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Re: Eb clarinets

Author: Eileen
Date: 2003-04-01 21:52

Your part will already be transposed for an Eb instrument. If you're practicing at home on Bb by yourself, that won't matter. As far as adjusting to the smaller scale, that depends. Are you a female with small hands? I have short, slender fingers which worked very well on the Eb. Lots of men with bigger hands have a hard time coping with the smaller space. While obviously it would be nicer to be able to take it home to practice, you could probably cope by practicing on the Bb. The altissimo on the Eb is very difficult, however, and might require more practice.

Just because the beast is sooo hard to tame, I'd be reluctant to buy an off-brand. You'd be better off playing your teacher's presumably good one on loan than wasting your money on an ebay special with terrible intonation. As for wood vs. plastic, what do you plan to do with it? Marching band, outdoor stuff, clarinet choir focused on pop/show tunes? Get the plastic. Play it just for a year or two in a side group? Plastic might do it. Serious classical? Wood.

As far as prices, the small size does not mean small price. Expect to pay a considerable amount more for an Eb. For example, I think a Buffet E11 Bb is in the $600 range whereas the E11 Eb is more like $900. Amati is probably somewhat lower for a wood.

The eefer is not to everyone's liking. You might want to play your teacher's horn until you decide whether to invest the cash. And also consider whether the money might be better devoted to saving up for a better Bb. I thought about purchasing an Eb but decided that I really would not use it that often. I've put the money in the R13 Bb fund instead.

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Eb clarinets new

Cindy

2003-04-01 04:22