population of folks with six functional fingers on each hand. Mind you, I've never seen any physical proof of the existence of this place, but it allegedly exists. I have met, in casual business acquaintance style, a person with the extra digits (and they were of Spanish lineage, by their name), so some such people do exist. Perhaps there's a fertile field there for bassoon, oboe and clarinet players...)
Most sax players who I know who have played both Klose-Boehm and Albert horns feel that the Albert system is the easier of the two for them to master. I would imagine that they would feel the same about the German style horns.
Having said all of that, the basic "up the holes" fingerings are very close to identical. The "extension keys" (Ab and A) work in the same fashion. And, since they still have the cylindrical bores, they over-blow in the same fashion.
The "long keys" (E, F, F# and Eb) on a saxophone work in much the same fashion as do their counterparts on a Oehler or Albert horn. And, north of high C, the over-blowing varies as it does on many other Klose-Boehm clarinets.
One major league difference is in price:
To get a basic, 17 touchpiece, 6 ring Klose-Boehm horn, you can run down to the local pawnshop, shell out maybe a hundred bucks and then spend sixty on an overhaul, and there's your functional horn.
To get a basic, "normal equipment" Oehler horn is another proposition entirely. The only "available" Oehler horn with the normal bells and whistles on same is from Amati. It's at the top of their line, with silver plated keys and all, and it retails for about $900.00. You could buy one today and be attempting to play it by next week. "Student" Oehler horns are also available, and at a much smaller price tag, but then you are talking about "learner" clarinets that few self-respected "pros" would consider to be adequate equipment. Generally, the "professional" Oehler style horns are in the neighborhood of twenty two touch-pieces plus five rings and one plateau key (for right hand middle finger).
(The Yamaha horns available in Germany generally follow this pattern. They sell a lot of the "learner" horns, and they can be found second hand. They sell a few of the "pro" level horns (which would not normally be considered as "pro" material by professional German clarinetists, from what I've seen). They WILL NOT sell one to you here in the United States, or so corporate told me seven years back.)
As for what any self-respecting serious high school student would expect to buy (the equivalent of their R-13), forget about it. These come from makers like Hammerschmidt and Wirlitzer as mentioned above, and they run into many thousands of dollars. Even if money is no object, time is as the makers make them the old fashioned way, one at a time and custom produced for each purchaser. So, unless you score one of them on the second hand market, you're not likely to be playing a Hammerschmidt any time soon.
Albert horns fall in between the two. You can pick up an excellent old Buffet or Selmer brand Albert horn off of eBay for a reasonable price, and if crack and repair free it will fix up into a great example of the type.
But, the problem is sorting out the spelter from the dross. There are no (to my knowledge) "professional" quality Albert style clarinets being built these days. (Woody Allen's custom Albert from Selmer is the single example, and that cost him a pretty penny.) So, it's either something from pre-1950 (with all of the pig in a poke problems that such a purchase entails), or one of those "made in India" clarinets. A good Albert horn is hard to find, and worth keeping it if you do.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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