 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Irwin
Date: 2000-01-16 15:56
I have an R13 which sounds wonderful - dark and rich in the Chalameau, bright and lively in the Altissimo. However, the B flat right before the upper register has no punch and sounds sort of mushy.
Suggestions?
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-01-16 16:13
Try cleaning out the register key hole. The slightest build up just kills this note. The normal register key hole is too small to make a really good sounding Bb so that is why any build up is bad. In slow, exposed passages many players will go with the side key for the Bb. Also, putting down one or more fingers of the right hand will often give this note a little more resonance so that it will sound better.
The midline Bb (A key + register key) is a compromise on any clarinet. Each clarinet maker chooses a different compromise based on his opinion of what the players prefer. If he favors making a great sounding Bb, it throws the register to register tuning off. If he favors accuracy of register to register tuning, it makes the Bb bad.
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Author: Ginny
Date: 2000-01-16 18:45
I know that the A just below this sounds much better if I add a few fingers to the lower open holes like the 2 or 3rd or 4th down in some combination. This depends on which clarinet I am playing. I very likely do some of it on the Bb also. It really helps intonate and clean the tone on the A.
Try it.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-01-16 18:54
AOL cut me off again in the middle of making up a post!! May want to change! Post - Congrats, you have found the worst of several poor notes on our sop cl's. Brymer spends nearly a chapter on this! The best Bb I've found is on my cherished LeBlanc L7, which tube extends only 1/8-1/4 the way into the bore diameter and has an external raised "boss". This is similar to the diff. between my basses, Selmer - tube well into the bore, Conn not at all into bore!! I'm going to review Ave Galper's patent to research improvement of an outdated construction detail.Don
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Author: Kim
Date: 2000-01-16 23:59
To improve the intonation of this terrible note, my teacher told me to cover all of the holes of the lower register and put my pinky on the C key. It made a tremendous difference!
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Author: Donn
Date: 2000-01-17 14:09
Don: Welcome to the club. AOL is great about advertising for new customers but not taking care of the ones they have. Re: LeBlanc: My 1611 has no trouble with Bb
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Author: Ray Swing
Date: 2000-01-17 14:18
When crossing and then recrossing the break, Baermann recommends keeping the right hand fingerings in place down to G. This helps quite a bit on rapid passages. And as many have noted, it improves the intonation of b flat and sometimes A and G. I should note that when I was unsure of what the Baermann notation for keeping the right hand in place meant in his "Complete Method For Clarinet", Dee clarified it for me.
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Author: Mario
Date: 2000-01-17 19:58
Welcome to one of the most beautiful aspects of clarinet playing: homogenizing the middle break (there is also such a thing for the high break).
Yes, Bb is stuffy and slightly sharp. But, resonance fingerings at the break are there to solve more than this particular Bb problem. You have to look at the overall intonation, color and response across the break to find a solution that works, for a given passage, in a way that will provide a smooth, elegant, musical transition.
You have to add specific fingers, not just any of them. The fingerings there must not be random or always the same. The choice must be made with many parameters in mind, trying to reach the proper compromise between technical feasibility and the quality of the results.
For instance, a proper solution for A might create a very weak G, while a slight compromise might work for both, etc. Ridenour (as many others) have a fascinating list of solutions that require study, practice and commitments.
The goal is to come up with a sequence that makes the transition across the break transparant for the listener. For instance, you want your throat tones to approximate low clarion color. You need to add pressure to the throat tones so that the response to the lower chalumeau have no pressure gap. Intonation must remain good (although, it is actually the easiest problem to fix).
Properly used, resonance fingerings from throat G to Bb can succeed in making the throat tones amongst the most beautiful of the instrument: vibrant, dark, with great projection, very flexible with a wide dynamic range. Once you play the throat properly, you fall in love with them.
