 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Hunter_100
Date: 2024-10-07 20:20
I picked up a very cheap Bundy alto clarinet that only goes to low E, no low eb key. This will be a project for me re-padding and adjusting it and maybe I will play it with some clarinet choir stuff later this year if it works out.
How often does a low eb come up in alto parts? I'm wondering if the lack of low eb is going to hinder the use of this thing. In a few clarinet quintet parts I have looked at so far, it seems the alto is written mainly in the upper chalumeau and clarion range and does not go down into the low notes much. Is that typical for alto parts?
Thanks
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Author: pewd
Date: 2024-10-07 20:38
Rare.
I reviewed my clarinet choir's current play list: 25 pieces.
Zero low E flats.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: Chris_C ★2017
Date: 2024-10-07 21:18
In our band repertoire the low Eflat comes up maybe once in two concerts.
I have a 165mm long piece of 35mm plastic plumbing pipe with a piece of rubber wrapped around one end (cork would do too). On coming up to the bars with the Eflat I push it into the bell and the rubber/cork holds it in.
It converts the low E into an Eflat - not wonderful tone quality but it does the job. Doesn't affect any other notes. It doesn't allow both E and Eflat, of course, but I've never seen them come up in the same few bars.
(My previous adapter was the cardboard tube from kitchen roll - that works too.)
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Author: Kiela
Date: 2024-10-08 01:48
The note itself is rare, but in my experience the low Eb has the added utility of making sure that the low E / B tone hole is on the body instead of the bell, and this applies to all harmony clarinets in general. The tone quality and response of the long B really suffers if it issues from a metal bell.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2024-10-08 17:11
Kiela wrote:
The note itself is rare, but in my experience the low Eb has the added utility of making sure that the low E / B tone hole is on the body instead of the bell, and this applies to all harmony clarinets in general. The tone quality and response of the long B really suffers if it issues from a metal bell.
The low E/B tonehole is the one on the bell located just below the socket with most instruments built to low Eb with a bell key. Low Eb issues directly from the bell. On an alto or bass built to low E with a bell key, F/C issues from the tonehole on the bell and E/B issues directly from the bell itself, just as E/B issues directly from the bell on any regular soprano clarinet.
On instruments built to low Eb with all the keywork on the lower joint and a bell with no bell key, the E/B tonehole is the one located immediately above the tenon. Low Eb either issues directly from the bell or from a vent hole on the bow depending which is better in tune.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Kiela
Date: 2024-10-08 22:05
Chris P wrote:
The low E/B tonehole is the one on the bell located just below the socket with most instruments built to low Eb with a bell key. Low Eb issues directly from the bell. On an alto or bass built to low E with a bell key, F/C issues from the tonehole on the bell and E/B issues directly from the bell itself, just as E/B issues directly from the bell on any regular soprano clarinet.
On instruments built to low Eb with all the keywork on the lower joint and a bell with no bell key, the E/B tonehole is the one located immediately above the tenon. Low Eb either issues directly from the bell or from a vent hole on the bow depending which is better in tune.
Thanks for the correction, I also forgot about the case where the instrument is keyed to low Eb without a bell key.
I had in mind an older Selmer rosewood contra alto keyed to low E with a bell key that I borrowed for a few weeks. It played fantastically well save for the long B, which was quite stuffy and stuck out like a sore thumb from the rest rest of the clarion.
Back to OP's question, I actually found a low Eb in my current set list. It's a tutti hit in an arrangement of Mars from The Planets, but it only occurs once. I doubt that taking it up an octave if needed would change anything.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2024-10-09 00:35
I had a Chinese low C bass based largely on the Yamaha YCL-622 design and a bandmember recently bought it off me. On that bass, the low C#/Db is dreadfully flat as the bell tonehole is set too far from the socket, while low C and low D either side of it are much better tuned, but he's not losing sleep as he probably won't encounter that many written low C#s/Dbs.
It would take some major surgery to relocate that tonehole higher up the bow and shorten the bell key just for the sake of retuning one note. I wonder if they just used the same bell as used on low Eb models if the bell tonehole was more suitably placed on them if the lower joint was shorter in accordance to the tonehole layouts, but the low C model lower joints weren't shortened accordingly.
As for low Eb on altos, the only place I'd suspect a written low Eb would be in military band marches or transcriptions in keys of Db and Gb Major (and their relative minors).
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2024-10-09 00:46)
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Author: Djudy
Date: 2024-10-11 13:52
There's a low Eb (D# in the key of F#) played over 16 measures to good effect in the concert band arrangement by K. Morita "Pirates of the Caribbean Medley" (ed. Hal Leonard Europe). And a nice clarinet alto/euphonium duo for the apparently drunken Jack Sparrow piece section F. Great fun to play on the whole and a hit with the audience.
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