 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jerome
Date: 2002-02-09 08:56
Can a Bb be pulled out on all joints to make it sound like an A? I don't have enough money to get an A clarinet & I have to play KV. 581 in a chamber group.
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Author: donald nicholls
Date: 2002-02-09 10:01
sorry bud but you'll have to find somewhere to borrow one- pulling out all the joints will do nothing more than make a fool out of you. There is another old trick i've heard of- sticking a piece of string down the clarinet to flatten the pitch. i don't recomend it. you could transpose the whole thing down half a tone, there's a few low Es but you can find a way around that somehow....
hopefully you can borrow one (A clarinet) from somewhere? otherwise it's transposition time for you, good for the brain and fingers i supose
nzdonald
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-02-09 14:28
Many of our more-experienced clists have an A cl also, like mine [and my C] which I loan on occasion to friends. Of course the part could be played on an oboe d'amore [in A] quite rare!, but the usual solution is to transpose to a half-step lower on Bb. If there any low E's, you'll need a Full Boehm for the Eb's, and here the other "extra" keys will help as the resulting key signature may be "far-out". Luck, Don
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Author: Sally Gardens
Date: 2002-02-09 15:26
Or you could get the chamber group to play it in the key of Bb instead of A. :-D
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Author: William
Date: 2002-02-09 15:31
Too bad we clarinetists can't pull a "Victor Borge" and simply lower the music stand "one half step"--FYI, a favorite routine done by the "Great Dane" to change the keys on his grand piano. Seriously, the only substitues are transposition on your Bb clarinet--just play each written A-part note down one half step--or find and A clarinet to buy, rent or borrow. I also have heard of the "string down the bore" trick to lower the pitch of a Bb to A, but I never have had to try it. I suspect that if it was a successful technique, it would be a common practice among the majority of clarinetsts instead of purchasing a separate A. Imagine, all you would need would be a separate length string for each clarinet double--Eb, C, D, A. No more setting up all that equipment and carrying around all that extra support "stuff." Just your Bb and a big ball of string (and a string knife for fine tuning). Almost like a violinist and a few extra E strings. Come on, Peter Spriggs--forget the ligitures and get to work on this concept. :>) :>) :>) (we are all waiting) Good Clarineting!!!!
(maybe I got up way too early this Sat. AM)
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2002-02-09 16:08
I have a cousin who tells a story of a time he went to sub for a community orchestra as first clarinetist. When he arrived at his first rehearsal, the (guest) conductor handed him an unusual shoelace and told him to run it down the bore of his clarinet to convert it to an A. The conductor also admonished him not to lose the shoelace on pain of death. It seems that some years earlier, the conductor had experimented with a number of different types of string and cord until he found one that worked and he carried it with him wherever he went to conduct. Because he was accomplished at transposition (he has a masters in performance), my cousin declined but gave the string to the second clarinetist, who used it. According to my cousin, it actually worked pretty well. This story notwithstanding, most of the reports I've heard (I've never tried it, myself), claim that the shoelace lowers the pitch but gives a very stuffy sound. Search the Klarinet archives. There has actually been a fair amount of discussion on this trick.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2002-02-09 19:50
Many years ago, I tried the "bore-narrowing" trick by using a piece of wire stuck up the bore, taped to the bell. It worked to lower the pitch, not marvelously, but a lot better than nothing. I would suspect a shoelace or other cordage might lend a rather "stringy" sound to the instrument, whereas a copper strand might make it sound more "wiry." Experiments are obviously needed to verify this. 
Regards,
John
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2002-02-10 01:45
Yah beat me to it Suzane! Do we have another "joker" in the deck? Welcome, Bob A
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Author: Peter Spriggs
Date: 2002-02-10 12:56
BeeJay,
I think your right, it must be a string quartet, probably one with lots of stringendos. Of course if the string were made of rubber one would likely find it easier to bend the notes and if it were made of lead you should get a good solid core to your sound!
Peter
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2002-02-10 23:52
Remember the four most important rules for a musician:
Be well prepared
Go to the right place
Be there on the right time
Bring the right instruments
The price of an A-clarinet is the same as a top section of an oboe, or a head joint of a flute, and half the price of a wing joint of a bassoon.
Say no more
Alphie
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Author: Sally Gardens
Date: 2002-02-11 01:49
>Remember the four most important rules for a musician:
>
>Be well prepared
>Go to the right place
>Be there on the right time
>Bring the right instruments
And the fifth:
If you don't have what you want, make do with what you have.
>The price of an A-clarinet is the same as a top section of an oboe, or a >head joint of a flute, and half the price of a wing joint of a bassoon.
And the sixth:
A musician is, more often than not, broke, or close enough for jazz. Therefore, refer to rule number five.
By the way, I was only semi-facetious about having the quartet play in Bb for you. Depends upon the context, of course -- and I don't know your context, so this might be out of the question -- but if it's something you can get away with asking (and if it's possible for the strings, though it can't possibly be any worse for them than for you to play the concerto in written B major), it can't hurt to try.
