Author: ClaV
Date: 2015-03-01 17:12
In my efforts to grasp what possibly limits clarinets in matching and surpassing the prominence and versatility of string instruments, eefer emerged as a critically missing element.
Imagine a string quarter or a string ensemble without violins! Perhaps imagination may not even need to be stretched that far...
Yet clarinet ensembles hardly ever use Eb sopranos. To make it even harder, eefers are frowned upon for being out of tune and shrilling (Can you picture viola players voting out violins for being too shrilling with their E strings, playing way too fast and being so hard to be in tune with? ![[huh]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie11.gif) )
What, (IMHO) is the most important about the eefer is that it is amenable for faster/virtuosic playing and that it has a unique tone/voice to become a prominent solo instrument.
Now, I do understand that eefer's acoustic designs are critically lacking and that Eb is so much more demanding for players to play, especially in tune.
What brings some good hope is that there seems to be a good potential pool of young players capable of taking the challenge (and people are always the most important part). So the missing part is affordable good instruments. There precision of CNC and new better materials should make it much easier nowadays. Yet, the proverbial circle of (less interest - less efforts/investments in design - poor instruments - even less players - less interest -) needs to be broken.
P.S. I am not a musician by any means - with all the limitations, as well as possible advantages of an less-biased outsider's perspective.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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