 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Barbara
Date: 2000-07-09 04:53
I went to see a Mahler concert recently, and I was surprised to see during the climaxes, the wind players (oboes, clarinets, horns)had to lift their instruments parallel to the ground, trumpet style. Is this primarily a visual thing or does it actually allow us to hear the winds clearly? Then again, I think the 'nets were playing in the alt. register along with the piccolos so it should be quite easy to hear them.
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Author: Robin
Date: 2000-07-09 13:38
I don't think Mahler knew that clarinets' sound comes from the fingerholes primarily, not the bell, so that raising the bell makes little difference to volume. I've played Mahler 1 and 2, and the main difference in sound in "Shaltrichter Auf!" seems to be a reduced amount of control (and wayward intonation). Unless one moves one's body right back in the seat, it's easy to get a bad headache! It certainly looks fantasic, though!
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Author: Todd H.
Date: 2000-07-09 15:29
Thanks for explaining that, I too had wondered about that. Mahler still might be ahead of the times, at least I haven't caught up with him yet!
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Author: Graham Elliott
Date: 2000-07-11 14:30
There is a passage in Mahler 1st (I think) where this is always done and is a bit of a tradition. It's the bit in the Landler: da da da bup.. babup bup bup bup bup da da dada bup .. babup bup bup bup ba (if you can make sense of that). Not sure that lifting the bell doesn't help the sound carry, but the psycho acoustic effect is very obvious.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-07-11 22:39
Graham Elliott wrote:
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There is a passage in Mahler 1st (I think) where this is always done and is a bit of a tradition.
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It's actually more than a tradition, and (unlike some oddball notations) it isn't the work of an overzealous editor. Mahler wrote this instruction into the music himself.
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Author: Robin
Date: 2000-07-12 14:48
But even still,Graham, I think the accoustic effect Mahler was after was probably simply about volume. The by-product of 'bells up' is a sort of wild, unfocussed brigade of unruly folk clarinets! I think it sounds good, but I don't think it was Mahler's intention.
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