 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Rachel
Date: 1999-03-23 21:25
I have an instrument that I THINK is a clarinet. It is old, and silver or silver-plated. It is narrower than the clarinets I've seen, which is what initially led me to believe that it was not a clarinet but perhaps a soprano saxophone. However, looking at the key structure, it really does bear more in common with clarinets. It is open-holed, with a trademark at the bottom: EMB Classic American. I don't imagine it's worth much of anything monetarily, and that's OK with me since I'll keep it as a decorative touch on top of my piano. But I'm curious about its narrowness -- does anyone know anything about this? Instead of going straight down from the mouthpiece like the ordinary clarinets I've seen, it narrows to about two-thirds of the breadth of the mouthpiece. Ordinary common-stock black band clarinets are "soprano" clarinets, aren't they?
Any input would be appreciated.
Rachel
who has never played the clarinet before, only the flute, the piano, and the tenor saxophone
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 1999-03-23 21:43
It sounds like it is a metal clarinet. The way to distinguish a clarinet from a saxophone is that a clarinet is cylindrical (same diameter all the way down) and a saxophone is conical (increasing diameter). Although the outside diameter of a metal clarinet is less than that of a wood or plastic clarinet, the inner diameter, which is what is important, is similar.
I'll let someone else fill you in on the history of metal clarinets and give you information specific to yours.
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Author: Dee
Date: 1999-03-24 00:54
Soprano saxes are much fatter than clarinets (even wooden ones) and has Don said they flare (a LOT by the way) where the metal clarinet stays nearly the same diameter until you get close to the bell. If the key structure is like that of a clarinet and it is as skinny as you say, it is almost certainly a metal clarinet. They take a standard clarinet mouthpiece. The mouthpiece slides into a larger cup that narrows down to the diameter of the horn. In some cases, this cup is part of the body of the clarinet while in others it is a separate piece allowing the clarinetist more freedom in pulling it out or pushing it in to adjust the tuning.
Up until the 1940's metal clarinets were made by the ton by a great number of companies for the student and marching band trade. So most of what you find at flea markets, etc are in this category. This is probably what you have. Monetary value is low as there are actually a lot of these around. On the internet auction, around 10% of the clarinets listed are metal ones. There are no doubt a large number still stored away in attics, etc around the country. There are a significant number of clarinetists though who want one to have just as a nifty little thing for their collection. On the eBay auction site, they are bringing anywhere from $25 to $125 depending on the condition.
A few professional grade metal clarinets were made but these are quite rare as they never really caught on. The ones that I have heard of were made by the larger, more prestigious instrument makers who could afford to take the risk. These would probably have a significant value to collectors.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-03-24 05:11
Someone posted in Klarinet@sneezy.org a Semer all-silver clarinet page with pictures.Very beautiful! Does your one look like this?
http://www.exit109.com/~fowlerr/metclar.html
Soprano Sax has a conical bore and two register(it seems) keys.Figering resembles not that of clarinet but that of flute.
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Author: Rachel
Date: 1999-03-24 06:27
Thank you all for your input. You're all correct, it's much more like a clarinet in general shape and keys than a soprano saxophone. Hiroshi mentioned that the fingerings for a soprano sax are "not like the clarinet but like the flute" -- so clarinet fingerings are wildly different from flute fingerings? I've played the flute since I was twelve, and I played the tenor sax for a semester in school, so I knew that the fingerings were similar between saxes and flutes, and assumed they would be similar on the clarinet also. I've obviously never played the clarinet before -- this one was my husband's mother's. She played it in school. I'd like to learn, though, so it looks as if when I get some reeds I'll also have to pick up a fingering chart.
Again, thanks all for the information!
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Author: Dee
Date: 1999-03-24 12:14
Well flutes, saxes, oboes, and clarinets are all similar but different in fingerings. The standard Boehm clarinet has four keys for the right hand pinky finger arranged as two banks of two keys (two above and two below). Flute and sax keys are even and have rollers. Oboe keys are even without rollers.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-03-25 01:16
Big difference:In clarinet fingerings,
1)left hand pinky moves the lowest joint pads.As you know,in flute right hand fingers do things for lower pads,and right hand ones for upper pads.This is making clarinet fingerings far more difficult than flute.
(Our brain problem)
2)Clarinet has a register key not like flute.
3)Clarinet have four trill keys not two of flute.
4)Clarinet harmonics consists of 12 degrees,whereas flute of octave.This means in flute you can use the same fingering for low and middle registers,whereas in clarinet,quite different.This makes its fingering more difficult.
5)Highest regiseter tones are emitted using harmonics of lower register fingerings.This is same for clarinet and flute.
But,clarinet has good things too.
1)If you play downward scale with flute,it is very difficult to crescendo.But in clarinet 'very' easy.
2)Clarinet dynamics are very,very wider than flute(I think).
Another different thing:
1)If you play pp with flute,the pitch becomes flat.We should tighten the lip.But in clarinet becomes sharp.To remedy this we should cover lower keys to flatten the pitch.
You can find somewhere in ICA(International Clarinet Association) homepage,how a good clarinet player can get along with flute in Debussy's Apres Midi d'un Faune.
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