 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Dan Oberlin ★2017
Date: 2003-05-22 19:31
Tuesday night I was in a group rehearsing the Dvorak Serenade for Winds. After the clarinet solo at the start of the third movement, the
conductor abruptly stopped and said to the group "Do you know what makes that so special? It's the sound of the A clarinet.
Dvorak really knew what he was doing when
he scored for it." After the rehearsal, the
bass player commented on the difference in
the sound of the A clarinet in that movement
and the Bb clarinet in the previous movements. I don't currently own an A
and was just transposing on my Bb, though there seemed to be no good reason to mention
it then. But I thought other clarinetists
might find the story amusing.
Dan Oberlin
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-05-22 20:48
Well Said , Dan, will copy this off for Dwight , Bill Viseur, Rosetta Strother and Clem Hutchinson, our best!! TKS, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Nick Angiolillo
Date: 2003-05-22 23:22
This brings me to a question...
What's the big deal with A Clarinets?
I've read a few times on this board that when someone played an A Clarinet rather than a Bb it was like playing a completely different instrument. I guess, not ever having the experience of playing one, that I really just can't understand how different it can be.
So.. everyone here who has played both--what makes the difference? Why is it better (which seems to be a general consensus)?
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Author: Rick Williams
Date: 2003-05-23 11:45
Nick:
A clarinets have a rep for being stuffy, I guess that's the term. That may be true but I haven't experienced it with my instrument. They are a little longer so where your fingers have to go differs somewhat. I personally don't think they are that much of a different beastie, unlike a bassett clarinet which is a whole different animal....g
As to why, well if a part is written for an A clarinet, then somebody has to do some transposing if your playing a Bb with others. For example, some piano parts get real nasty if a Bb clarinet is used playing the written notes for an A clainet. Likewise, some A clarinet parts can get tricky when you transpose to a Bb.
Then there is a arguement that A's sound different, which I think they do, but others would argue that point. There is also the arguement that if a composer says an A clarinet, then by golly play an A! However, as the leading post points out, it's up for debate or in that conductors case as Bugs Bunny might say, "hey Bub, where on the paper does it say rie-tard?"
Best
RW
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2003-05-23 16:47
ROTF! Good story! This hoax now puts you in an elite group. There should be a convention.
I did just the opposite while in one of the bands at University of Michigan. My B-flat desperately needed an overhaul, and I scheduled it for winter break, but then the keywork never made it back from the platers. Showed up in the middle of the summer. I ran out of people to borrow instruments from, so I took out my A clarinet and taught myself to transpose everything in the folder. About a week before Band-O-Rama, I decided that I had better tell the conductor what was going on. Telling him this disqualifies me from the "elite group". The conductor was appalled. "Intonation will be really terrible," he said. When I told him I had been playing my A instrument in rehearsals for 3 weeks, his face went blank and he walked away. The conductor making a fool of himself requalifies me.
So far as the A clarinet dark sound goes, there is a section of the Enescu "Romanian Rhapsody" that goes up to a high G in the A clarinet part, which many people mistake for an E-flat part.
The difference in bore length and pitch will make a small difference that will perhaps be discernable by the trained listerner. If you have Buffets however, the bores on B-flat and A instruments are radically different, which is why they handle so differently. My spare is an old wooden Artley A that has a really nice light sound. A friend has Buffet A from the 1920's that is really a gem and sounds not at all like instruments from the last 50 years. It is what some call "thin-wall", has wonderful hand-fabricated keywork, and is just a joy to play.
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Author: Eileen
Date: 2003-05-23 22:28
I understand that an A clarinet might be preferable in some instances. But, for better or worse, the Bb is now the standard. And the rest of the orchestra isn't expected to haul around extra instruments pitched just a half-tone away. In these days of computerization, why aren't A clarinet parts published in an already-transposed version for Bb clarinet?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2003-05-23 22:34
Eileen wrote:
> I understand that an A clarinet might be preferable in some
> instances.
Required.
> But, for better or worse, the Bb is now the
> standard. And the rest of the orchestra isn't expected to haul
> around extra instruments pitched just a half-tone away.
How about a whole tone? Plenty of players need to haul those around.
> In
> these days of computerization, why aren't A clarinet parts
> published in an already-transposed version for Bb clarinet?
1) Money. Costs money to transcribe the parts & proof them. Then you have to market & sell them.
2) You'll need a Bb with a low Eb to play pieces transposed = a heavier, longer Bb with another key. They're available.
3) You're gonna be playing in some gawd-awful keys (which is one of the reasons there are transposing instruments.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-05-23 22:41
Eileen wrote: "...And the rest of the orchestra isn't expected to haul around extra instruments pitched just a half-tone away..."
Orchestral trumpet players routinely carry (and use) C trumpets, Bb trumpets, and D trumpets.
Clarinetists using A, Bb, and C clarinets? It's part of the gig.
Still better than dragging a bass fiddle to rehearsal...GBK
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Author: bob49t
Date: 2003-05-23 23:08
Yes, amusing story Dan, thank you.
Does your group intend to retain the rehearsal conductor for the performance ?
Joking aside, I've played this lovely piece several times, not once with conductor. It's ideally suited to being led by whomever has the principal line at any time. This leads to a wonderfully integrated chamber group and develops "eyeballing" to a fine art. It's just a great piece in every way and I hope you enjoy it immensely.
We're playing this again as the opener to a big charity concert in Sept, when Sarah Williamson is joining us to play Weber 2 in Caird Hall, Dundee, Scotland. Then a Gershwin Overture (poss "Cuban") and finishing with William Grant Still - Afro - American Symphony.
Howzat for a woodwind orientated concert ????? - sorry I digress.
BobT
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