 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2007-03-08 11:10
A composer recently asked me why the fundamental note is not the lowest note on the instrument. In other words, why is the lowest note of a B-flat clarinet an E (sounding D), etc.? Of course some clarinets play down to low C (Bass clarinet, basset horn, basset clarinet). In the case of a bass clarinet playing to low C, the lowest sounding note (B-flat), is also the fundamental of the instrument. But this comes about through adding extra keys and extending the length of the pipe.
I then started to think about other woodwind instruments (flute, oboe, bassoon). When covering all the holes you get a C, and then there are one or two extra keys to allow for low B and B-flat, depending on the instrument.
But this is the same as the clarinet- in the clarion register. The fundametal is reached by covering all the holes (except the extra B/E key)- producing written C in whichever key the clarinet is built. But only in the second register. Which led me to the conclusion that the clarinet does not overblow at the 12th, but actually UNDERBLOWS at the 12th!
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2007-03-08 11:39
If the fundamental means "close all holes", then this would include the register key hole, no?
(btw in the Chalumeau register the fingerings are comparable to the Alto Recorder whose C is also xxx|ooo)
--
Ben
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2007-03-08 11:46
sorry- the clarinet does overblow at the 12th; no joke.
the 'fundemental' changes depending on note you are playing. low E all the way to mid Bb (C with the side keys) are all fundementals.
the clarinet overblows the odd partials, and tuning of said partials varies depending on the fundemental.
BTW- a popular sized recorder is the alto in F. the lowest note is F.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-03-08 11:47
The fundamentals are ALL the lower register notes from throat Bb (or C using both trill keys as well as the speaker and throat A keys) right down to the lowest note your clarinet has - which could be low E, Eb, D or C depending on what clarinet you have.
The upper register on a clarinet is the 3rd harmonic series, sounding a 12th above the fundamentals.
On flutes, recorders, oboes, bassoons and saxes the upper register is the 2nd harmonic series, which is an 8ve above the fundamentals.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2007-03-08 13:01
There is a misunderstanding of terms. If by fundamental he means Bb in a Bb instrument, Eb in an Eb instrument, etc. then I don't think I ever heard these called fundamental notes. If this is still what he asks then it simply because the dimentions of the clarinet give the E (concert D) note.
It is like Chris P said.
I got a question too - a friend of mine plays tuba. He has a CC tuba. He can play a low C and then continue the overtone series C G C E etc. If he "underblows" the low C, that is, try to get even a lower note, it plays a F one 5th lower than the low C! He says this is a mystery. Does anyone know how this is possible?
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2007-03-08 13:41
Why does the clarinet play 'E' as the lowest note?
Excellent question. The fingering system has evolved to make the keys C, F and G (major) easiest to play in... but ONLY if 'C' is defined as 'all the fingers on the left hand'. This is really interesting. I wonder about the history of stuff like that.
I once wrote down a chart of which keys (metalwork) are used in which keys (sharps/flats). There's an eerie symmetry about the key of 'C', and between the lower and middle registers (which play one sharp/flat different, if you think about it). Like the left little finger does C#/G# and three long keys, and the right little finger does Eb/Ab and the same three long keys. Like the way the lower register plays Bb/B with RH fingers 1&2 and the upper register plays F/F# with the same fingerings. I got to thinking whoever thought it up must actually have been quite clever.
So my answer is this: if you put 'C' as all the fingers of the left hand, then you can build a clarinet with symmetrical metalwork. The number of 'long keys' for the lowest notes is 3 (down to 'E') as a kind of compromise between having six fingers on each hand and an almost-useable Bb below the break.
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Author: bahamutofskycon
Date: 2007-03-08 13:43
A Bb clarinet does not have a "fundamental note" of Bb (except when you finger that particular note in the chalumeau register). The Bb in our case refers to the key that the clarinet is pitched in.
Any note you finger in the chalumeau register is considered the fundamental which you can build the overtones from by pressing the register key or using the related altissimo fingering (actually you can play the series of overtones without the register key also, it just doesn't sound great).
Brass instruments are named by there fundamental notes which happens to also be the key they are in.
clarnibass - brass instruments can produce a "pedal tone" that is one octave below the basic note. This pedal tone is the actual fundamental, meaning the regular note is the 1st partial/overtone for that fingering. I know that doesn't answer your question of why your friend plays 1.5 octaves lower. That's a mystery to me also, unless your friend is using a tuner that can't pick up the pitch well that low. Sorry
Steve
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Author: John O'Janpa
Date: 2007-03-08 14:59
I'm infering and deducing a bunch here, but my guess is that it is related to the history and naming of the instrument "clarinet".
I believe the "clarinet" came into existence when a register key was added to
a chalameau. This enabled the playing of the "clarion" register and so the instrument was named the clarinet.
