 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Alex K.
Date: 2015-01-03 19:47
Hey guys, me again. What is the highest note you can play on a standard Bb clarinet?
(By the way, I am a newcomer to the bboard, and would greatly appreciate it if you gave me feedback.)
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2015-01-03 20:49
Hi Alex:
I'm going to answer this question as if you substituted the word "one" for "you" in "highest note you can play."
Not to be pedantic, but I think/hope you meant this question in the "third person." I can play higher than some, and some can play higher than me. Still more, the question becomes one of the highest note I can reliably reach, versus the highest I've been able to go, etc.
If you meant it literally, and I don't think you did, a person's range on the instrument, examined alone is not a testament to their artistry, and I suspect you appreciate that.
Before I answer--as talk is cheap--check out Mate Bekavac on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrS-CanzAtU
At some points he plays so high that you'd think you were listening to a violin. He is a brilliant artist period. His range adds to this artistry, and does not define it.
Okay, back to reality.
Another useful link:
http://www.wfg.woodwind.org/clarinet/
This is a clarinet fingering chart I like, certainly not the only good one, in part because it covers the entire range of the clarinet, offering alternate fingers and commentary on what others have reported about certain fingers where appropriate.
If you click on the link to "Upper Altissimo" in the second box from the top, you can see that the clarinet can go at least an octave above the treble clef "C" just above the staff, or what is sometimes referred to in clarinet circles as double high C. As a general rule, orchestral clarinets face literature that can bring them to double high C#, although I am sure fellow board members will be able to cite works that take the clarinet higher, like Bekavac's arrangement.
Please do not assume, that with these fingerings in hand, that you are all but your next clarinet session away from "spooking the dog" with such stratospheric play. Reaching some of these high notes takes refinement of the embouchure that comes with years of play.
At some points, Bekavac is essentially controlled squeaking the instrument (see 3:23 in). Put another way, the sound you produce when hitting a note is made up of many notes, or harmonics. These harmonics are what make the same note on, say, a flute, sound different than those on a clarinet. Mr. Bekavac is actually causing predictable squeaking in the instrument here by temporarily changing his embouchure. As a good rule, I'll say, arbitrarily up to double high "D," (much lower than Bakavac at 3:23) the embouchure should actually require little adjustment to play such notes, as you will observe in Bekavac's play as well.
Let me give you a point of departure for experimentation. Before I do, let me share some good advice others have said here.
Some are of the belief that you should grab as much mouthpiece as possible, just before the point that if you grabbed more, notes would squeak, and that's where you should play all notes at. Such full utilization of the mouthpiece is often a good starting point for [reliably] hitting high notes, but it depends upon you, the reed, and the mouthpiece, to name a few factors, to produce such high notes.
I hope this helps. It is particular to the Bb and A clarinets. Obviously a smaller Eb clarinet can take you higher, but it comes with its own specific fingers, that like with the Bb and A clarinets, seem to grow exponentially in alternatives the higher the notes become.
Good luck.
P.S. Not to imply that questions are bad, or that people aren't on the board happy to help, but for your own sake, you may want to familiarize yourself Alex with the bboards search feature. You may not get the precise answer you need, but unlike us, the answers come [darn near] immediately.
Post Edited (2015-01-03 21:22)
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Author: Alex K.
Date: 2015-01-03 22:29
Thanks, Dave! You really helped me alot, and its true that the bboard has good people on it.
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2015-01-03 23:39
"WhitePlainsDave
Before I answer--as talk is cheap--check out Mate Bekavac on Youtube."
What is the highest note is he playing?
At 1:44 in the SECOND half video he takes something out of his pocket and places it on the reed, Beeswax??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FL8PGUfHQs
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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Author: maxopf
Date: 2015-01-04 00:27
I can pretty reliably hit D or maybe Eb above double high C. I have played higher notes, but not reliably.
I can't imagine you'd ever need to be able to play much past double high C, unless you're transcribing a high violin solo note-for-note or something (which I believe Mate Bekavac is doing in that video.)
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2015-01-04 01:19
derf5585:
Assuming 3:23 is the highest note in the two videos of the full piece, I had no idea what the answer to your question was until I stuck my phone's tuning app against the speaker.
That's "clocking in" at Mate's G7, and I don't mean the economic council of similar name. I guess that's "concert" F7.
