 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: donald crawford
Date: 2017-10-24 00:48
I have a buffet clarinet from the 1890's. It looks like it was probably a C clarinet, but when I play it it comes out sounding like it's in B natural. It's an Albert. It plays. I'm thinking of selling it but I don't know if there would be any use for an Albert clarinet in B. What do you think? Thanks.
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2017-10-24 01:19
Is the entire range of the instrument in "B"?
If not, which fingerings did you use to check the pitch? (The reason that I'm asking is: the C5/B5 notes are frequently a quarter tone off in that era's Albert systems. At least the ones I own.)
For that reason, I usually check the key of the instrument using the standard C4 fingering.
MichaelW submitted a chart in this older post showing a consistency of flatness among three Albert system clarinet when the full length of the clarinet is played: http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=446058&t=446056
I don't know if any of this applies to your current question, but thought I'd throw it out there - just in case.
Fuzzy
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Author: jdbassplayer
Date: 2017-10-24 03:17
The instrument is almost certainly a high pitched Bb clarinet. High Pitch instruments can be anywhere from a quarter tone to a semitone sharp compared to instruments tuned to A=440Hz. The instrument unfortunately doesn't have much practical use but if you plan to play solo or with other high pitched instruments it could still be played.
-Jdbassplayer
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Author: donald crawford
Date: 2017-10-24 07:16
If anything, the entire range is in b but a little flat. I assumed it was a C clarinet because standing up next to a Bb clarinet it was clearly shorter. I had a 1913 ( I think) Buffet that said "high pitch' on it. But it wasn't an Albert. It was pretty close to a Bb just to look at it. I don't know whatever happened to that instrument. But thanks for getting back to me.
Don C
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Author: John Peacock
Date: 2017-10-24 20:23
> the entire range is in b but a little flat
I had a similar experience with a 1920s simple system clarinet, which I thought was in Bb. But it was consistently terribly flat even when fully warmed up, so I eventually concluded it was more likely to be a high-pitch A clarinet. The most common military band standard was A=452, which is half a semitone above A=440. If instruments are built for marching outside in cold weather, they are probably designed to play a bit sharp when warm, so you could understand how a HP A clarinet could nearly masquerade as a standard Bb.
In Jack Brymer's autobiography, he tells of taking such an HP A and sticking it in a lathe to shorten it so that it was overall exactly an A=440 Bb. Can you imagine what that must have done to the relative tuning?
For the above reasons, I was long skeptical of reports of clarinets in B. But I have been assured by Alex Allen of Clarinets Direct that such instruments really were made on occasion.
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Author: donald crawford
Date: 2017-11-03 01:28
Sorry for the delay. My computer was down. Now it's up ( Thanks Apple). And thanks for your response. I still don't know what to do with this instrument. Maybe just hang on to it.
Don C
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Author: crazyclari
Date: 2023-10-26 10:16
Seems to be a lot of confusion about pitch. 452 was about the maximum for high pitch. This about one half a semitone sharp by modern standards. 435 French pitch was relatively common obviously in France but also in America. This is supported by research. If the horn is just below 440 simply and factually it is not high pitch. There are a lot of 435 French pitch horns, likely they are nooooot high pitch. There is enough factual documented history to support this.
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