It then makes sense that the key of this clarion register thus becomes the key the clarinet is in.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2007-03-08 15:13
A clarinet's air column requires a pulse of air from the mouthpiece to make 2 round trips to the bell (or highest tone hole) and back. this happens at the speed of sound.
Thus, the clarinet, which is about a long as a flute is capable of playing a much lower note than a similarly sized flute or saxophone which take only 1 roundtrip.
On a tuba, French Horn, Trumpet, the length of pipe involved can be switched by the valving; so I supposed they contain several "fundamental" tones which the player exploits by overblowing them. My ww5 colleague is capable of underblowing notes on his French horn, but explains that isn't really what's going on there. He points out that, as you climb up the harmonic sequence of the horn, the notes come closer together --and that the true (miles of pipe) lowest notes are just not normally used (on the Fr. hrn).
I think that the proper use of the term "fundamental" applied to Clarinet, sax, oboe, flute, ... is the lowest note that can be played with a given fingering --the Chaleumau register on the clarinet -there are many of them.
Bob Phillips
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Author: JTS
Date: 2007-03-08 15:33
If you were to determine the key based on the lower register, clarinet in B-flat is actually a clarinet in E-flat when compared with other woodwind instruments (excluding bassoon). 1,2,3/1,2,3 on obeo/flute/sax in the fundamental register is a D, so if you figure that it is a written on the clarinet as well we would play E-flat and D clarinets, and what is now E-flat, would be A-flat piccolo clarinet.
JTS
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-03-08 15:37
"Why does the clarinet play 'E' as the lowest note?"
So it can play the B in the upper register. If it was only keyed to low F, you wouldn't have the B, and there'd be a gap of a whole tone between registers (Bb-C).
So it's out of necessity to be fully chromatic that the clarinet was keyed to low E.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2007-03-08 15:59
Chris -
Well, yes, but you could always have some sort of mechanism for blowing a throat 'B' (in principle, I know it would be horrid).
And why don't we just call that bottom note 'C', and play clarinet in 'D'?
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Author: Indyclar
Date: 2007-03-08 19:23
This is simply a terminology issue. On brass instuments, the name of the instrument (ie. CC tuba or F tuba) refers to the fundamental pitch (the overtone series produced on the length of tubing when no valves are pressed). On a woodwind instrument it refers to the transposition. You can read up on why we have all these different clarinets in any history of instruments (there's a good one by Baines). The Bflat clarinet just hapens to be the one that works bestacoustically, and has "stuck". The fundamental of the clarinet is variable - any note in the chalumeau register.
As to the question of why the lowest note on clarinet is lower than other woodwinds of similar length, ask an organ builder or a physicist. A cylindrical half-stopped pipe (clarinet) will sound lower than a flute (open cylinder) or a conical half-stopped pipe (oboe or saxophone). It has to do with the way the sound waves (actually variations in air pressure) are distributed by the shape and length of the tube and the wave-producing mechanism (ie. your mouthpiece and reed). See any book on Acoustics for a detailed explanation.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2007-03-09 05:47
"And why don't we just call that bottom note 'C', and play clarinet in 'D'?"
I don't know exactly why, but I think it is good that we don't. If it was like this, then the C major scale would be played as E major scale, which is harder to to play because you need to press more keys. The way the clarinet is now, is that usually for # or b you press more keys, which makes it very comfortable. If it was like described above, then for example the very common and easy scale of G major would be played as B major, a much harder and a lot less common scale. I don't know if these are the historic reasons. Actually, because the A clarinet came before, I doubt they are, but it turned out good this way. Although I'm guessing they thought about using the less keys scales for the less # or b scales and went from there. Of course for comfort all clarinets must be transposed differently so it is easy to play all of them (i.e. same fingerings for same note names) so if the Bb would be a D clarinet, the other clarinets would still be different.
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2007-03-09 08:15
clarnibass - I think you might be right. And even though the 'A' clarinet came first the argument still holds... if 'E' were called 'C' it would be clarinet in C#, which would be silly.
Here's another thought: back then they had the basset clarinet, with extended bottom range. How far down did these go? - all the way to 'C', like extended bass? Presumably then the bottom four notes were lost because throat Bb was thought to be an acceptable compromise.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-03-09 12:25
It's fortunate the clarinet overblows a 12th as this means the low and middle register fingerings share similar traits with the other woodwinds.
Eg. xxx|ooo is G on flutes, oboes and saxes and the upper register on clarinets, and xxx|ooo is also C on bassoons and the lower register on clarinets. Recorders have xxx|ooo as G on garklein, soprano, tenor and great bass and xxx|ooo as C on sopranino, alto and bass.
So across the board, there's some fingering similarities that unite the woodwinds.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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