 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clockwiser
Date: 2007-08-27 16:19
Does it feel a little weird playing an instrument pitched 2 semitones lower than the concert pitch? I have been playing the clarinet for a while but when I play the clarinet, I can't stop thinking about the actual concert pitch of the note and I sometimes get confused of the fingering because of it.
Do you feel this? When you play, do you go to a special mode and isolate yourself from the concert pitch?
Thanks.
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Author: Ski
Date: 2007-08-27 18:01
I'm dealing with exactly this problem myself.
I've been playing the piano since I'm 4 or 5, and I exhibited perfect pitch since that early age. In grade school I played clarinet and bass clarinet, and for whatever reason the discrepancy between note names and pitch didn't bother me that much then. Now 30-something years later, it's not as easy to deal with.
I decided to take up clarinet again about a year ago. As I was trying out horns in the shop, the sound of clarinet notes didn't sound foreign nor did they "feel" transposed because of my previous experience. But once I started taking lessons, when my instructor would ask me to play any given note I found myself consistently a whole step off (in one direction or the other). Never a half step, never a minor third, always a whole step.
(As an aside, I bought a bass clarinet a few months ago and it was a compromise purchase. I originally wanted a contra alto, but at the last minute I decided that playing a C and hearing an Eb would drive me bonkers. So I went for the bass and hoped that with continued practice I'd achieve a sense of familiarity with pitch v. note for both Bb instruments.)
Anyway, when I practice clarinet I do try to put myself into a different mode. I'm working on memorizing the sound of the notes irrespective of their note names; this is in an effort to be able to improvise fluently on the clarinet at some later stage. This process dissociating of note name and note sound seems to have the most promise for me.
As another exercise, I sit at the piano, put the sustain pedal down and play a very widely spaced non-polytonal chord to create a wash of sound. As it's ringing out I improvise on the clarinet and try to hit the notes I'm hearing in my head based on sound/actual pitch, not note name.
And when it comes to reading music, I definitely go into another "zone" where I try to "soldierly" play what's written and not worry about the sound.
It's all a bit of a mind game, but still, I'm enjoying the process, and definitely feeling my way around.
Post Edited (2007-08-27 18:03)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-08-27 18:17
The good thing with Eb contras is that the position and pitch of the written note on the stave in treble clef Eb is pretty much the same as seeing and hearing it in concert pitch bas clef.
This makes it easy to play bass clef parts on an Eb instrument in this range (bari sax and EEb contra-alto clarinet) though adjustments have to be made to the key signature - when reading from bass clef, imagine a treble clef and add three sharps or take three flats off the concert pitch key signature - so concert F Major becomes D Major for an Eb instrument. Then the fun starts - some flats stay as flats when others become naturals, some naturals remain as naturals and some become sharps, and some sharps stay as sharps and others become double sharps.
And transposing treble clef Eb to concert pitch bass clef is the reverse.
Likewise with tenor clef and Bb basso (tenor sax and bass clarinet) - from tenor clef, imagine a treble clef there and add two sharps or take two flats from the key signature, leaving the notes as they appear on the stave.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2007-08-27 18:32
As Jack Brymer and others have said, a clarinet IS a "transposing" instrument, for mainly tonality reasons, I believe, so we must get used to this "fact of [musical] life". ? I think I have? Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: MichaelR
Date: 2007-08-27 20:11
clockwiser wrote:
> Does it feel a little weird playing an instrument pitched 2
> semitones lower than the concert pitch? ... I can't stop
> thinking about the actual concert pitch of the note
I, and I suspect many others, wish I had that problem.
--
Michael of Portland, OR
Be Appropriate and Follow Your Curiosity
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2007-08-27 21:01
> I, and I suspect many others, wish I had that problem.
I actually don't. I can imagine this gift is a curse sometimes.
--
Ben
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2007-08-27 22:39
Hi, Clockwiser and Ski.
I started playing piano four years before I started the clarinet. I have never given up the clarinet for any length of time but did spend some years without regular access to a piano. I do sometimes think a transposed note name when I hear a pitch. On the clarinet I associate fingerings with written notes pretty strongly, so the pitch difference doesn't bother me a whole lot when I am reading clarinet music. When I am in an ensemble I can hear that the ensemble is playing in G, but it doesn't bother my brain too much that I am reading in A. It actually affects me more when I am reading vocal music. Then I want to sing the pitch that is on the page! If I know the song I am better off just listening to the accompaniment and singing in the key being used rather than reading the music.
To me perfect pitch is more of a quirk than anything. It can be helpful at times, but I don't think the real effect on musicmaking is very big. Really, anyone who learns to hear intervals well has the tools they need.
Barb
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Author: BobD
Date: 2007-08-27 23:06
I never knew about concert pitch and transposing for more years than I like to admit. I was never confused until I got educated on the subject.
Bob Draznik
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2007-08-28 01:03
A friend of mine has perfect pitch and says that when she reads clarinet music she transposes the score into 'what it really is', ie. she thinks of concert D major as concert D major, not 'E major'.
But she gets confused on A clarinet sometimes.
Post Edited (2007-08-28 02:10)
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Author: ned
Date: 2007-08-28 06:56
I never knew that there were so many musicians possessing perfect pitch.
I have never heard it mentioned, even in passing, in jazz circles. If a jazz player were to say he possessed it, I guess we'd say he was big-noting himself.
That's peculiar I suppose as I have seen the subject crop up on this forum a number of times.
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Author: hajduk
Date: 2007-08-28 09:01
Actually........When I'm playing, such thing as a perfect pitch doesn't keep me busy......
I play with all my heart and passion, I never heard any of my audience compain........
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Author: ned
Date: 2007-08-28 09:21
So....what's the count now? Three or four respondents with PP, out of 10, so far?
This is remarkable - am I being too skeptical?
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Author: BobD
Date: 2007-08-28 11:36
I'm certain the Digireedoo players have it.....
Bob Draznik
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Author: Ski
Date: 2007-08-28 14:21
clarinetwife,
From reading your post it wasn't clear to me... do you have perfect pitch?
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2007-08-28 14:32
Yes, I do have perfect pitch. Ned, I think people are answering when asked, which is why many respondents to this thread have PP.
I also think that Jazz is mode and chord centered, so I don't doubt the subject of hearing pitches doesn't come up very much.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2007-08-28 14:34
I've been playing clarinet since I was 11. That's 46 years now. I guess I've played so long that I think of concert pitch as clarinet tones. I never played piano, but I do play guitar. However, clarinet was my first instrument, so guess I don't relate too well. However, your comments help me to understand some of my struggling friends.
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Author: Old Geezer
Date: 2007-08-28 14:50
We shoould all have such a "problem"...perfect pitch is a gift from the gods! Rojoice and then rejoice again!
I've noticed that a lot of people who think they have "perfect pitch" really don't. But's that's for another annoying thread....
Clarinet Redux
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