 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2001-08-09 15:32
My band/orchestra director is talking about getting an e flat clarinet for band. I'm not sure if it's the best idea. The problem is that we have a very, very small band. There are four clarinetists. I don't have much eefer experience (though I've played one once) but it seems to me that one e flat and three b flats would make the eefer player a soloist. The only group I've played in that has an e flat clarinet had a very large clarinet section and you still could hear the e flat pretty clearly. Is this a bad idea?
Thanks,
Micaela
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Author: William
Date: 2001-08-09 15:53
IMHO (s usual)--it is true that an "effer" will always "make it's presence" heard in an ensemble due to it's particualr blend of harmonics (tone quality). However, this can be a positive if the Eb clarinetist can play in tune and with acceptable balance with the rest of the woodwinds--regradless of their numbers. It adds a unique brilliance to the sound of the entire ensemble that cannot be duplicated by anyother sound. So, I say go for it and add the exra tonal dimension to the sound of your band. Learning to play the effer will also give you an advantage as a well-rounded clarinetist. Good Clarineting up their in Canada!!!!! (also learn to play the bass clarinet)
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Author: Blake
Date: 2001-08-09 16:00
Ive played the Eb for over 25 years now in various groups. I doubt you would only be playing Eb but there are certain pieces where the part would be missing if there wasnt one. Sometimes, the Eb just doubles the first Clarinet or the Flute and sometimes it picks up the end of runs etc. Even other times its a solo part. Playing Eb will definitely hone your intonation skills. Eb's really arent a "blending" instrument. You dont add an Eb to blend with the other Bb sops. You typically add it to add a brightness to the section and the altissimo register. A good mouthpiece helps alot too... i invested in a Clark Fobes one and love what it did for my intonation and clearing up the fuzziness through the throat tones. If the director wants an Effer.. go for it. Its his job to determine balance and sound. Yours is to be best Effer player you can be. Good luck! Blake
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-08-09 16:15
Micaela -
A clarinet section of 4 is small, but not impossible. Most of the time, a wind ensemble has just one player on a part. It does make playing Eb more difficult, though. Even with a large Bb section, the Eb player has to avoid thinking like a soloist. The instrument's role is to add a bit of sparkle to the section sound.
A pipe organ is almost never played with just a single stop. Even if you want a pure sound, you almost always add a "mixture" of octaves and twelfths, playing very softly, to reinforce the overtones. For more color, you add a "mutation" of even higher overtones. That's what an Eb clarinet does. Except for the occasional solo, if you can hear the Eb, it's too loud. It's hard work and calls for a very special player.
I think everyone should play every instrument, from Eb to contra. Each one gives you a fresh perspective and reinforces your skill. I played nothing but contra for a year in the West Point Band, and I played nothing but Eb for a year in the University of Tennessee Band and the Knoxville Symphony. I wouldn't have missed either one. Go for it.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: William
Date: 2001-08-09 16:30
Just another note: The Eb mp that I use is a generic Selmer HS** that I prefer over my expensive Charles Bay custom because it plays the upper register (above the staff D to G) much easier and more in tune. My effer is a Yamaha Pro model (#--???) and my lig is a BG Bb--I know, strange, but it works--and I use VD Eb reeds (as hard as I can find). Bye........
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Author: Mario
Date: 2001-08-09 19:10
I agree with Ken. This could be a unique experience. When a clarinet section is blessed with an accomplished effer with the right attitude (ref.: Ken's comments), the sizzle and color of the section is just incredible.
Many, many, many years ago, I was given the Eb of my school Concert Band. The band had a good clarinet section, but a very average flute section to say the least. In particular, you would not have trusted any of the flute player with a piccolo (no point in adding insult to injury...). It turned out that many of the marching arrangements that we were playing had a piccolo solo in the chorus of march, with a effer part as alternate. Soon enough, I ended playing those devishly difficult piccolo solos for the band... Solo work at his best. I am not sure I was coming down as a competent "blender" once the solo was over, I wish my coach would have been a bit more forthright in this respect for the good of the section. Anyway.