Something interesting happens once one starts paying attention to this kind of stuff. Even very simple, beginners pieces (often played in the staff so full of transitions) become interesting studies in throat tones management. They become a challenge that make them worthwhile to play. I often play with junior pianists and I have quite a lot of simple stuff as duets. I make these cut little pieces studies in transitions. There are therefore worthwhile to play and become pleasant for the listener.
By the way, with these nice solutions, there is no excuse for a weak, prominent Bb, especially as the last long note of a passage. And do not forget the use of the side key for Bb. It can be used any time you come down from the clarion or up from the chalumeau (yes, it can - you have to learn to roll the right hand, but that's the fun of it). You can use it from Bb to any note not requiring right hand holes closed. For a slower passage with some preparation, one can transit from Bb to clarion F or chalumeau Bb from this side key. With additional resonance fingerings used carefully, what a difference this trill key makes.
James Campbell (a grand master with extra long fingers) is rumored to use this side key for Bb essentially all the time.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-01-19 18:37
I don't want this interesting discussion to pass toward oblivion without offering Lee Gibson's remarks from "Clarinet Acoustics", pg 47. "These faults prompted a century of searches for methods of separating the speaker function from that for the Bb [now thoroughly understood] and for methods of reducing frequency ratios mistuned by the dually functioning speaker-Bb vent, which are still TOLERATED [my emphasis] by those who do not accept any of the several solutions for separate, automatic venting". I'm afraid that includes me to some degree! Don
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Author: Mario
Date: 2000-01-20 13:53
Don's reaction is right. Why do we, clarinetists, TOLERATE obvious mechanical weaknesses that have simple solutions.
I have a Bb and an A (two Rossis). My Bb has a standard venting for Bb. My A has the special mechanism invented long ago whereby the register tone hole and the Bb tone hole are separate (albeit both controlled by the thumb). There are many variations of this simple concept found in all other winds (including bigger clarinets for instance).
The differences are remarkable. Not only does this gadget improve the Bb substantially, but the register tone hole can also be much smaller, thus improving response and tuning in the clarion register. I will have my Bb retrofitted with this gadget as soon as I get to Santiago (this year hopefully...).
As a guideline for what to add and what not to add to the mechanism of the instrument, I have this simple rule: If the gadget only improve fingering, keep it out - the less metalwork the better for all kinds of reasons. But if the gadget improves the sound, go for it. This is why I never used additional levers and rings on my instruments. There is always a finger solution that works (even if it requires some aditional practice - it is OK to learn to slide). By the same token, this is why I went for unibody instruments, with no metallic rings, and with the special gadget for Bb. Good sound should always be the prime determinant of whether a gadget is useful or not.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-01-20 17:32
Fine comments, Mario, I noted your mention of Rossi's "unibody" construction, which should [and prob. does] allow for better tone-hole placement and size for the sometimes poor C#/G# [as the articulated keying allows]. Is your good Bb keying the so-called S-K [Stubbins-Kalmus, {have copy of expired patent!} well described by Brymer pg 52-3]mechanism? Some time ago, LeBlanc offered this as an add-on, would be interesting to know about acceptance! These two "faults" are the most marginal ones I can think of, since the lower "sliver" key can clean up the forks [B and F#]. I also noted your mention of the larger cl's being better "engineered" re: register keying, will have to look again at mine, TKS, Don
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-01-22 17:52
Having referred to the S-K, I want to give the patent no., US 2,508,550. Stubbins is also co-inventor with Vito Pascucci of a pressure-plate ligature, 3,791,253 viewable on the IBM pat site, or both are obtainable from Pat Dep Libraries. Don
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Author: Matt
Date: 2000-03-24 14:02
http://members.aol.com/cwindz/galper.html
This is the adapter mentioned earlier. Seems you're not alone in this.
Matt
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Author: Matt
Date: 2000-03-24 14:02
http://members.aol.com/cwindz/galper.html
This is the adapter mentioned earlier. Seems you're not alone in this.
Matt
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