 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: William
Date: 2000-04-02 16:37
This question is for all of you "pro" orchestral players out there that offer so much great advice for this forum. How many of you own C clarinets and, if so, what brands and how often do you actually use them? Or is it the general practice to transpose the parts on your Bbs? Please reply ASAP as I am considering the purchase on one for our next concert series (rehersals begin on Tues). Any advice would be greatly appreciated--thanks.
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Author: Keil
Date: 2000-04-02 18:11
Well i don't know about the pros but i do know that my private teacher has a C clarinet which he never uses. When he did play in the orchestra he really didn't use it either. You're much much better off buying an "A" clarinet. You'll see orchestral music for them way before you see it for a "C" clarinet. If you wish to purchase one just for the heck of it, go for it. By the Way my teacher's "C" clarinet is, I think, an old Buffet. He uses it only when he wants to play flute music without having to transpose. good luck!
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-04-02 19:53
I havent done much symphonic playing for a while, so my only use of my old Conn plastic C has been reading oboe parts when the key signatures are in many #'s or b's [with "incidentals", making me less than certain in transposition]. We did play "Heavens are Telling", I had the tpt in C part, so I used the C to have a more bright sound. I recall that some of the Moldau is played more easily on C and the Eligah oratorio calls for it in a number or two. My two friends in our local symphony did play C's recently, I'll try to recall what the music was. The use is infrequent. Don
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2000-04-02 22:19
Mark once told me that C-cl. are rare beasts in the US. In Europe and specially Germany they are more common and most orchestras have them. In my orchestra we have two of them. Conductors sometimes ask for them, specially in Beethoven 1st. and they are also useful in R. Strauss music since the parts are quite difficult and hard to transpose. Strauss is the latest composer I know of who wrote for C-cl. in the classical sence to make it technically easier for the performer. Before him you very often find C-cl. parts in orchestra and opera music. When Esa-Pekka Salonen was chief-conductor of The Swedish Radio Syph. Orch. he asked for C-cl frequently. I don't know if it's the same in The L.A. Phil.
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Author: ron b.
Date: 2000-04-03 03:22
William,
I have a Whittle (made in Texas) plastic Albert system C clarinet. It's presently missing the lowest pad cup. I plan to, one of these days, make a 'key' for it. I like to tinker with things, like restoring old horns and playing them (Alberts almost exclusively), and I picked this one up pretty cheap because it looked like it might be fun to fool around with. Otherwise, I had no particular purpose in mind for it. As has been mentioned above, some sheet music may be easier to play with a C horn rather than transposing more than four #s with many incidentals. I'm not in a hurry to fix the C though because I don't find transposing all that difficult.
ron b.
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Author: John
Date: 2000-04-03 14:34
My college teacher forced me to learn to transpose for C parts. I hated it at the time, but have been frequently grateful. I am a free-lance player who is often called to play in orchestras in the Portland, OR area at short notice. There are lots of early classical pieces with C parts. However, a number of the regular players here do use their C clarinets. There is a small but detectable difference in sound from C to Bb. There is also a detectable change in tuning characteristics. I get along fine transposing and if the accidentals get to me, I just write a few cues in the part.
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