 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: kimberly8986
Date: 2003-06-24 16:17
Hi,
I recently joined an orchestra where having an "A" clarinet was a necessity. Unfourtanetly, my school's instrument is no longer available for me to use. I've called practically every music store in the Chicagoland area, and no one rents out A clarinets. I cannot afford to buy one. Does anyone have any ideas as to where I could obtain one to borrow or rent in or around Chicago? Thanks!
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Author: Gretchen
Date: 2003-06-24 17:10
a local HS? Maybe you can teach some students there in return for the use of their clarinet.
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Author: krawfish3x
Date: 2003-06-24 20:00
if any of your friends have A clarinets you could always borrow theirs. You could always try and get a used one for cheap, but be aware that you should always play it and have it checked by a professional because you may be getting ripped off.
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Author: supernova_khr
Date: 2003-06-24 20:41
Have you tried the company Musics & Arts Centers? (www.musicarts.com). They're a large national company that has some of their own retail locations, and also they work with local music stores on instrument rentals. (I've personally rented two instruments for my kids from them through a local music store.) You could try contacting their national office to see if they offer any rentals near Chicago.
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2003-06-24 23:49
I've had the same problem for a while.
I sat for many many hours transposing parts! And learning to sigh-transpose better.
Parhaps this is a good time to start saving for an A clarinet? If you've gotten to a stage where you NEED an A clarinet in an orchestra, you must be at a semi-serious level, so the next step would be to acquire an A.
Good luck!
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-06-25 05:45
Kimberly, maybe you have not considered an Amati A Clarinet. Search the Bulletin Board on what's been said about them.
For a less expensive one, you'd probably have to find an Indian Albert "Clarinet" (tee-hee) on eBay. Please don't.
Regards,
John
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Author: ebasta
Date: 2003-06-25 15:03
is it possible to just change barrels to the shorter (A) size?
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Author: William
Date: 2003-06-25 15:04
Since you have already joined the orchestra, and presumably have an interest in continuing for a few years, now might be the time to buy your own A clarinet. If dollars are in short supply, a good choice might be a Buffet E11 model A clarinet. The E11's are student level clarinets but play very well. I have an E11 C clarinet that plays as well as any of the more expensive pro models which I auditioned at IMS.
Transposing is also an alternative solution--and works just fine if you have good technical facility and a quick mind--and do not have to play a written low E on an A part with your Bb clarinet. It was common practice for some of the clarinetists of the New York Metropolitan Orchestra to transpose all of the A and C opera parts to their Bb clarinets. The main reason given to me for doing this was to maintain ensemble intonation more easily than if having to switch to a cold A or C clarinet in the middle of an aria. But ultimately, there will come a time when the music simply calls for the warm sound of the A clarinet--and the typical Bb sound just doesn't "cut it."
Recommendation--Buy now. If you continue in orchestral playing, you will never regret your purchase. (but, like many of use, you may always remain searching for the "perfect A" as they can be finicky instruments.)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-06-25 16:36
ebasta pondered:
> is it possible to just change barrels to the shorter (A) size?
No.
The A clarinet is much more than just a Bb clarinet with a different barrel.
The spacing of the tone holes and the diameter of the bore are intermingled and must also be changed...GBK
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Author: Eileen
Date: 2003-06-25 16:45
Sometimes, there are parts available which have been transposed to Bb. My orchestra director got some grief from the clarinet section when he handed out Bb parts for the Messiah after we had transposed the A parts from the Halleluiah chorus for a previous performance. Just because the director picked an arrangement which has an A part doesn't mean that the part hasn't been published somewhere else in Bb. It'd be worth checking out.
For transposing, do you have a Finale program? If you learn to use it, you can create a Bb part from the A or C parts. Much easier than trying to transpose by sight. Our director now does this for the clarinet parts which are not in Bb.
Sometimes the tranposed parts are in harder key signatures and may have some awkward fingering. But the little bit of extra practice is worth not having to buy an expensive additional instrument to haul around. I presume that you are still a student or a recent graduate who doesn't have loads of extra money to spare.
If you still want to try an A clarinet out and formal rental is not an option, how about posting an ad on a local college's bulletin board? Maybe a DePaul or Northwestern student owns one and isn't currently using it for a concert and would be willing to earn a few bucks for a short term rental.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-06-25 17:43
The greatest difference between the A clarinet and the Bb counterpart is the tonal spectrum is quite a big difference. As to model and make try to get an A clarinet that matches closely as possible the sound and tonal colour of your current set up....the worst thing would be to sound like a totally different player....
David Dow
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Author: deepriver27
Date: 2003-06-27 10:37
I'm kind of in the same boat - I just joined a ragtime group and alot of the clarinet parts are in A. I used Finale to transpose one part (forget scanning it folks as mentioned in another thread) but it really threw me. Getting used to playing ragtime with it's idiosyncratic rhythm, articulation, etc. is enough without having to go through all this in f sharp.
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