 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2015-11-16 18:18
Extended range bass clarinet; can C4 to Bb4 be played with the register key?
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-11-16 18:35
Not entirely sure what you mean, but you'd have to use other keys that open toneholes in the appropriate places to allow low C to low Eb to overblow their respective 12ths. The speaker key vents only work best from upper register B upwards.
C4 (Th. xxx|ooo) to Bb4 (throat Bb) are played without the speaker key as they'd be on any other clarinet.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2015-11-16 19:24
I've tried many extended-range clarinets, soprano and bass, but none has had usable extended notes in the clarion register. Even on a full-Boehm soprano, the clarion low Bb is honky and out of tune.
I think it's due to the expansion of the bore in the bottom 1/2 or 1/3 of the lower joint and the bell. It's carefully calibrated to benefit the lowest chalumeau notes (which is why the bottom 4 holes are large), but it runs out of adjustment space at low E. (Even the full-Boehm low Eb is a compromise.)
Except for Sabine Meyer, I've never heard a basset clarinet performance of the Mozart Concerto on which there's not an abrupt change of color from clarinet to bass clarinet beginning at low Eb. And I've never heard a basset clarinet performance that uses the extended clarion notes.
Ken Shaw
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2015-11-16 20:20
I just tried this with my low C bass, and the notes produced using the D, Db, and C low keys using the octave key were badly out of tune on my particular instrument. I think Ken has it right about the reason for this to be so. Too bad, it could have come in handy from time to time.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-11-16 20:29
You can use cross fingerings in the left hand and side keys (if you can reach them) as speaker keys for the extended range to overblow a 12th, but it's a case of trial and error finding which key vents which note best and if it's possible with both hands occupied.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2015-11-16 20:38
>> can C4 to Bb4 be played with the register key? <<
I assume you mean playing the low Eb/D/Db/C and adding the register key? That doesn't work great if what you want is a "good" clarion note.
If not, maybe you can clarify? See the top of the page for what C4 is. Bb4 is the throat Bb. Did you mean low Eb to throat Bb equivalent by adding the register key?
>> I think it's due to the expansion of the bore in the bottom 1/2 or 1/3 of the lower joint and the bell. <<
The Buffet bass clarinet only start to expand after the tone hole that plays Db, so really only for low C. I don't have a Selmer here right now but I think it is more or less similar.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-11-16 21:20
The only basses I know of with an expansion of the lower joint bore at the lower end (like soprano clarinets) are B&H Imperial basses - the majority of basses have a completely parallel bore all the way from the crook right down to the lower joint tenon, then the bell flares out from the socket.
The toneholes only increase in diameter to improve the quality of the note that issues from them as they get further away from the mouthpiece, even though the bore is still the same diameter all the way to the lower joint tenon.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Ebclarinet1
Date: 2015-11-16 21:32
I have used the low Eb plus octave key to get a Bb on occasion. It isn't the best note but it does work and really useful in a rapid passage. This worked on both Buffet and Selmer horns. The other notes + octave key, not too good.
Eefer guy
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Author: ebonite
Date: 2015-11-17 02:03
If you play low C on an exteded rage bass clarinet, and uncover the L1 half-hole, but without pressing the register key, you should be able to get the twelfth above (same pitch as open G). It is in tune on my bass clarinet, though it sounds very muffled, probably because the hole is so small. The normal register key would be in completely the wrong position.
On my instrument, the normal register key can be used to overblow the low Eb to produce an approximation of Bb, but it's so sharp that it could only be used for a grace note, and only in some contexts. Below that, the register key doesn't produce any usable note (the overblown notes are impossibly out of tune, and have a terrible response/sound).
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