 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clarinetxjackie
Date: 2014-10-23 06:19
Hi everyone,
I just purchased a beautiful leblanc ll A clarinet. I'm thrilled with it, except for some reason the upper clarion starting around my high c and going into the altissimo goes extremely sharp as I go up chromatically. My teacher said it might be the size of the tone hole where the e is because it seems too large. Also, my register key might be opening up a bit too much. Any ideas? The rest of the horn plays great. Help!
Thanks,
Jackie
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Author: tims
Date: 2014-10-23 07:52
Has your teacher played your horn and experienced the same thing? With your mouthpiece?
I doubt a tone hole is too large unless the previous owner modified the instrument. Manufacturing variations are more likely to result in slight differences in tone hole placement, not in tone hole size. This was a top line instrument from Leblanc so it is probably as it should be. The size of tone holes vary from maker to maker based on each company's design approaches. Close comparisons of different instrument lines will often show considerable differences in tone hole size and placement so you can't judge what the size of a tone hole should be by comparing it to instruments from different manufacturers.
Middle staff Bb is such a weak note tonally and is such a difficult note to move the pitch significantly either way, any adjustments you make to the register key should be done with the utmost caution because of how it effects this single note. Closing the register key enough to bring these higher notes down could well result in a fuzzy, nasal sounding and flat Bb that you can't lip up. I'm generally against key height adjustments as a means of tuning an instrument because it significantly alters the tone, response and projection of the notes and results in a very uneven sounding scale.
My memory of playing Lebancs LLs is that they tended sharp as you played higher (but not so high as I couldn't properly adjust). I don't necessarily believe that this was a design flaw, but that these older Lebancs catered to a small, but loyal group of clarinetists who wanted the characteristic Leblanc sound, which also tended to require a different approach to reeds and mouthpieces. Consequentially the reed and mouthpiece choices which are most commonly recommended may work well for Buffet, Selmer or Yamaha, but be poor choice for these older LLs. The LL I remember most was also an A. It belonged to the college I attended and I used it for a couple of years because I didn't yet have my own A. I would, as is common practice, use the same reed and mouthpiece on both my Bb and A. The Bb instrument I was playing at the time was a early Selmer series 10, so my mouthpiece and reed was matched to that instrument. When I played the Leblanc I often had to add additional fingers to bring these upper register notes down.
My suggestion is to try different reeds, mouthpieces and barrel combinations and see if any of these help you gain control over these notes before you attempt to modify your instrument.
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2014-10-23 15:39
> My teacher said it might be the size of the tone hole where the e is because it seems too large.
Try and cover it partially with your index finger and see what happens. For the register key, put some tape under it where your thumb hits it to reduce the opening.
How is your F4 ![[F4]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/f4.gif) ?
Post Edited (2014-10-23 15:40)
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Author: clarinetxjackie
Date: 2014-10-24 07:12
My teacher and I both played the clarinet and had the same results as well as trying different barrels.
My f is very well in tune on this A unlike my b flat which tends to be on the flatter side. I assume the larger tone hole was made to compensate the usual flatness of the e and f but may have messed with the tuning in the upper notes?
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Author: clarinetxjackie
Date: 2014-10-24 07:12
When I said b flat in the above post I meant my b flat clarinet not the note on the A sorry!
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2014-10-24 11:13
The F4 should be a little flat, otherwise the tone hole for the index finger is too big and will not have resistance enough to act as an altissimo register hole. If you play altissimo tones pp a too big hole will cause grunting, or at least audible undertones.
To locate the cause you need to alter different things to eliminate them as a cause. Try soft/loud tones, partail covering of the E hole, different register key openings, etc.
And make sure to post your findings here. It's good that solutions get posted, not only problems... :-)
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Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2014-10-24 19:01
In my experience, some A clarinets do not require the use of the Eb key in the upper reaches. Is your Leblanc still sharp on these notes without using that key?
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2014-10-24 19:44
The problem you will run into when you play around with the tone holes is that if you do fix your high notes it will likely effect everything below that is good now. You could try some new barrels to see if that might work, trial and error. Keeping the first finger in the LH on half the hole might bring down the pitch too but that will be awkward for everything. It should to me that if a different barrel, with a different taper, not size, doesn't work it's probably a bore problem that you will never get corrected to your satisfaction.
When I had my first Buffet my high B and C were very sharp and I took it to all the "experts" of the day and no one was able to fix it well enough to play professionally so I had to buy a new one, that wasn't sharp on those notes.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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