 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: john4256
Date: 2012-11-20 07:37
Can anyone tell me the musical term for holding the clarinets up horizontally and playing over the heads of those in front of them? The oboes do it too notably in Mahler's 6th Symphony,
Many thanks
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Author: KTJ78
Date: 2012-11-20 08:10
"Schalltrichter auf" is the direction given in the music to hold your bell out.
KTJ
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Author: Clarimeister
Date: 2012-11-20 08:13
The German term for it would be something like Schalltrichter auf or (Schalltr. auf) or even Schalltrichter in die Höhe. All these terms mean Bells or Horns up or the longer one means Bells or Horns up in the air. The clarinets and oboes do this in almost every Mahler symphony starting with the 1st. It's used to give a very projecting and more aggressive sound. Pretty cool if you ask me - I love doing it!
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Author: Nessie1
Date: 2012-11-20 08:13
I think I have seen "Schalltrichter in die Hohe" - in Mahler 1.
Vanessa.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-11-20 13:58
While you're instructed to hold the instrument up, you shouldn't tip your head back to maintain the same embouchure angle as this defeats the object, so keep your head in the normal position. What Mahler wants here is a raucous sound like a shawm from the clarinets and oboes, not the same refined sound as normal with the bells up.
I watched an American orchestra playing Mahler on the BBC Proms a few years ago and the oboists (who play with their instruments at a very low angle) tipped their heads right back to keep the same playing angle even though they had the bells up. They looked uncomfortable.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2012-11-20 14:02
This same instruction is in the Mahler 1st bass clarinet part. I always enjoy the acrobatics involved, which allow me to release my "inner jazz tenor sax player".
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2012-11-20 20:32
Mahlers 1st symphony is a bass clarinet and third part with very little bass clarinet actually. Much more third and some Eb in the part than there is bass clarinet. I'm just saying.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-11-20 20:34
Both the 3rd and 4th clarinet parts have important Eb parts in them.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2012-11-20 21:13
Ed, you're right about Mahler's 1st, I was just pointing out that the "Schalltrichter auf" instruction is there during some of the bass clarinet passages as well. Which has caused me to wonder exactly how one does that with a bass clarinet?
I read somewhere it was probably just the result of a copyist's error, he saw the soprano clarinets doing it and figured it should be written the same for the bass clarinet (perhaps analogous to the annoying existence of parts for bass clarinet in "A", an instrument which for all practical purposes doesn't exist).
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-11-20 21:18
I wonder if anyone ever made a double case for a set of Bb and A basses?
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Ron Scholer
Date: 2012-11-21 04:03
I think in the US they call it a "Mic," with big huge speakers? Just checking.
Speaking about Mahler's 6th Symphony, if asked to play Mahler's 9th, Symphony of 1000. With 500 musicians and 500 singers, 35 clarinetist, maybe more, stay home. you won't be missed.
However, for those others that dare to play, wear ear plugs, and keep that appointment with that ear doctor you have the following day.
I once heard this played by the Cleveland Orchestra, at Severance Hall, and I remember hearing the first chair clarinetist playing with a very heavy vibrato. Very strange I thought and it didn't make sense. Later it was comfirmed that this severe vibrato was the players teeth shattering from the stage vibrations. Poor Georg Szell was never the same.
Yes this never happened, a bad joke, although Cleveland did perform it around 1974 or so. The decibel level was so high it was unreadable. Cal Tech reported a possible minor earthquake.
BA, MA, MSE, MST
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Author: DougR
Date: 2012-11-21 05:20
OK, here's a question. Have played several Mahlers with that inscription in the sheet music, and have never actually done it. No one else in the wind section ever did either. So: whose responsibility is it to "Schalltrichter auf"? The conductor? The principal clarinet?
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Author: cigleris
Date: 2012-11-21 06:39
@DougR
Having played Mahler's 5th in September it is the responsibility of the principal oboe and clarinet to make sure the sections do it. Very occasionally the players down the line have it solo or duo depending on how many clarinets. I'm all for it and love the noise you get.
Ron I believe you were thinking about Mahler's 8th. The 9th has that beautiful ending.
Peter Cigleris
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-11-21 10:20
Maybe they didn't understand what "Schalltrichter auf" meant!
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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