 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Samantha
Date: 2003-10-05 05:10
Hello,
I'm a Bb clarinet player in a high school band. I've played for five years, and I have intentions of switching to the Eb soprano clarinet for this year's Christmas music. I've never played one, and certainly don't own one, so for now I'll be using the school's clarinet, which has required about $80 of repair due to the poor care its last owner took. What are some tips? I know little to nothing, but need to learn quickly. My most important question would be what is a concert F on an Eb clarinet? Also, how would the Bb concert scale be different? Would the association of fingerings with notes on a page be different from a Bb? If someone could answer my questions and give me some general tips, it'd be greatly appreciated; "Eefer" as its called by the clarinets will be coming home from the shop sometime next week hopefully, and I'd like to get started practicing as soon as possible.
Thanks
Samantha
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-10-06 04:31
Hi, Samantha: I played Eb along with other stuff for many years and found it to be a real kick.
First of all, the Clarinets that are not in C are transposing instruments, so translating the notes on a page to your fingers will be the same on all Clarinets. As it is an E-flat instrument, this means that playing a C on the instrument produces concert Eb. So when the key is concert Bb, the Eb Clarinet is in G. Concert F becomes, on any Eb instrument, D. Whatever is the concert key signature, the Eb instrument's key signature will be rotated toward three more sharps/three fewer flats, or equivalent.
It's the same instrument, just smaller. So the tone is more piercing, because the entire overtone series of each note played will spread out into an area of the audible spectrum which is higher in pitch. So you must be attuned to how your instrument is sounding in order to blend well with others. Keep in mind everything you ever learned about the Bb Clarinet, and remember that the Eefer is more sensitive to minor problems because of its smaller size. Tolerances are smaller too, making them harder to manufacture accurately. Hence, Eb Clarinets in general do not have tonality as good as Bb instruments. Look forward to having fun with the instrument, and it should be a very good experience for you.
Regards,
John
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2003-10-06 14:14
Samantha -
I played Eb for a year in the University of Tennessee Band and the Knoxville symphony many years ago (jumping up, if you can believe it, from contrabass in the West Point Band).
Mouthpieces can be a problem, particularly with school instruments. I'd advise getting your own Eb mouthpiece. Machine-made mouthpieces (Vandoren, Selmer, etc.) are usually awful, since too few are sold for the companies to keep their machinery in adjustment. Far better to get one from one of the Sneezy Sponsors -- in alphabetical order, Fobes, Hite, Graebner, etc. -- which will be hand-finished and will give you at least a chance of getting out whatever the instrument has to offer. Remember that you'll keep this mouthpiece forever, and you'll always be able to play Eb, so get as good as you can afford.
I played a Leblanc LL Eb, on which the barrel was far too short to be in tune, so I got some washers for a garden hose and filed them down to fit in the top and bottom sockets, adding maybe 6 mm.
You will be tempted to use harder reeds than on Bb, but you should go at most one strength up. The rest is embouchure and support.
Since the Eb is on top of the texture, your intonation has to be really precise, and Eb often needs special fingerings. Pete Hadcock, the Boston Symphony Eb player, wrote an invaluable book on Eb, and another on orchestral playing (which you can get from Gary van Cott), with many hints. In the end, though, you need to sit in a practice room with a tuner, finding how to play in tune.
Finally, you're not a soloist when you play Eb. The concertmaster is still the 1st chair Bb player. It's very easy to shriek and squeal on Eb. Instead, you have to play softer than you think. You're there to add some sparkle to the basic clarinet section sound. Listen hard to the 1st clarinets and blend in with them.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: William
Date: 2003-10-06 14:41
One other suggestion--if you decide to get a custom mouthpiece (which I also recommend over the average stock mps available "over the counter"), be sure that you get one with a facing that will accept Bb clarinet reeds. Two basic advantages for using Bb reeds over Eb reeds: 1) they are more readily available, &, 2) they oproduce a more pleasing tone quality, especially in the upper register. You will need to clip about a half inch off the Bb reeds base (I use an electricians wire cutter) in order for the reed to fit, but this will not affect the reeds performance. Effer playing can be lots of fun, but careful listening skills--expecially tuning in the upper register--and a bit of restraint--easy to play too loud--are required.
Think of the Eb clarinet as a child that should be "seen, but not heard". (except in solo passages, of course)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-10-06 15:02
To Ken's excellent advice, I will also add Ralph Morgan's name to the custom Eb mouthpiece category. I am not a fan of his Bb duck bill shaped mouthpieces, as for me they have never felt comfortable, but for the Eb clarinet the shape of the beak is much less pronounced to where I cannot even tell if it is duck-bill shaped or not. I use a Morgan Eb as my primary mouthpiece when playing the Eb clarinet. The tuning is precise, tonguing is crisp and very nice coloration.
William's suggestions are also good, but with one word of warning. If you decide to cut down Bb reeds (which I do) to use on the Eb clarinet, make sure that the length of vamp of the reed is the same size as the window opening of your mouthpiece. Many Bb reeds will have a vamp that is too long for the size window of the Eb mouthpiece. If that is the case, the mouthpiece will play stuffy and often chirp on the higher notes...GBK
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