 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Josh Schultze
Date: 2002-01-29 15:09
What instrument has a higher playable range: the Bb clarinet or the flute?
I've seen fingering charts which indicate that both instruments go up to C1 (five ledger lines above staff). Since the Bb Clarinet sounds a whole step lower this would mean that C1 would sound Bb. This would place it a whole step lower the flute. When I look at symphonic scores the flutes very often play the highest line and the oboes and clarinets are below them. Is this because the flute is so sonorous that it can sound above the rest of the orchestra with clarity? Or are the clarinet notes above C2 (second ledger line) not as comfortable sounding or too shrill. Are there differences in the treatment of voices in chamber music? From chamber music I've played the melody gets shared by the flute, oboe and clarinet more equally but the flute still has lion's share (der Löwe Anteil - a new word from German Class) of leading lines.
By the way I can only play to G (fourth ledger line) but I am still striving upwards.
Thanks
Josh
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Author: Dee
Date: 2002-01-29 15:45
Klose, one of the great teachers of the clarinet, recommends keeping the clarinet at or below the G that is the 4th ledger line above the staff. It is extrememly difficult to get a good sound above that range. Very advanced and pro players can get a good sound up to and including C7 (see chart at top of page) but it is difficult.
On the other hand, the clarinet beats the flute when it comes to low notes.
In general, the clarinet a very wide range due to the fact that it acts like a cylindrical pipe closed at one end which in turn leads to register jumps based on the odd harmonics. We can play low notes that simply aren't even available on other instruments. The oboe and sax have about a 2 1/2 octave range and the flute is just over 3 (can go to 4 in really expert hands). The clarinet is 3 1/2 for players of intermediate ability and just short of four in really expert hands.
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Author: Josh
Date: 2002-01-29 18:31
as far as the top ranges go, notationally, surprisingly, they are about the same, with the clarinet actually having a tiny bit of an edge. Physically speaking, the upper limit of the flute is the F# an octave above the F# above high C (which would be the F# on the seventh ledger line above the staff). Robert Dick has written a fascinating article on what is considered the Holy Grail of the flute, the Fourth Octave G, which you can read at http://users.uniserve.com/~lwk/rdick.htm#g4.
On the clarinet, I can reach the fourth octave G, which would be a semitone above what you can attain on the flute. So, doing the musical math, this gives the clarinet four octaves and a minor third (lowest E to Super G), and the flute an astonishingly wimpy in comparison three octaves and a minor fifth (lowest B to Super F#). Looks like the clarinet is the Mariah Carey of the woodwind universe! :-) (Not that anyone cares, but her range is four and a half octaves, not six or seven or eight like the idiot press likes to think...if these crackheads knew a shred about music, they'd know that eight octaves would make her a computer.)
Oh, and a little fyi, for you, Josh The Younger (*g*), if you're interested in blasting out another whole octave above what you can do now, check out the Woodwind Fingering Guide, which has the entire fourth octave fingering schema for the clarinet at http://www.wfg.sneezy.org/ Good luck, and try not to kill your cat in the process! (We went through six Fluffys before I got to even super C...:P)
Happy Clarinetting (and Altissimoing!)
Josh The Slightly Older, I Think
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Author: Julianna
Date: 2002-01-29 23:27
It is generally accepted that the clarinet has the largest range of the woodwind instruments and the french horn has the largest range of the brass instruments
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2002-01-30 03:14
Bassoon is the wind instrument to have a far more range. Five octave is their normal range.
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Author: Josh
Date: 2002-01-30 10:00
actually, Hiroshi, it's about the same as that of the clarinet. An exceedingly talented player can produce about four octaves. The "normal" range, as you say, is from the lowest Bb below the bass staff to the top line F of the treble staff. Notes above this are RARELY used, and usually only in contemporary solo works. Five octaves would put the top note at the Bb five ledger lines above the treble staff, and I just don't see that happening with the bassoon. I"m a professional bassoonist, and I've not ever heard that note happen on this instrument...although I suppose nothing is impossible, it is highly doubtful.
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Author: David Pegel
Date: 2002-01-30 22:58
To confront the brass issue... all of the brass w/ more than three valves supposedly have an infinite range. A talented tuba player can play three and a half beautiful octaves and an "ugly" octave or two. However, a mediocre French Horn can get at least three beautiful octaves and two more horrid ones!!
I know this from experience, listening to people play, and research.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2002-02-01 00:46
There is a vocal way called falsetto, i.e. a way for a tenor singer to attain very high range voice. In Pierre Tibeaud's book, he recommends to use this method of using larynx open(this is ordinarily closed) to make altissimo playing of trumpet easier. French people seems to call this 'pose du son' and teach this method to wind/brass players.
I always wonder whether it works.
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Author: David Pegel
Date: 2002-02-01 02:53
From what I understand, Hiroshi, a technique similar to that does work, though I do not know the details of why or how.
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