 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: LonDear
Date: 2007-03-22 03:36
After agreeing to play the Bb 1 book, I was handed the oboe/Ehorn book at the first rehearsal. I can cover the oboe parts on C and Eb soprano clarinets, but I can't decide whether an A or alto sounds best on the English Horn parts. I have all of the Ehorn parts entered into a scoring progam, so transposition is not an issue, and the part doesn't go too low for an A. If any of you have had to cover the Ehorn part on this musical, I would appreciate any input. Also, if any of you have a preference for whether an A or an alto sounds better to cover an Ehorn part, I would like to hear the advantages and disadvantages, soundwise.
Thanks,
Lon
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2007-03-22 14:18
Regardless of the range issues, I would use the A or Bb clarinet to cover a Cor Anglais part over an alto for several reasons.
• Rigging up the alto to play it takes time, and there are no good alto clarinet stands on the market any longer. Just handling one is a bit cumbersome, and it would make horn changes more complicated than they need to be.
• In tonal matters, you will have more flexibility when playing on the soprano instruments than you will with alto clarinet. While neither a soprano clarinet nor a alto clarinet (nor a basset horn, for that matter) will give you the same "hold nose while humming in your throat" tonal quality that makes the Cor so "special" in the musical department, you will have better luck with the soprano than you will with the "hollow" tonal quality of the alto.
• Finally, and related to the first point above, you will have one less horn to worry about - one less reed to keep wet, one less mouthpiece to adapt to, and one less thing to store when you are not using it. Most Cor parts are spotty at best, with use in perhaps a third of the numbers in the show. Dragging an alto around for such limited use, particularly in light of the second factor, just doesn't make good sense.
(When I was presented with this same problem once, I went out and rented a cor and learned to manage it well enough to cover the part. But, I've got a lot of time in on bassoon, and the reed was large enough for me to manage. Had it been oboe, I would have passed on the chance.)
And, there's another alternative here as well. If there is a synth person playing in the pit (and many groups use them now to fill out the string sound, the standard synthesizer patch for the "English horn" is not all that bad. It retains the tonal quality that you're not going to get any other way other than playing it on a cor. This may be the best solution rather than playing it in a timbre that the arranger never had in mind for the part.
I now yield the floor to the certified members of the alto clarinet guild, who will (I am sure) have a hundred reasons why the alto is the way to go...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2007-03-22 16:10
I once dropped into a community orchestra and found a sopo sax sitting in for the cor. It was pretty wonderful.
Bob Phillips
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Author: LonDear
Date: 2007-03-22 16:43
Terry,
Thanks for the very practical advice. Since closeness of timbre is better on the A, I'm all for it. I make my own alto clarinet stands and use Legere reeds, so that alleviates part of the concern, but you are right on the money. It will be a nice break from carrying sometimes as many as seven sizes of clarinets.
I agree about the electronic angle also; I have a WX5 with great sounding double reed sounds that I use for studio work, but it is not satisfying to play on long, repetitive gigs.
I'm also going to try Bob's suggestion of using a sop sax - I can't believe I didn't think of that. It will put me in some buggered keys, but I'll see what the director thinks.
Thanks,
Lon
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