 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Eoin
Date: 2000-06-06 07:49
In orchestras, most instrument players have one instrument. Oboe players play the oboe, trumpet players play the trumpet. But clarinet players play two clarinets, a B flat and an A. Why is this? I know that it is very convenient for the clarinetist because you can play sharp keys on the A and flat keys on the B flat. But why do other instruments not insist on the same privilege? (Hold on a minute while I switch to my A tuba).
Composers even go along with the clarinetists and tell them which one to use, giving them time to change instruments.
Are clarinetists too stupid to be able to play all the keys on one instrument? Or have we the orchestra at our beck and call, with the rest of them willing to put with anything just to hear that wonderful dark sound?
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Author: Roger
Date: 2000-06-06 12:11
Remember that the notes sound different on the two instrument due to timber. A concert G# (2nd line) on an A clarinet is a fingered B. On a Bd clarinet is would be a Bd. The timber between these two notes is tremendoud. Stravinsky has a piece for unaccompanied clarinet wherein he specifies certain movements for Bd clarinet and other movements for A clarinet. He knew the difference in sound and wanted it.
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Author: Eoin
Date: 2000-06-06 12:17
I've heard it said that composers think that there is a difference in timbre between A and Bb and often specify one or the other for this reason but that in fact the difference is negligible. Similarly, Richard Strauss used a soprano D for the theme representing "Till Eulenspiegel" as it was supposed to be not as strident as an Eb soprano, but he could have just written it for Eb, an instrument that is far more common and sounds just the same. This is not my personal opinion, it is one I saw in the "Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet". Has anybody any ideas on this?
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2000-06-06 14:21
Eoin,
Regardless of whether you think it makes sense, the fact remains that a fair amount of the orchestral repertoire specifies clarinet in "A", therefore it behooves an orchestral player to have that instrument (and a professional player needs to have a "C" clarinet for the occasional Beethoven and such). Many less-than-sensible traditions have developed in music over the decades and centuries. For example, as a bass clarinetist, I frequently have to read bass clef parts in orchestra, and to make matters worse, some parts are written in bass clef for bass clarinet in "A"! There has been another whole thread on this subject --- according to Dan Leeson, there are only about six (6) actual bass clarinets in "A" in existence! So why did composers write for an instrument that doesn't even exist? Who knows --- we can complain about it, but mostly we just have to deal with it.
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Author: larry
Date: 2000-06-06 14:52
Other instruments face the same issue, although the players may not have to double as much as the clarinet. Consider the many different types and pitches of trumpet: Bb, C, etc. And what about the cornet? Horns come in different pitches and timbres too, as well as trombones. I think this is probably all related to the historical development of keys (clarinet) and valves (brasses).
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-06-06 15:16
In my slight orchestral experience, I've needed to play Eb [sop], C, A, Bb bass and alto sax in addition to the usual Bb [sop], and have found great differences in tonalities to try to make the best sounds as I interpret the composer's wishes, and to make my playing-life less stressful! As to other insts., an oboist needs an Eng. Horn, A Wagner-playing hornist needs a W-horn, and I've wondered if a Tschaikovsky [sp?] 4/5/6 cl'ist shouldn't play more on the "moody" A than is scored! Enjoy the diff's. Don
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Author: Robert Small
Date: 2000-06-07 04:33
The clarinet also seems to lend itself to many different keys unlike, for example, the saxophone. Note the demise of the C melody and the F alto saxes. The just didn't cut it acoustically or intonation-wise.
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Author: Doc
Date: 2000-06-07 23:38
larry wrote:
-------------------------------
Other instruments face the same issue, although the players may not have to double as much as the clarinet. Consider the many different types and pitches of trumpet: Bb, C, etc. And what about the cornet? Horns come in different pitches and timbres too, as well as trombones. I think this is probably all related to the historical development of keys (clarinet) and valves (brasses).
Or simply the fact that there are just plain stupid instruments out there. Speaking in manner of a concert band, with marches (esp. very old vers.) you'll fund every instrument known to man, Every color clarinet you could think of cept maybe the very top ones, all saxes starting from sopranino down to bass including f-mezzo and c-melody, and who can forget the instrument everyone loves-the SARRUSOPHONE!!! I mean come on, it kind of makes me feel like these guys were seeing how much of fools that we could really be. Well most likely not. But I did enjoy hearing about the A Bass clarinet with about 6 in existance? Also remember, I think it's usually the second part oboe doubles on english horn. Not sure tho... In our youth symphony, the trombonist has two different horns, one triggered and one straight. It's not cause of his range either. It's the fact that he's had solos where the heavy bottom of a big horn would have killed. It really goes back to the idea of trimbre.
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Author: Ginny
Date: 2000-06-08 01:28
I'm inclined to think that C instruments are going to be easier to play in the violin (sharp keys) in general. Also do flutes and oboes have a lot fewer keys - to get tangled in? I think having the octave being an octave simplifies learning the more difficult scales too.
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Author: Eoin
Date: 2000-06-08 09:58
Looking at the Woodwind Fingering Guide, I find that flutes have 11 keys, oboes typically 16 and bassoons have 21 keys, not including the keys that are the equivalent of the fingerholes in the clarinet. So oboists and bassoonist have an instrument which is just as complex as a clarinet (the bassoonist has 9 keys operated by the left thumb alone). Yet they are expected to be able to play in any key on one instrument.
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Author: larry
Date: 2000-06-08 13:32
Oskar Kroll ("The Clarinet," p. 96) relates that Richard Strauss became enraged when the clarinetists performing Der Rosenkavalier discarded the specially purchased C clarinets in favor of their Bb instruments. "Subsequently, Strauss repeatedly specified the C clarinet [in all his later operas]."
Is it possible that we are partly suffering from the wrath of Richard?
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Author: Eoin
Date: 2000-06-13 10:36
Since I posted the original question, I have been thinking about this. Helped by all your answers and what I have read myself, I will propose an answer:
There are various reasons why orchestral clarinets play two instruments on a regular basis while other players play only one.
1. Clarinets are relatively inexpensive as orchestra instruments go. Compare the price of a pro clarinet with that of say a bassoon. There is no clarinet equivalent of the million pound strad either. As a result of not costing too much, there is no problem for all pro players having a B flat and an A.
2. Although the B flat is now the standard, this was not the case 150 years ago. Older music may be written for A or C clarinet. It can be played on the B flat, but it is more elegant to have the correct horn.
3. There is a perception among composers that the A and the B flat clarinets have a different tone and they sometimes choose one or the other for this reason. Experts disagree on this one. Some say that there is no difference and the composers are mistaken.
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