 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Late_returner
Date: 2020-05-29 12:07
Recent posts which discuss the weight of our instrument on the thumb remind me of pictures of the quarter toned clarinet ( Wiki has one ) , carrying a huge amount of added metal.
Is this invention currently in use ? Pamela Weston refers to it being played by at least one of her : Clarinet Virtuosi Of Today ( 1989 I think)
Would it weigh more than a straight soprano sax, which i find heavy enough on my hand ?
How would you support the weight, even with a strap ? .... " real men play quarter toned, as well as strength 4 + " ???
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Author: MichaelW
Date: 2020-05-29 17:20
Attachment: Schüller Vierteltonklarinette.pdf (353k)
Attachment: Viertelton.jpg (82k)
I've only seen one specimen of a "Vierteltonklarinette", made by Fritz Schüller, now at the Musikinstrumentenmuseum Markneukirchen. Dr. Enrico Weller has written about it and others: see pictures (foto from Wikipedia).
Post Edited (2020-05-29 17:30)
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Author: Simon Aldrich
Date: 2020-05-29 22:05
There is a lighter alternative to the quarter-tone clarinet.
When I played in a contemporary-music ensemble, I played a quarter-tone mouthpiece designed at IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) in Paris.
The mouthpiece is designed to give the player the capacity to lower the pitch of any note by up to a semitone, without changing the fingering of the note.
The modification to the mouthpiece is accomplished by boring a hole (about 2mm across) in the left side of the mouthpiece, about 2 cm down from the tip.
The hole enters the interior of the mouthpiece at the approximate midway point between the baffle and the reed.
Attached to this hole, welded to the left side of the mouthpiece, is a hollow metal cylinder about 4 cm long and 1 cm across.
Inside the cylider is a piston whose base is attached to a cable (not unlike a bicycle's brake cable).
The cable exits the cylinder's base (the end not attached to the mouthpiece) and descends to the floor where it is attached to a foot pedal. When the pedal is depressed, the piston in the cylinder pulls back from the mouthpiece, effectively increasing the inner volume of the mouthpiece, thereby lowering the pitch.
The cable is screwed into the footpedal (therefore detachable) and permanently attached to the cylinder/mouthpiece (if memory serves).
When the footpedal is depressed all the way, the piston in the cylinder pulls back all the way, lowering the pitch by a semitone. When the footpedal is depressed half the way, the piston in the cylinder pulls back half the way, lowering the pitch by a quarter-tone. Of course any microtone between a unison and a semitone is possible if the player knows to what point the footpedal needs to be depressed to produce the desired microtone.
The prototype soprano mouthpiece was a converted Vandoren M30. Since the cable is permanently attached to the cylinder which is permanently attached to the mouthpiece, the whole kit (foot pedal and mouthpiece modified with attached cylinder and cable) comes in a microphone case, a bit smaller than a single clarinet case.
Simon
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2020-05-30 02:31
I am curious, have you ever played any traditional Indian raga music (with sitar and tabla) and would this mouthpiece be a help or hindrance in that context?
Has the IRCAM designed other clarinet mouthpieces that might be of interest?
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