 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: MUMMYMUSIC
Date: 2009-12-17 23:47
Hi,
I'm a very non - musical mother of two very talented children. My daughter plays piano, recorder, trumpet and sings and my son plays piano, recorder and clarinet and neither is older than 10
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Well - i make it sound like a problem, well it is not.....
My problem is that when my son recently took up the clarinet i remembered that i had one (rather strangely) tucked away in my wardrobe.
My mother in law gave it to us about 15 years ago. The clarinet is rather old looking and certainly in need of some repair and servicing. I would like to know something about it but can't find much at all - even on the 'great internet'.
It is marked J H Ebblewhite, 4 - 5 High St, Aldgate, London.
It is wood and the rings look silver.
It is really beautiful.
There is no mouthpiece.
It is marked 'c'.
Should I spend money on getting it serviced and repaired ?
My question is really - is it rare and interesting or just a niknak?
Hoping that someone somewhere will be an expert in ebblewhite.
Thanks
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Author: Phat Cat
Date: 2009-12-18 00:30
Can you post a photo of the instrument? I found several hits for my Google search that indicate that this could be a quite old clarinet from the mid 1800s. As such it may have some collectible value but is likely not a suitable instrument for your son.
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Author: MUMMYMUSIC
Date: 2009-12-18 07:51
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLY - YES I CAN FIND OUT ABOUT THE HISTORY OF EBBLEWHITE - IT WAS VERY INTERESTING. BUT I'M FINDING IT DIFFICULT TO MAKE A JUDGEMENT ABOUT THE CLARINET. I THINK MY LOCAL MUSIC SHOP IS GREAT BUT THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY NOT EXPERTS IN EVERYTHING. ANYWAY THANK YOU FOR YOU INTEREST AND HERE'S HOPING I'M A MILLIONAIRE!!!!!
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2009-12-18 09:52
I don't mean to discourage you, but
- the clarinet is an older "Albert System" instrument. These days, pupils get taught on Boehm instruments.
- the clarinet might be in the pitch of "C" while a standard school instrument is in pitch of "Bb".
So...this clarinet in question is no good for your son to learn on, at least if it should be more than just killing time.
This does NOT mean that your clarinet is no good at all, but its use is rather limited unless you know someone who plays in a church choir or wants to accompany a piano without having to buy special Bb clarinet parts. (I do have a C clarinet for exactly that purpose).
There is a market for instruments like these. Yours might not make you a millionaire, tho'. Good luck!
--
Ben
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Author: Nessie1
Date: 2009-12-18 12:42
If you're interested in the history etc of this instrument, I have just googled Ebblewhite clarinet and come up with various catalogues for museum collections etc which include examples, also a flute.
As others have said, it is not really what most people would want to play on today and certainly not suitable for a young beginner or elementary player but you could have fun finding out about it or get suitable specialist advice about whether it would be worth selling to fund some of your family's musical activities. To get an honest appraisal of the value I would say you would need to contact either a specialist auction house which holds musical instrument sales or a museum with a musical instrument collection. Either would probably want to see the instrument "in the flesh" before they could form an opinion.
Vanessa.
PS Incidentally, Aldgate High Street, London is only a few minutes' walk from where I am typing this at my office - small world! If it was made in the mid-late nineteenth century I wonder whether it might have been used at somewhere like the Brick Lane Music Hall or Wilton's Music Hall which are nearby. It puts me in mind of another post I wrote about the fictional clarinettist in Dickens' Little Dorrit - possibly the kind of instrument he would have had.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2009-12-18 19:13
>>- the clarinet might be in the pitch of "C" while a standard school instrument is in pitch of "Bb".
>>
Also, pitch standards have changed. The "C" to which this old clarinet is pitched will sound out of tune with a modern piano or a modern clarinet in C. As others have said, though, people do collect and play "obsolete" clarinets.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: MUMMYMUSIC
Date: 2009-12-18 19:40
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR REPLIES.
LUCKILY MY SON WAS TREATED TO A BUFFET B 12 - JUST THOUGHT I'D ADD THAT - AS I FELT PEOPLE WERE STARTING TO FEEL SORRY FOR HIM, INCASE I EXPECTED HIM TO PLAY THE EBBLEWHITE.
WELL I THINK I WILL PROBABLY KEEP THE CLARINET IN THE WARDROBE FOR A YEAR OR TWO SO THAT AS MY SON GAINS MORE INTEREST HE CAN DO THE RESEARCH AND ENJOY FINDING OUT ABOUT IT.
I MIGHT JUST ASK A INSTRUMENT MUSEUM AS TO THE BEST WAY TO LOOK AFTER IT AND WHETHER OR NOT I SHOULD HAVE IT MENDED AND SERVICED. THAT WAY IT WILL BE READY FOR RAY WHEN HE IS OF AN AGE TO RESEARCH IT.
MY SON HAS ONLY HAD THREE LESSONS, BUT HAS REALLY TAKEN TO IT. HE CAN PLAY BY EAR ANYTHING THAT TAKES HIS FANCY. SEEMS A BIT STRANGE THAT HE CAN JUST PLAY IT....... HOW DOES THAT WORK THEN? PIANO SEEMS TO BE TAKING SO LONG TO MAKE PROGRESS.
ANYWAY I'M RANTING......
THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP - FEEL I CAN NOW GO TO A SERIOUS MUSIC PLACE AND ASK ABOUT THE EBBLEWHITE WITHOUT FEELING SILLY.
X HELEN
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2009-12-18 20:05
> My son has only had three lessons, but has really taken to it. He can play
> by ear anything that takes his fancy. Seems a bit strange that he can just
> play it....... how does that work then? Piano seems to be taking so long to
> make progress.
Well, we have only one note to play at a time, and chances are about 1:20..1:30 you hit the right one while on piano it'd be 1:88. ![[tongue]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie6.gif)
And each of the fingerings is different and unique while on piano it's easy to accidentally shift by a key or two...
That doesn't say which one's easier to _master_, but I agree that for a beginner a single-note (vs a chord-able) instrument might be easier, or provides the warm fuzzy feeling of success a lil' faster.
--
Ben
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Author: chris moffatt
Date: 2009-12-18 22:55
J H Ebblewhite stopped making most woodwind instruments in 1875. He doesn't seem to have made any clarinets after this date. This is consistent with the pictures you posted. The instrument doesn't seem (from the pictures)to have the patent C sharp key which was introduced in 1861 and was quickly adopted especially in Britain so that most likely dates it to pre 1890 after which the lack of this key is very unusual. The keywork is definitely more modern than Ebblewhite was using around 1850 so I think this horn dates to somewhere between 1860 and 1880. As such it would have some interest for a collector but to be really interesting it would have to have a skillful restoration which would be quite expensive...
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