 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Shelly
Date: 2001-04-17 13:04
I have never seen an Eb clarinet or an A clarinet or a C clarinet. I have seen an alto clarinet and a bass clarinet. How do the Eb, A and C compare to the Bb in size and pitch? Are the higher or lower? While I am asking questions... What key is the alto clarinet and bass clarinet in? Are there any other clarinets floating around that I haven't mentioned?
Shelly <-------------- needs to be educated in the other types of clarinets
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Author: jan
Date: 2001-04-17 13:27
shelly,
i do not play anything but a Bb but there are some Eb players in the choir im in. the Eb's are smaller and higher pitched. theyre actually really cute...they look like baby clarinets. I know you will get better answers from others on this bb. im still learning too.
jan
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2001-04-17 13:51
Alto clarinet is in Eb. Bass is in Bb and plays an octave lower than the regular Bb soprano.
An A clarinet is a half-step lower than the Bb and thus a little longer. A C clarinet is shorter.
There are also Bb contrabass clarinets in use which are an octave lower than the bass and Eb contraalto (sometimes referred to as Eb contrabass) that are an octave lower than the alto.
There can be and have been clarinets in other pitches, but we've covered about everything that is in somewhat common use today.
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Author: Shelly
Date: 2001-04-17 15:11
So, do all of these clarinets have the same fingering?
shelly
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Author: Cass
Date: 2001-04-17 15:34
Yes they do, pretty much. When I subbed on bass clarinet once (which I never played before) the regular player who was out sick gave me some different fingerings on the phone for some notes. I couldn't remember them for last-minute subbing because I found out I was playing bass clarinet about two hours before a band concert, and so I used regular fingerings and hoped for the best. They worked but I had major trouble playing in tune. Not sure if that was because I used bad fingering choices or if it was mostly because I didn;t have a clue on bass clarinet! I was huffing and puffing. After it was over with I told the regular player if he got sick again I didn;t care even if he had the plague he had better show up!!! But I could see where doubling on them would make sense. You need more time than two hours to get use to the difference though!
Now I have a question so please pardon my ignorance too! At a music festival years ago I saw a man with a clarinet that was too long for an A clarinet but not long enough for an alto clarinet. It looked maybe two inches longer than an A clarinet and it was straight like the A and B flat clarinet. It looked normal except maube slightly fatter around, and it had six keys at the bottom for the right little finger instead of four. I think it had at least one more extra, for the left little finger. But would that make it so much longer? It was a really obvious difference. He was an older man carrying this clarinet around and I was a freshman in high school too nervous to go ask him what kind of a clarinet it was . I have been curious ever since! I never did get to hear him play it. He was in orchestras and I was in bands.
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Author: jan
Date: 2001-04-17 15:49
could it be a bassett clarinet?
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Author: bob gardner
Date: 2001-04-17 15:51
cass: I don't think that anyone would object to you asking what kind of clarinet he was using. Most people love Show and Tell. I have an Old English Mastiff that I show. I love talking about my love to anyone. I'm so proud of her. Like talking about your grandkids (i don't have any)
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Author: David Kinder
Date: 2001-04-17 17:24
Yes, that must have been a basset clarinet at the show.
As for other pitches of clarinets, I've heard of an Ab (I'd refer to as a piccolo clarinet) by Leblanc, D clarinets, etc. I'm looking into getting a C clarinet for myself for church choir performances. I'm tired of not being able to play because the music needed to be transposed for me.
BTW, Bass clarinet fingerings are the same as a regular Bb clarinet. I played Bass Clarinet for about 5 years and I can't find any difference. Sure, you need to make sure you've got a good tone and everything, but fingerings are the same.
As for fingerings on every clarinet, when you read a C on your music, you finger a C on your clarinet. That doesn't change. What does change is the PITCH. Just because you finger a C doesn't make that a Bb concert. So you really have to know your stuff.
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Author: Blake
Date: 2001-04-17 19:50
If you go to the Leblanc web page you can see photos of most of these instruments and even the infamous EEbdoublecontra that Mr Leblanc had. There is also the basset horn as well as the basset clarinet. Main difference there is the key theyre in an the sound. Any of the posts here on the Mozart Clarinet concerto will include a lively debate on whether it should be played on a Bb <heresy...<G>> A <less heretical> Basset Clarinet <getting warmer> or Bassett horn <were they even around?>
Blake
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Author: Blake
Date: 2001-04-17 19:53
Sorry..forgot to give you the link to the pics... www.gleblanc.com
Blake
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Author: Shelly
Date: 2001-04-17 20:20
Oh my! I just got done visiting LeBlanc. Now I want all of those clarinets!
shelly
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Author: Christoffer
Date: 2001-04-17 21:32
In turkish folk music G clarinets are often used. They are about as long as it is practically possible to make a straight clarinet. I have heard that it should be really hard to stretch the fingers enough to reach all the keys on those things, but I have never tried one myself. They are normally equipped with albert system keywork and are very often made of metal.
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Author: Blake
Date: 2001-04-17 21:41
Here's the octocontrabass
http://www.contrabass.com/pages/octobass.html
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Author: jenna
Date: 2001-04-17 22:25
i play alto regularly and bass every so often.. big difference you have to get accustomed to is the mouthpiece size.. both are bigger than a Bb and require a different embouchure.. it takes a little skill to be able to get strong tones and whatnot.. fingerings are basically the same, but generally both altos and basses have the low Eb key, and that gets tricky sometimes.. when i first switched from Bbsoprano to alto (Eb) and bass (Bb) i had trouble hitting the correct key with the little finger of my right hand
Eb sopranos are neato, i want one, but i heard the mouthpiece is really small and unless you're very talented, you sound like a "dying duck" (in the words of my band director) =)
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Author: Willie
Date: 2001-04-18 03:05
You really haven't heard a "dying duck" till you've heard me on my oboe.
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Author: Cass
Date: 2001-04-18 13:28
This is interesting and thanks for the answers about long clarinets. To Bob Gardner, you;re probably right that the man would have loved to talk about his unusual clarinet. I regretted not just going and asking him but I was a high school freshman. One of the youngest there and very outclassed! So I was keeping my head down hoping nobody would notice me and say what is someone like THAT doing there!
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Author: joseph o'kelly
Date: 2001-04-18 18:27
In comparison to the Bb soprano the Eb is much shorter. It plays 5 half steps above. The C is shorter than the Bb but not as much as the Eb. It plays one whole step above the Bb. The A is a bit longer than the Bb and is one half step lower than the Bb. The alto clarinet is in Eb and the bass in Bb. There are clarinets in numerous keys. The Ab clarinet is shorter than the Eb and is 5 halfsteps above the Eb. it is a tiny little thing. The contra-alto is an octive below the alto and the contra-bass is an octive below the bass. There are (i believe) three octa-contra-altos and one octa-contra-bass in existance. There are D clarinets, G clarinets, Basset-horns that are in the key of F and Basset Clarinets (A clarinets with a range to low C), there are also clarinets in other keys which I cannot think of right now.
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Author: joseph o'kelly
Date: 2001-04-18 18:29
All these instruments require the same fingerings if they are all made in the same key system. I use the Bohem system which is the most commonly used.
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