 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: AAAClarinet
Date: 2014-03-14 11:22
What kind of Bb soprano clarinet has a key on the bell. I saw one in a video, but couldn't find any when doing a search. Thanks
AAAClarinet
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Author: donald
Date: 2014-03-14 13:10
Many top line German system clarinets have a key on the bell that (when open) sharpens the low F and E. This is either opened by the right thumb, or opened automatically when the register key is NOT in use...
The "low F tuning key" on the Buffet Tosca, a similar key available as an option on Selmer clarinets (automatic) and the key setup available on Yamaha CSG are inspired by this, but because of the different bore configuration in the lower joint the hole the key operates doesn't need to be on the bell.
These keys have been available for over 100 years on German system clarinets, but only as a "custom add on" for Boehm clarinets until Selmer started offering them in the 1980s. The low F resonance key on the Backun clarinets is pretty much a copy of the Selmer key.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-03-14 15:45
Also there are some individuals who have "after market" alterations to their Yamaha CSG clarinets that mimic the German vent on the bell.
Technically I would refer to this as a cup or pad since the key itself for this vent is a thumb trigger.
...........Paul Aviles
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Author: cyclopathic
Date: 2014-03-15 05:50
Paul Aviles wrote:
> 6600 Euros is no joke.
>
If you get all options (gold plated, boxwood, all extra keys, etc) it is more like 12000.. bassoon territory!
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-03-15 11:49
Yes, but are they better than the Wurlitzers and Hammerschmidts that most German/Viennese orchestral clarinet players still use?
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: ruben
Date: 2014-03-15 18:09
One of our JL clarinets has a key on the bell to bring up the pitch on low e (and f). It's operated by the tight-hand thumb. It's easy enough to get used to and only used for long values.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: ruben
Date: 2014-03-15 22:31
I meant "right-hand thumb" and not "tight-hand" thumb! Is this a Freudian slip?!
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: RLarm
Date: 2014-03-18 03:00
If you take a look at the YouTube video of Rapahel Severe playing the Saint-Saens Sonata you will notice the key on the bell of his Buffet Tosca. I e-mailed him via LinkedIn and he said that he asked Buffet to add an E resonance key so they put it on his clarinet. (I wonder if you and I were to ask Buffet for a similar request what their response would be???) Raphael was one of the winners at the Young Concert Artists auditions in New York late last year. He seems to be a very nice and humble young man. Interestingly enough he no longer plays Buffet but is a prominent endorser of Selmer's Privilege clarinets which he just loves. You should check him out on Selmer's YouTube posting doing the Mozart. He is quite an accomplished player at such a young age. One can only hope that players such as Raphael, Michael Han Kim, Andrew Moses and other young prodigies will not lose that youthful exuberance and trade it in for a more "refined" approach that I hear in too many child prodigies as they transitioned into adulthood.
By the way, Marcus Eley had told me several decades ago that some of the top tier Buffet artists had special tweeks to their clarinet if they requested them that the normal player could not obtain. Therefore, their horns were quite different than instruments purchased from stores in the US. I guess it's just some of the perks that come with privilege.
Before Jimmy Yan passed away he told me that Buffet presented to Stanley Drucker a hand selected pair of Buffet RC Prestiges that were the best clarinets he had ever heard in his long career. ALOHA!
RLarm(RHB Woodwind Supervisor); rlarm@hotmail.com
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Author: donald
Date: 2014-03-18 03:32
My first teacher Peter Scholes (former principal clarinet with the Auckland Philharmonia) travelled to New York in 1987, and while there had thumb operated vent key installed on his pair of Orsi "Vintage" model clarinets.
Frank Celata (assoc Principal Sydney symph) told me that when he bought new festivals (prob about 8 years ago now) Buffet offered to put the "Tosca style" low F vent key on them for him. He doesn't use these instruments now (is a "Divine" artist) but I think he still has them, can't remember if he actually got the vent installed (I know they are not on his older Festivals- very very nice instruments those ones, the Best A clarinet I've ever played)
My friend Maurice Reviol (mentioned in another post here- trained as an instrument maker in Germany but now does repairs and makes Irish folk instruments) offered to put a Tosca style vent key on my festivals. If you already make keys as part of your week, doing little extras like this is not difficult.
dn
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