 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Sailbloke
Date: 2008-12-17 21:25
As a new clarinet player trying to teach myself to play, I wonder if one of the more experienced players amoung you can shed some light on a problem I appear to have encountered. I have 2 clarinets, a Yamaha 26 and a B&H Regent, which are in tune with each other, however when I play with my daughter on her Bb trumpet my clarinets are one whole tone flat. Her trumpet is in tune with our keyboard and she also plays in an orchester at school
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2008-12-17 21:30
Is your daughter used to play in concert pitch?
Or the other way round, when you play a "C" on your clarinet, it should be in tune with your piano's "Bb" (that's why yours is called a "Clarinet in Bb").
--
Ben
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2008-12-17 21:51
If she plays a C on her trumpet that matches the C on the keyboard, and both match a D on your Bb clarinet, she either has a C trumpet or is playing the wrong note.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: NorbertTheParrot
Date: 2008-12-18 07:10
Both the above posts are correct, but I wonder whether more explanation is required. Here goes.
First of all, you need to understand, if you don't already, that certain instruments conventionally have their music written at a different pitch from that in which they sound. Such instruments are called "transposing instruments". This is really a very silly name. There's nothing special about the instruments, merely about the way in which their music is written.
We describe the convention used for any particular instrument by the note it sounds when the player plays the note that is written as C.
Your clarinets are clarinets "in Bb" - the commonest kind. When you play the note that you write as middle C - thumb and three fingers - the note that actually sounds is a Bb. It matches Bb (a black note) on the piano, rather than matching C (a white note).
I'm assuming, by the way, that your piano is in tune. If it's an electronic piano, it is possible it has been set to play in a different key - some electronic pianos allow this. So check that first. C on the clarinet equals Bb on the piano, yes?
Now let's turn to the trumpet. Almost all trumpet players in the UK learn on a Bb trumpet. A Bb trumpet has exactly the same transposition as your Bb clarinet:
C on the Bb clarinet
equals C on the Bb trumpet
equals Bb on the piano
But you are telling us, I think, that the trumpet is a tone higher than this. This would imply that
D on the Bb clarinet
equals C on the trumpet
equals C on the piano.
In other words, either:
the trumpet is a C trumpet
or:
the trumpet is a Bb trumpet, but your daughter is not following normal notational conventions; when she sees a written C, she is playing the note that sounds C. All experienced orchestral trumpet players know how to do this when required, but a relative beginner (unless completely self-taught) is unlikely to do so.
Fortunately, it's easy to tell. Ask your daughter to play the note that matches C on the piano (and matches D on the clarinet). Look at her fingers:
If all the valves are up, she has a C trumpet.
If the first and third valves are down and the second valve is up, she has a Bb trumpet, but she is playing the note that would normally be written D. If so, ask her why. Either she is trying to be very helpful, or she has been taught in a very odd way...........
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-12-18 08:52
Are you sure her trumpet is a Bb trumept and not a C trumpet?
Here is another possibility in case it is really a Bb trumpet. Maybe when you both play a note, let's say a C, maybe your daughter automatically knows her trumpet is in Bb and she will play the whole tone above, assuming the note was in concert pitch.
Does the problem happen if you both read from the same music?
One local trumpet player is actually a pinanist, and was for many years before learning trumpet. He taught himself trumpet and since he didn't want to bother with transposing, and since he only play his music on trumpet or only by ear, he leared it as if his Bb trumpet was a concert pitch instrument. Is it possible that something like this happened to your daughter by accident? Though if she has/had lessons with a trumpet teacher then it's extremely unlikely.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-12-18 09:23
Thanks Norbert for an excellent explanation. Could we add: "If you and your daughter play a piece of music...as a duet... that she uses for her trumpet you should be in tune with each other....if her trumpet is a Bflat."
Bob Draznik
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