 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Rene
Date: 2003-08-31 14:06
Attachment: Busker.jpg (55k)
I met the busker in the attached picture in Lübeck, Germany. I got to talk with him and he showed me his clarinet. It was a one key clarinet he said is a Bulgarian folk instrument. He said he is using all sorts of tricks including half fingering to make it play cromatically. The mouthpiece was rather small, the reed seemed handmade and quite heavily used.
However, I admired everthing the man played. He was producing a medley of favourite tunes, and boy, this guy knew how to blow. He played wonderfully, load and soft and with a great intonation.
This cured me quite a bit with my complains over my equipment.
Let's hope I get the picture attached correctly.
Post Edited (2003-09-01 07:04)
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-08-31 14:49
The pic comes thru fine, Rene, TKS. It reminds me of an Oriental "busking" group in ?Leischester [sp?] Square, London several years ago, where the leader showed, and let me [try to] blow [very hard double reed], a ?hybrid of oboe UJ and cl LJ, which he could play beautifully, and loudly!! I bought a tape, need to re-find it! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: William
Date: 2003-08-31 20:00
Another fine example of the saying, "it is more important to play in tune than be in tune."
The ears are where "it is at", not the equipement.
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Author: Richard
Date: 2003-08-31 22:14
Some one on this BB once said; "It ain't the Woods, it's the Tiger?"
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Author: ginny
Date: 2003-09-01 20:32
Looks more like a zurna (or zurla, a double reed of incredible volume) to me. Maybe he made a mouthpiece to fit a zurla body.
It also resembles some early clarinets I saw in a small museum in Munich (near the Rathaus) this summer.
My husband could not identify it (he lived in Bulgaria for a while, and was very active musically.)
The ethnic instruments I've seen from the area don't include single reeds. They have bagpipes, a flutelike instrument (kaval), strings (strummed is tamboura, bowed is gadulka), drums (tupan) and the zurla (which I have only seen played with the drums.)
Ginny
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Author: ginny
Date: 2003-09-01 20:33
I've pointed the ethnic board over this way. I am curious.
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2003-09-02 04:11
Sorry, guys, I'm pretty darn sure it's not an "official" Bulgarian folk instrument. At least not from the last 60-80 years. By that time they did have "regular" clarinets in Bulgaria. This one looks to me like it's a chalumeau, and perhaps a handmade one at that. Zurnas/Zurlas/Zournas have teeny double reeds and do NOT play softly.
The single key and half-hole fingerings all point to some kind of chalumeau or folk-type clarinet that is not standardized.
Katrina
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Author: Rene
Date: 2003-09-02 10:30
To add something to this story, the clarinet mouthpiece did indeed look like planted on a foreign body. It did not quite fit, or the man had to pull it out for intonation quite a lot. However, it was definitely a cylindrical instrument, so all I can say, it is either a chalumeau or a clarinet. Since I got the impression that he played in a range of about two octaves, I'd think it was a clarinet.
The one key was underneith at the thumb and looked like a short register key. If it was indeed functioning like a register key (the man said so), it could only be useful for the long clarion range.
I was since then contemplating, if one could make a clarinet with that one key only. But it occurs to me that it is not easy. One would have to use the right thumb for a tone hole, and combine the register key and the A.
I am a bit sorry that I could not speak to much with the guy, for he did understand very little English or German. Also my family was waiting to continue their sightseeing tour. Those married ones among you might understand. If I ever meet him again, I will invite him for lunch and get the complete story.
That is about all I could find out in the short time I met him. However, one thing: His play WAS outstanding.
Rene
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-09-02 14:15
I'd suggest that a bit of study in Curt Sachs', "The History of Musical Instruments" might help "our" analysis. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2003-09-02 19:07
Rene,
You say he didn't speak German or English. What did he speak? Was he, indeed, Bulgarian?
Also...in your original post you mentioned that he played "favourite tunes." Could you be a little more specific? I'm under the impression that the tunes were not "favourite BULGARIAN" ones...just wanted to double check!
Katrina
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Author: Rene
Date: 2003-09-03 07:55
Sorry, he could speak as much German, so that I understood that he is Bulgarian. I also understood that "Bulgarian folk instrument" statement. And that the key is a register key. However, we might as well not have understood each other at all.
About the tunes: Those were indeed not Bulgarian, nor were they folk songs. Just the kind you find in these "most requested tunes for clarinet". I think you know now, something like "I can see clearly now ..." He also improvised a lot.
Since you seem so much interested, I wished I had photographed the "clarinet" itself in more detail.
Would there be a site of these kind of clarinets I could look through, like a gangster album at the police station, to identify?
:-)
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Author: BobD
Date: 2003-09-03 15:06
Aha, a clever gypsy with a tape recorder hidden away.
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Author: Rene
Date: 2003-09-03 20:02
I add another detail of this phantastic encounter: To play the lowest note he bowed to the ground with the clarinet vertical with about a feet distance to the street. If you try the trick, it will make the note deeper and more resonant. Wether it is really necessary to get it in tune, I don't know.
Sure hope to meet that guy somewhere on the street once more.
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