 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't as
Date: 2004-07-21 23:58
For some reason, compared to piano music, clarinet music sounds so different... It's not just that it's one staff... Because, if I play just the treble cleff on piano music, it sounds different than if I had played something out of a clarinet book... Can anyone explain to me why? I just find this kinda interesting....
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2004-07-22 00:36
As an amateur composer, I write different for all types of instruments. The way I write for flute is unlike the way I write for clarinet... Heck, the way I write for clarinet and bass clarinet is even different. And those are all wind instruments. Piano is a whole different story...
There are some technical differences between instruments. Piano is more percussive than a wind instrument most of the time. Clarinet, strings, and other instruments can alter their tone color at will, while piano can't do too much with a single note (they can certainly change over passages... but with a single note, once the hammer hits the string, that's all you've got). Another example is that wind instruments (for the most part) can easily go from any note to any other note. However, in passages, fingering difficulties can cause problems for a pianist (other than the occasional sliding or double-fingering, clarinets rarely have finger problems like that...). When I write for piano, I consider the fingering implications of the what I write. Similarly, tremolos, rapidly repeated notes, etc are idiomatic for piano (I was going to say easy, but that's usually NOT the case), but can be very awkward on a clarinet. These are just a few specific examples that I can think of. This technical considerations don't exclude writing like that (Nielsen, cough, cough), but I believe that a composer with knowledge of the instrument they're writing for is at least subconsciously aware of the problems their writing might cause, which can affect how they write).
Aside from technical differences that may necessitate a slightly different writing style, I think it's mostly in the composer's head. As I mentioned, I write differently for bass clarinet and clarinet... I don't know why, I just conceptualize their sounds and expressive capabilities differently. Same for piano. Some piano melodies transcribe nicely for winds, but many do not. If you looked at a given passage, you could probably determine what makes it more suited for a given instrument, but generally speaking, I don't think there is one reason that you can give to explain it. I guess the best answer is that it is a combination of the composer's concept of the instruments sound expressive and technical capabilities.
Sorry I couldn't offer something more concrete... Maybe someone else has better insights..
DH
theclarinetist@yahoo.com
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-07-22 01:07
On a related note, I find string writing quite surprising, because I tend to write with clarinet tendencies in mind. A# is treated completely differently from Bb (and not just in a theoretical sense)... who knew! Alternatively, I completely forget about things other instruments CAN do that the clarinet can't. I didn't get the sounds I expected out of a string quartet, because in my head, I was on some subconscious level expecting to hear similar tendencies to, say, a clarinet or sax ensemble.
I also find myself writing uncomfortably high for brass instruments. A range of an octave or two... wha????
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2004-07-22 01:49
I find that I write high for clarinet... My clarinet parts spend the majority of their time above the staff. Even if I make a conscious effort to write lower, the parts just seem to drift upwards. Conversly, my piano parts tend to be bottom heavy and utilize the bottom range of the piano extensively.
I'm currently learning violin because I've wanted to write for strings, but find that without knowledge of how they work, my compositions will likely not be desirable for string players... I mean, a melody is a melody, but in order to fulling exploit the instrument's nature/capabilities, I need to know something about how the instruments are played. The technique involved in playing a given instrument definitely weighs heavily on how it is written for.
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Author: Jim E.
Date: 2004-07-23 04:43
A few thoughts...
There are an almost infinite variety of musical styles in general (including those not yet developed) and comparing pieces stylistically can be difficult if not impossible.
Not all piano music is written with the melody in the top of the right hand (as not all choral music is written with the melody in the soprano, though the majority is.)
Wind instrument players (and singers as well) experience music in a linear form, that is as a melody line, or something else that substitutes for a melody. (My bass part in a choral work is often melodic, but rarely is it THE melody.) However, with the exception of unaccompanied solo works, music has both linear and vertical (harmonic) components, and while we may not be playing all of these elements, they can not be ignored in either the performing or the experiencing of music. In other words, for wind players, while much of our practicing is solitary, most of our performance is with others. We sound several notes at the same time, but unlike a pianist, it takes several of us to do it.
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