 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Beejay
Date: 2000-02-29 21:36
Many ligatures (Spriggs etc) seem to work on the principle of allowing the reed to vibrate as freely as possible. But my teacher, who has a beautiful tone, adjusts his ligature very high on the mouthpiece leaving a relatively short length of reed to vibrate. On his advice I am doing the same, and yes, I can get a more focussed sound although the volume seems to be limited. I'd like to pick the brains of fellow clarinettists about the importance of ligature placement. Are there different schools? ( I play with a Vandoren B-45 mouthpiece, Rovner ligature and Vandoren No. 3 reeds).
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-02-29 22:22
High placement - reeds act as if they were stiffer, thus playing and tonal characteristics are similar to those you would get with a stiffer reed.
Low placement - reeds act as if they were softer, thus playing and tonal characteristics are similar to those you would get with a softer reed.
What do I do? Position the ligature to I get the sound that I want that day out of that specific reed. Varying the placement of the ligature a tad bit can be used to compensate for some of the natural variability of reeds.
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2000-02-29 23:32
It's like simulating the length of the facing of the mouthpiece:
Low placement: Long facing, if the reed is slightly too hard.
High placement: Short facing, If the reed is slightly too soft.
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Author: Peter
Date: 2000-03-01 03:06
Beejay,
It appears from your comments that you are wrongly under the impression that only the portion of the reed above the ligature vibrates. Actually, even the ligature and mouthpiece itself vibrates!
Peter
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2000-03-01 05:12
At least one professional adopts a totally different way.Mr.Galper recommends to set ligature far below,its top almost 1/2 inches below the top line mark on your B45.
If you search Klarinet Archive,you can easily find his postings. I could not find any rational in those. May be his personal experiences tell his way.
By the way,as to Rovner ligature:
1)They recommends two ways of its setting.Tilting toward the tip or tilting another way. (Rovner's box comes with a strip of its description.)
2)They started to sell new improved line-ups with metal fixtures almost one year ago. They even recommends to use the inverted Rovner inverted:Screw comes on the top of reed.
<A HREF=http://www.rovnerproducts.com/lig.html>Rovner</A>
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Author: Beejay
Date: 2000-03-01 09:45
Thanks for all your advice and thanks Hiroshi for the tip about the Rovner. Actually I find it impossible to make mine tilt forward.
Some time ago, I went to one of the biggest music stores in Paris and spent an afternoon trying every ligature in stock. I came away with the new Oleg ligature, which with the right reed can be absolutely glorious, but which is quite finicky to adjust. Despite my innate conservatism, I find that I am using it more and more in preference to the Rovner setup that I've had ever since starting the clarinet.
I was very interested in Peter's comment that the mouthpiece, ligature and reed act as a vibrating whole. Is this why different mouthpiece materials -- vulcanite, crystal or event wood -- perform in such different ways?
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2000-03-03 22:54
Beejay -
There's no right or wrong placement for the ligature. Stanley Drucker has his as low as it can possibly go. Elsa Ludwig-Verdeher has hers as high as it can possibly go. Each of them is one of, say, the top 10 players in the world.
I usually put the top of my ligature even with or just slightly below the bottom of the "window" opening of the mouthpiece. If I move it higher, the sound becomes more focused but I lose the feeling of vibrancy inside my mouth, which I use for feedback on how the sound "sounds." If I move the ligature down, I get plenty of feedback, but the tone becomes "blatty" and unfocused.
Remember that S.D. and E.L.-V. use very different setups and play in very different groups. He uses extremely stiff reeds and plays in a huge, professional orchestra. She plays in a trio. I'm not sure how stiff her reeds are, but I've met some of her students, and their reeds are medium strength.
Start in the middle. Use your ears, and get a friend with good ears to stand at the back of the hall. Then do what works best for you, on that day and with that reed.
At this level, it's all a matter of preference and what feels best.
Ken Shaw
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