 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: terry
Date: 2005-03-29 10:45
Been thinking about this for some time. The voicing and range of a C alto would be great for most of what I would be interested in, accompaniment of voice, church, etc. Also would allow using "any" music.
Well,
who has a "C" alto clarinet?
1929 matched A and Bb Herman Todt Clarinets, Chadash Mouthpiece, Fogietta reeds, http://sterkel.org/clarinet
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Author: Contra
Date: 2005-03-29 11:28
Ah, you scared me for a second there. I think once it is pitched in C, it's not an alto clarinet anymore. I could be wrong, though. I've never seen any clarinet other than the C soprano pitched in C.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-03-29 12:39
I agree, Contra, that was my first thot. Considering the nomenclature of our soprano family menbers Bb,C and A, I'd think that an F alto would correspond to the C [possibly even the "Turkish" G] and a D would correspond to our A. I have seen a [one] alto sax in F. Of course we might [and do, properly] include the Basset Horn in the alto family, it is frequently referred to as an alto cl in F ! I have heard of bass cls in C and A , but believe they are very rare, now. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: John Stackpole
Date: 2005-03-29 15:23
In this general context, is there any "generic" definition of bass, tenor, alto, soprano, etc. perhaps in terms of the (approximate) ranges but without regard to any particualr instrument and its common key(s)?
JDS
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-03-29 16:04
There's no alto clarinet in C midway beyond soprano and bass. The bass is an octave below the soprano.
There are a few C basses. Dennis Smiley has a Buffet, and a no-name instrument appeared on The Forbidden Auction Site several years ago. As I recall, it attracted no interest at a minimum of over $1,500. I offered the owner what I considered a fair price, but he wasn't interested.
It's possible (or used to be) to order a bass in A from Selmer, but I think the only ones being made now (on custom order only) are to be from German makers (with German fingering) for use in Wagner.
The bass in C is impossibly rare even by these standards. Such parts as exist seem to have been written out in C with the assumption that the copyist would do the transposition for bass in Bb, though there may be a real part in Verdi's Ernani.
For more, see http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=95173&t=95142.
A bass in C would be great for playing continuo in baroque music (though a low C extension would be useful) and bassoon and cello parts.
Ken Shaw
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Author: David Oakley
Date: 2005-03-29 22:08
John--
I've always used the charts in Sybil [sp?] Marcuse's Dictionary of Musical Instruments for an "absolute" definition of soprano, alto, tenor, bass, etc.
Of course one very quickly learns that the names used for the actual instruments at those tonal positions varies inconsistently from family to family. (Compare saxes and clarinets for instance.)
There has already been a thread which argues that the comparison of tonal positions starts falling apart as soon as instruments that overblow an octave are compared to instruments that overblow a twelfth.
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Author: diz
Date: 2005-03-29 23:42
Yes but a "C bass" is still a Bflat instrument, not a C pitched instrument.
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-03-30 14:01
diz -
A "C recorder" is one that has C fingerings, rather than F fingerings (the other common form). The lowest note on a C recorder is (ordinarily) C, and it's fingered (mostly) like the second register of the clarinet (or flute, oboe, sax, etc.). On an F recorder, the corresponding fingering produces F (as in the low register of the clarinet, or the bassoon).
Since almost all bass clarinets are in Bb, the expression "C bass" can be used without ambiguity to mean a Bass in Bb with the range extended four semitones down from Eb to C, contrary to the usage with other instruments. However, when we talk about a bass clarinet pitched in C (as in this string), then we need to distinguish between the pitch and extended range.
Thus, here, I'd say "bass clarinet in C" and, perhaps, "low C bass clarinet [in Bb]."
Ken Shaw
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Author: Veldeb
Date: 2005-03-31 18:18
You can use a regular alto clarinet and read nearly all vocal bass clef written tenor parts and bass parts as if they were on the treble clef correcting the key signature (adding 3 sharps/or substracting 3bs) That's why I just bought an alto recently Same way a EEb contra can "read" off tuba, or trombone bass clef parts in band. Vocal parts for basses seldom go below written F (which would look like a "D" if you were reading the bass clef as the treble clef. To get the right timbre you might want to take the part down an octave on your alto which would limit you to Eb (which would really be an F#) Hope this is clear as mud!
Blake
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