My master piece in this area was the piccolo solo of a march called Maisonneuve in honor of the founder of Montreal. What a great piece of marching music and what a great effer solo. Another moment of glory at about the same time: my Concert Band aced the A level competition for Concert Band in the Province in Quebec (that means that we won the competition for the best school band in the province - like winning the state competition in the top category). In the written feedback provided to the band afterward, the judges indicated that it was amazing how in tune the clarinet section (including its Eb was in tune), and in general how well in tune the hole band was. I must ad that I was the official tuner of the band, spending about 30 minutes before each concert tuning all musicians individually (especially those darn saxes) before doing a last pass of tuning on stage before the concert. Those were good moments indeed... All of that takes me back about 30 years.
Micaela: go for it, this will be great for you and your colleagues.
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Author: Bob Curtis
Date: 2001-08-10 00:37
Before you consider playing the eb clarinet be sure that you PHYSICALLY are suited to the instrument. This is a SMALL instrument and if you have rather large hands and fingers you will probably have some major problems covering the holes without covering extra keys also. Try it out first before commitment.
Bob Curtis
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2001-08-10 13:59
The advice about is excellent, each of us has played, and thereby discovered the pleasures and problems of our little cousin to the Bb. My greatest experience was in the Great Western Brass Band [Silverton, Colo.], playing antique [1800's] concert band music [along with a piccolo, she was sharp, so I was flat!!]. Having played oboe earlier, I found it to be similar [nowhere to hide!!] many solos, runs and countermelodies. Fun, but a bit trying, pitch differences with the flute family, and in symp. orchs. 1st violins I guess were my bugaboos. Its great experience and will give you appreciation of good playing, such as in R Strauss, Till Eulenspiegel [my spelling ??] and others. Try it. Don
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Author: David Pegel
Date: 2001-08-10 14:44
My long-thought-out opinion of the properly balanced concert band:
6 - 12 flutes (1 doubling on piccolo)
3 - 5 oboes
3 - 5 bassoons
12 - 20 clarinets (1 doubling on Eb clarinet)
4 Bass clarinets
2 EEb Contraltos
1 BBb Contrabass (If available)
2 alto saxes (1 doubling on soprano)
1 - 2 tenor saxes
1 - 2 bari saxes
4 - 8 trumpets (1 doubling on pocket trumpet)
6 French Horns
10 Trombones
4 - 6 Baritones/Euphoniums
2 - 6 Tubas
6 - 10 Various percussionists
1 Conductor
This is just my opinion. Feel free to judge otherwise. But I'd say by this conclusion that you'd need a whole lot more clarinets to fulfill the sound of the Eb.
OTOH, your band director knows best!!
David Pegel
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2001-08-10 22:28
Thanks for all your informed advice.
David- those proportions do sound accurate. But my school's band has no double reeds at all and only one horn and one trombone. The only two instruments that we have your amounts of are alto saxes and the conductor. Well actually, we have four altos but two of them play the bassoon part. We have to let everyone in.
I don't even know if the teacher is really going to get the effer (sorry about my original spelling). He's a percussionist and he always talks about getting other instruments but we end up with more drums. I learned to transpose this summer and I think I'll ask if I can play the oboe part this year. It would cover a much more useful part.
It sounds like a useful skill. I just got an A clarinet so I really can't afford another one now. But if my band director does get it, I'm using it as a ticket into All County. I was in last year, but there weren't any E flat players and I go to school in a really big county.
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Author: Bob Curtis
Date: 2001-08-11 15:08
Micaela --
One of the joys (and frustrations) of directing a community band (or any other, as far as that goes) is not knowing exactly year to year what your instrumentation will be. We can all wish for the prefect instrumentation, but we have to do with what we have, and LEARN to improvise. Eb clarinets can be both a blessing and a hinderance if they are not handled correctly by a competent player AND director. Also remember that the Eb has slipped out of popularity somewhat and a lot of newer music has no parts written for them. Kind of reminds one of the Basset Horn.
Bob Curtis
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