 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2013-07-24 10:43
I was thinking about an interesting phenomenon. This thought keeps coming back while I listen to other players, recordings, and my recordings made during practising.
Let's begin with the fact that the clarinet is an acoustically imperfect instrument (at least more imperfect than other woodwind instruments with octave changing mechanism) due to the fact it has the odd harmonics and has a 12 register vent. Of course many ascpects can be corrected with tweaking the tone holes, trying different tapered barrels etc. but you will always have to correct the intonation to some extent while playing.
When you finally learn to compensate the main intonational issues (low E,F throat tones, lower and upper clarion, altissimo, basically everything) with changing your oral cavity, changing the speed of air, positioning the tongue, using alternate fingerings, you, let's say are playing chamber music, for eg. a woodwind quintet. And suddenly everything falls apart when other instruments are there. Sometimes intonation should be corrected so much to blend with other instruments that your sound is just doesn't the same you want and what you used to. I found this especially hard when playing with other clarinets, quartet or quintet.
I'm speaking about that moment when your sound looses some quality while accomodating to extreme intonational environment.
I always use a tuner while playing long tones. And I like to record myself when let's say I practise an etude and I can't find a way to improve it, recording always helps to pick the 'weak spots' I didn't detect. When I listen to a recorded practise session, I sometimes find myself to make more effort to make the sound as beautiful as possible than to listen to the intonation.
I came to the conclusion that everything is a compromise, especially when you are a clarinettist. I'm just having a hard time to accept this. I'm not sure what I wrote makes any sense, anyway I post it.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2013-07-24 12:28
Why do you think the clarinet is the only instrument that requires these kinds of compromises?
Karl
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Author: rtmyth
Date: 2013-07-24 13:04
Reminds me of the Heifetz story (his violin played beautiful music, etc.)
richard smith
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2013-07-24 13:30
I agree that playing the clarinet often requires the player to compromise. We have sound colour, dynamic and intonation. Often we have to make some compromise of sound colour or dynamic for the sake of intonation. But I also believe that there are ways of blowing the instrument in which it's possible to change the intonation without compromising too much, and other ways of blowing which are less stable. So I think it's also good to try to find a more optimal way of blowing.
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2013-07-24 14:22
Karl,
I didn't said that clarinet is the only instrument with these problems. This was not what I was talking about.
Richard Smith,
What is the Heifetz story you mentioned? I'm curious.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2013-07-24 15:42
In a more perfect world the extremes in intonation happen pretty infrequently. But when they do, it is important to keep in mind that the PRIMARY aspect of your sound IS intonation.
I just heard a rehearsal were individual players sounded great but the intonation issues were enough to drive you up a wall. Funny, I couldn't pick out the lovely individual sounds for all the conflict in pitch going on.
Always strive to have a nice sound but please always listen to pitch.
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: rtmyth
Date: 2013-07-24 16:34
After his performance two girls went to his room at Carnegie Hall to praise him. One said "oh Mr. Heifetz your violin sounds so beautifully". He went to the case, opened it, and said "I don't hear a thing". Good story, maybe even true.
richard smith
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Author: kdk
Date: 2013-07-24 16:50
Of course you're right that playing a clarinet well involves a great deal of compromise to maintain intonation with other players while trying to keep the sound musical and technique (particularly articulation) clean. But I'm not sure we're especially plagued by these accommodations by comparison to other woodwinds.
The problems we have as clarinetists are unique to the instrument, and I don't want in any way to minimize them with respect to your musings, Mark. Maybe we have more of them than other wind players do. I've never charted them or compared them note by note, though I suspect that they may even themselves out over the entire range of each instrument. The issue when you get into an ensemble situation, IMO, isn't just the compromises we have to make, but the combination of accommodations we and everyone else are trying to make *to each other,* usually on the fly. In the ensemble ether everyone is constantly trying to fix problems as they hear them using the only means at their disposal - their own instruments - since no player can control (or even necessarily know) what any other player is doing.
I agree completely that playing clarinet involves a lot of compromise. I'm just not sure that we have a greater need for it than players of other instruments. We may only be less aware of what the others are actually doing.
Karl
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Author: William
Date: 2013-07-24 17:47
A clarinetist friend of mine once said, "Good intonation is good cooperation [within the ensemble]. It's everyones responsibility--not just the clarinet's.
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2013-07-24 18:26
rtmyth,
Thanks for sharing this story, I haven't heard this before.
Karl,
I usually agree with you after both of us explained out thoughts. Maybe I feel this whole thing more difficult than it should be, because I care too much about what the others are doing in an ensemble.
After I was thinking much about this, I switched to a Leblanc LL made in 1966 from a Buffet RC Prestige. This was almost 2 years ago. Maybe the sound is not as broad and powerful as the Buffet's but intonation if far better. A funny thing: this year I played in a professional symphonic orchestra in various works including operas, musicals and orchestral works. I started with my Leblanc while all clarinettists were playing Buffets. After the first couple of performances, they suggested I should play a Buffet too, because maybe my Leblanc has a good intonation, but it would be better for the section to play a Buffet to have the same intonational characteristics (instead saying problems). It was very surprising. Instead of being satisfied because I don't have trouble with throat tones and the low E and F and can produce clear octraves they finally made me (but not convinced) to switch to Buffets. Outside the orchestra I still used my Leblanc for solo and chamber music and it was totally fine. By the way intonation issues remained the same in the section after the switch.
Mark
Post Edited (2013-07-24 18:27)
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