 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2006-02-16 22:32
Just curious, you know how clarinet has some typical “bad notes”, for example, the stuffy throat Bb, low clarion B and C. I imagine other woodwinds and brasswinds suffer from the same problems. This is something wind players struggle to circumvent with reeds, mouthpiece, alternate fingering, etc.
Is this phenomenon common in string instruments as well? Are there any typical “bad notes” on the violin or cello?
Post Edited (2006-02-16 22:36)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2006-02-17 00:00
From what my eight year old daughter tells me, any note that is played by bowing an open string - no fingers, no adjustment.
..........Paul Aviles
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-02-17 00:14
I've heard cellos suffer with 'wolf tones' - certain notes resonate with the natural frequency of some parts of the instrument (like the tailpiece or the short lengths of string seperated between that and the bridge) and a special damper is fitted to the offending string (a wolf tone eliminator - a piece of tubing that fits over a string with a grub screw to grip the string, and add weight to lower the natural frequency) so these 'wolf tones' don't happen. The remainder of the floor spike that's inside the instrument can resonate with certain notes as well.
Some bassoon notes issue through long, narrow toneholes (especially the LH fingerholes) and can be unstable, so special fingerings are used to stabilise these.
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Author: diz
Date: 2006-02-17 00:47
of course the clarinet is going to have problems with the throat notes ... afterall an instrument of its length with the ability to play over such a large compass is bound to have acoustic anomalies (not to mention that overblowing the octave just isn't going to happen due its perculiar bore, etc).
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
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Author: tims
Date: 2006-02-17 22:14
The throat Bb tends to be bad because it uses the register key to raise the pitch up a half step from the A rather than having a dedicated key of sufficient diameter. The proper key exists, (it is the second right hand trill key from the top), but this key is awkward to get to. Some clarinet makers have developed mechanisms to open the trill key (or it's equivalent) when using the standard Bb fingering by linking it to the rings on the upper joint. If no rings are depressed, then the trill key is opened, otherwise the register vent key is opened.
The low B is one of the few standard forked fingerings. A forked fingering is any fingering which attempts to lower a pitch by closing one or more holes below an open hole. Forked fingering always produce weak tones. This is one of the main reasons that early instruments tend have weaker less resonant tone quality because they had few keys and depended on forked fingering for almost all semitones. You can often get a more pure sound using the alternate B (covering the first hole and using the key between the second and third ring in the right hand). German system clarinets do not have a forked B.
The C shouldn't be a problem, though because of its closeness to the joint between, some makers may move the hole further up the horn and compensate for the rased pitch by making the hole smaller. This applies much more to C# than C. The hole for C# should be placed much lower, but because this would put it on the joint between the upper and lower halves of the horn, it is moved up, but the hole is made much smaller to bring the pitch down. This significantly weakens the tone quality. Most of the major clarinet makers no longer make single piece clarinets (with only the bell and barrel separate), but you can still find custom made horns and some older instruments with no middle joint. In these instruments the tone quality of C & C# are significantly improved. Why don't clarinet makers make single piece instruments? Finding a length of grenadella today that size with no flaws is far too expensive.
The quality of these notes are often good indicators of a quality instrument because these notes represent some of the more difficult acoustic challenges in designing a clarinet. Getting a good sound on these notes from the top line instruments from any of the major clarinet makers is far easier than on lower cost models, but they all still fall short of perfection and it is up to the player to overcome these defeciencies with a good embouchure, support and alternate fingerings if needed.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-02-17 22:51
"German system clarinets do not have a forked B"
But German system clarinets do have a forked B - if you're speaking German that is, our Bb is their B (and our B is their H - sorry tims, I couldn't resist that, excuse me for being a smartarse there). The forked fingering xxx|xox gives Bb which needs the F vent as on oboes to compensate for RH 3 being closed.
The Acton vent on B&H 1010s fully vents the B on these, and gives a good altissimo Eb fingered as oxx|oxoEb (as opposed to oxx|xo,oEb for standard Boehms). And on all Boehms, throat F# if taken with LH 1 alone is a forked note, but the thumb and side F# alternative isn't.
German clarinets employ more forked fingerings in the upper register (F, Bb and high C and probably some others) - and here they work beautifully, giving these notes a fullness of tone Boehm systems seem to lack with their plain fingerings.
One forked fingering I do like to use is high B(5) - fingered as oxo|ooo - and I use this for an A-B trill, trilling with LH finger 1, it's smoother than trilling with LH 2 as you're not trilling two toneholes (as the 2nd finger ring opens and closes with LH 2) or employing any mechanism, plus the fact it's faster than trilling with LH 2.
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2006-02-20 06:52
tims -
It is possible to get instruments with the C# hole drilled through the tenon (e.g. Selmer full-Boehm, I believe). My Selmer (Paris) has a very short middle tenon to address this issue.
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