What Mate does in the second video at 1:44 has been the source of disagreement and humor in this board's past discourse on the subject matter.
Beeswax is as good a guess as any.
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2015-01-04 01:30
Chanté Moore F7 Highest Note Live
from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHfNdSV7LEg
Using middle C (C4) as a guide, the next higher C is C5 or tenor C. The next C is C6 or soprano high C. The next C, C7 or double high C, is again one octave higher. C7 is eight steps away from the last note on the 88-key piano: C8. C7 is also the highest note on most other keyboard instruments. The seventh octave is the range of notes between C7 and C8. It is easier for very high coloratura sopranos to sing in this octave, but some people who are capable of singing in the bass range (like singer Adam Lopez or Nicola Sedda) can do it. While notes in the sixth octave, between soprano high C and C7, can have enough color to sound flutey or canary-like, the squeaky, whistly tones in the seventh octave help give the whistle register its name, as do the piercing qualities of notes in this octave.
fsbsde@yahoo.com
Post Edited (2015-01-04 01:33)
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2015-01-04 13:39
"There are a couple of nice A7's in Alexey Gorokholinsky's youtube performance of Paganini's Caprice No. 5, as well as other pyrotechnics:"
A couple of higher notes a clarinet can play the piccolo part in Stars and Stripes.
Concert A I believe.
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2015-01-04 19:40
Nellsonic:
That virtuosic performance by Gorokholinsky has left me in shock.
I am attempting to pick my chin up off the floor.
Its not just the notes he's reached, but his articulation. Please tell me (assuming you know) that's not done with single tonguing.
And unless he's hooked up to a heart/lung machine that breathes for him, I have to assume he is circular breathing on top of having the lungs of one of those competitive deep sea divers who does their magic sans gear.
What is an eight "8" above the staff with a line afterwards? Is it a "play all these following notes 8va, or an octave higher than written?"
Wow!
P.S. this was the first piece of music ever put in front of me. I sight read it to perfection at twice Gorokholinsky's speed. And if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn!
Post Edited (2015-01-04 19:49)
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Author: rmk54
Date: 2015-01-04 20:24
derf 5585 wrote:
A couple of higher notes a clarinet can play the piccolo part in Stars and Stripes.
Concert A I believe.
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You can hear that he is taking those A7's down an octave no? Along with several other high passages.
WPD: Yes, this means play the notes an octave higher, although he is not observing this. (Extra credit question: Why is the notation for two octaves higher 15va and not 16va?)
Also, he is obviously not circular breathing. I am able to hear him taking many breaths. He is double-tonguing, though.
Anyway, an impressive performance.
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2015-01-04 22:56
As noted already, Gorokholinsky plays the upper end of the opening/closing arpeggios an octave lower than written. Indeed a marvelous exhibition of tonguing.
Part of my daily disfocused routine for 8 years has included noodling near whatever the top of my range has gotten to. Given a good reed, I'm currently ok up to E7, meaning I can do basic scales up to there in 8ths @ 100 bpm or so. F7 and F#7 are getting fairly reliable, so I'm starting to include them in my scales. I'm able to hit G7, and expect to include that as well. In a stubborn mood I can hit G#7, together with a pitiful lot of garbage. Today I managed A7, weakly. When the moon is right, and using teeth on the reed (a tooth, actually,) I can manage C#8, which I wish to include in a cadenza I'd like to play, but so far the exact positioning of things seems too finicky for me to use it.
p.s. - I'm basically nobody, so I assume anyone could do as well or better in this area if they proceed similarly, i.e., a little work each day for as long as it takes. A knowledgeable teacher could no doubt accelerate progress, or then again, maybe they'd call a stern halt to such a use of time; I wouldn't know.
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2015-01-05 04:58
rmk54: I do hear the [conventional] breaths now, but what I think I also hear is parts where he's breathing (presumptively through his nose) while still playing: indicative of course of circular breathing.
I know the 15va "riddle." Others best ponder it.
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2015-01-05 05:49
Tongue in cheek
I think I have figured out how he played so fast. He played it on a bass clarinet then played back at double speed,.
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2015-01-06 00:22
I guess 15va is correct since in adding 8va to 8va the first octave note only counts once not twice.
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2015-01-06 00:34
The notations 16va and 16vb are sometimes mistakenly used instead
from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteenth
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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