 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jac
Date: 2000-07-02 14:36
Perhaps uniquely among the woodwinds, most people would agree that the low notes on the clarinet are easier to obtain than the alt. register. Most of the other instruments like the oboe, flute and sax find it more difficult to achieve the lower range. Why is this so since the flute also has a cylindrical body and the mouthpiece set-up of the sax. is similar to the clarinet? Does overblowing ever occur on the clarinet's lowest register?
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-07-02 14:57
Even though the flute is cylindrical, there remains a significant difference from the clarinet. The flute acts like a cylinder open at both ends while a clarinet acts like a cylinder closed at one end and open at the other. This characteristic of the clarinet is also why we change from the chalumeau to clarion register by twelfths rather than octaves. It also explains why, with almost the same tube length as a flute, our low register goes so much lower than the flute. Here is a very elementary summary of the primary characteristics of the different woodwinds.
Flute - acts like cylinder open at both ends, driven by edge blown effect
Clarinet - acts like cylinder closed at one end, driven by single beating reed
Saxophone - acts like cone, driven by single beating reed
Oboe - acts like cone, driven by double beating reed
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Author: Eoin McAuley
Date: 2000-07-02 23:42
I've been told that the bigger clarinets such as the Basset Horn and the Bass Clarinet find it easier to play the higher registers than the lowest (fundamental) register. Also, the early clarinets (c1700 - 1750) performed very poorly in the lowest register. So the phenomenon Jac pointed out applies only to soprano clarinets of modern design.
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Author: Graham Elliott
Date: 2000-07-03 08:07
Don't think so. The bass is much easier to play in the lower register. The basset horn is almost equal, but the higher register is perhaps a little more difficult (forgetting low C fingerings and the like). Early clarinets tended to be tuned either as chalumeax or clarinets, and did not operate successfully in both registers until the instrument had become more mature, that is around the time of Mozart.
Eoin McAuley wrote:
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I've been told that the bigger clarinets such as the Basset Horn and the Bass Clarinet find it easier to play the higher registers than the lowest (fundamental) register. Also, the early clarinets (c1700 - 1750) performed very poorly in the lowest register. So the phenomenon Jac pointed out applies only to soprano clarinets of modern design.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-07-05 13:35
I don't have a bass clarinet, but my alto clarinet is easier to play in the low register than in the altissimo. The playing characteristics of my alto are *generally* similar to those of my soprano clarinets, with some differences on individual notes.
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