Alternatively, you could scrap the strings and get a sax quartet instead, especially if you want to make Mozart purists scream. ;-)
And if you find the Magic Shoelace that will make your Bb a perfect A, be sure to share the brand and size. ;-)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-02-11 02:46
Rule #7 (or are we up to #8 already)
Never go to a "gig" expecting to be fed.
Eat before you leave home! ...GBK
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Author: Sally Gardens
Date: 2002-02-11 03:14
Rule #42:
Pay attention when typing.
I meant to say "play the quintet," not "play the concerto."
Ah, well. Close enough for jazz.
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2002-02-11 08:26
Sally Gardens wrote:
"And the fifth:
If you don't have what you want, make do with what you have. "
Like picking a piece for Bb-cl. if you don't have an A.
Alphie
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Author: donald nicholls
Date: 2002-02-11 08:58
if i can make a boring comment here (assuming that anyone will still read this thread)
um, well, if you don't have an A clarinet or one you can borrow/use, well, WHY then decide to play the mozart quintet? i mean, unless you really like transposing an entire masterwork down half a step into an annoying key, and having to miss out the low (concert pitch) C sharp every so often?
i wonder if a teacher was responsible for this- here in nz "classroom teachers" occaisonally do this to students, set works for them to play for chamber music that require the A clarinet- leaving it up to some poor 13 year old to find a solution. every single recording of this, and every score, says "clarinet in A" at the top. Ok, some Piano/clarinet versions have "clarinet in B flat" (or just B if it is a german publication). This is the most basic information about the clarinet- that it is a transposing instrument most commonly in B flat or A..... surely anyone who is in the clarinet/music business should know about this?
oh well
good luck anyway, it's great music to play, we are lucky to have such a masterwork written for our instrument. And actually i think transposing the string parts into B flat is probably a better idea than transposing the clarinet part into B major, although i admit it would be more time consuming!
nzdonald
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Author: Sally Gardens
Date: 2002-02-11 12:00
>...if you don't have an A clarinet or one you can borrow/use, well, WHY then decide to play the mozart quintet? ... every single recording of this, and every score, says "clarinet in A" at the top.
The simplest answer is because one wants to play the quintet, but only has a clarinet in Bb. The Bb clarinet has, after all, become the standard soprano clarinet, the one that the vast majority of clarinetists will own, especially if (as with many non-professionals) they own only one instrument. As you noted, it's common practice to adapt older works for Bb clarinet and piano, though I'd prefer to see a quartet (string, wind, marimba and bongos, whatever) with parts in Bb.
(One might also, possibly, like the sound of it in Bb, or want to arrange it for a quartet of Bb friendly instruments. Neither of these seem to be the case here, but they are additional reasons someone would take an originally-in-A piece and play it in Bb.)
Of course, I grew up playing the bass clarinet, and in the context of a concert/symphonic band which regularly played adaptations of orchestral works, so I'm quite comfortable with the idea of adapting music originally written for another instrument. The bottom line for me is whether the piece sounds good/"works" on my instrument (or my chosen non-original-instrumentation ensemble).
(Of course, you may well ask: Why would I have wanted to adapt the music of Mozart for the bass clarinet when I could have played "Asleep in the Deep?" Something to ponder.)
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Author: Sally Gardens
Date: 2002-02-11 12:10
Another thought occurs to me as I engage in my morning procrastination...
>And actually i think transposing the string parts into B flat is probably a better idea than transposing the clarinet part into B major, although i admit it would be more time consuming!
Jerome, if you or someone in your group does create such an arrangement, you ought to consider publishing it for the benefit of other Bb-only folks.
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Author: Blake
Date: 2002-02-11 14:51
Ok I admit it.. I made and used the string trick in high school when I couldnt transpose by sight into A fast enough and couldnt beg/borrow/afford an A clarinet. Took a paper clip and opened it up into a V with the top part bent to hang on the tenon of the top joint and long enough so that the bottom of the V was below the Register tube. Then took a piece of the old telephone cord (for a hard wired phone.. not the new modular.. old cord was thicker) and cut it the length from the register tube to the low A hole.. and voila.. it worked.. a bit stuffy.. but suprisingly effective. I wouldnt do it for solo work .. but it worked fine for this 2nd chair 2nd in the NoVA Youth Symphony way too many years ago. Blake
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-02-11 19:43
The old Music Minus One recording of the string parts of the Mozart Quintet came with a transposed part for Bb, in the key of B. Believe it or not, most of it is playable, except for the bottom note. There are many players in Italy who use a full-Boehm Bb for everything, and there's a Buffet on eBay now with no reserve, starting at $99 http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1513112330 .
Good luck.
Ken Shaw
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2002-02-12 03:58
Blake admits having done it with... "a piece of the old telephone cord (for a hard wired phone.. not the new modular.. old cord was thicker) and cut it the length from the register tube to the low A hole.. and voila.. it worked...."
Blake, you qualify as a memory flogger. That old-style telephone wire (insulated) was the one to use. In fact, I sort of remember reading somewhere that this wire had the proper dimension for the task. I did not, however, run it down only to the low A hole.
Thanks for the posting.
Regards,
John
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