 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Franklin Liao
Date: 2010-07-09 02:28
I have currently been using Forte C clarinet, which ... frustrates me a little bit going to upper clarion and altissimo.
I used to be something close to 20 degrees flat on that horn, uniformly so. Echoing Nitai Levi, this was much rectified by using of all things, the Yamaha 5CM mouthpiece. However, I have found no remedy for the following:
*altissimo and upper clarion being more even in resistance. I felt this distinctly against all the Bb and A that I've tried throughout the last 2 months.
*intonation going to altissimo.
These two points have been rather frustrating for me since I've grown to really love the C horn. A C clarinet fits my hands more than Bb or A, it lends itself to playing by ears well, it has a lovely sound at that.
All of these have prompted me onto a search for a solution... to be frank, an equivalent in having say CSG or Symphonie in C. The E11 and RC Prestige in C I have heard require post-production works, with E11 needing the register tube moved about to get it right.
Stephen Fox has indicated that re-lining and repositioning the register tube the Forte are doable in order to cure a horn, but I wonder if there's any clarinet in C that, even when out of the box, is every bit as easy to speak as their class equivalent in Bb.
Morrie Backun's words can be summarized in that going through a lining operation is no panacea. One does not simply fix a clarinet to get in tune to Mordor.
The worst of all, trying out a C horn is easier said than done. It would seem that one would come across an effer easier than a harmony horn...
I wonder whatever should I do.
Post Edited (2010-07-09 04:09)
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2010-07-09 04:37
I'm certainly not a clarinet acoustics expert, but I can't imagine how the closed cylindrical pipe of any clarinet, much less the C and Eb, could ever be modified so that every note in its range, esp. altissimo, will be in tune.
Spend a year finding alternate fingerings. It CAN be done!
(Spending a gazillion dollars to modify an instrument will help--if it doesn't cause a passle of other problems or turn the instrument into something other than a clarinet--but you're going to have to deal with tuning problems in the end anyway.)
B.
Post Edited (2010-07-09 04:39)
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Author: Franklin Liao
Date: 2010-07-09 05:01
I guess I am at a loss with why it seems so much easier for me to play horns in Bb and A at upper clarion/altissimo comparing to that of C. Be it R13, Athena or Cadenza...
I wish I can factor out the operator (me) being incompetent but I cannot...
ed: I actually also wish to play with more than 2 samples in C too before thinking that I can solve this little gnawing issue by tossing money at it.
Post Edited (2010-07-09 05:11)
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2010-07-09 08:25
It's not "incompetence," Franklin. Don't sell yourself short.
However, equipment or modifications to equipment--the "best" clarinet or the "best" technician--cannot solve all problems.
The clarinet is an instrument that is routinely expected to cover nearly four octaves, yet the very thing that makes a clarinet what it is--a closed pipe with parallel walls--makes expecting the instrument to tune perfectly in all ranges and play with equal resistance everywhere unreasonable and probably impossible.
If you can, get a copy of "The Clarinet Revealed" by Ernest Ferron, and you will get a better understanding of the problems inherent in ALL clarinets and why, rather than looking for a technical solution or the "perfect" clarinet, most of your energy and time should go into learning work WITH a good clarinet by learning how to play it (alternate fingerings for tuning and resistance or practicing intervals, in the case of your C).
(The short answer to your question about why you don't have nearly the trouble with the Bb and A clarinets, though, is that the longer the pipe, the larger the tolerance for error in bore, tone hole placement and size, mouthpiece dimensions, etc. Ferron clearly and succinctly explains why.)
I don't think you're going to find one person, no matter how competent on the clarinet, who hasn't had to work hard to get pitches in tune in the altissimo by experimenting with the myriads of fingering options in the literature and often inventing their own, and who hasn't had to deal with differences in resistance when playing wide intervals. On the C and Eb clarinets, this can be quite an effort, taking months or even years.
Don't be discouraged! Assuming that your clarinet doesn't have some serious bore weirdness, work with what you have! If you persist and put enough study and effort in, you'll learn the play the instrument the way it needs to be played.
B.
Post Edited (2010-07-09 08:38)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2010-07-09 10:41
I borrowed a Leblanc LL C clarinet for a week to do Mahler 1 and it played very easily from the word go. Tuning and response was excellent on this.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: William
Date: 2010-07-09 14:24
I can play "in tune" with my Buffet E-11 C clarinet--or, at least, in tune with anyone I have to play it with. Like any clarinet , it has to be *played* in tune--not always easy to do, but by no means, impossible.
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