 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Robin
Date: 2002-02-13 14:43
Hi everyone,
I have been reading this bulletin board for a while and have only ever posted once. Now I have a problem that I am not sure how to fix, and I wonder if anyone can help me.
My problem is that he low clarion notes between g below the staff and middle c sound quite sharp when I play them. Since I tend to be sharp in general, I tune by pulling out at the barrel; this brings most of the notes in tune, but does not seem to affect the low notes. I play a full Boehm clarinet, so I cannot pull out in the middle. Pulling out at the bell does not help enough. I have replaced the 64 mm barrel with which the clarinet came with a 66 mm barrel that the music store near me happened to have lying around.
I am interested in short term solutions (I have a concert Friday!) and possibly long-term ones: should I look at new barrels or other equipment, do you think?
Thank you very much for your help, in advance.
Robin
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Author: jez
Date: 2002-02-13 15:10
In the short term try lowering the notes by putting keys down lower on the inst.
You could play C with the bottom E key down. B (try the alternative fingering, it's sometimes a bit flatter) with the E or F. B flat with the F or F sharp etc. Of course with a full Boehm you've got an E flat key to play with as well. To flatten G I can only suggest slightly closing F or E to lower the venting.
In the long term, you could play around with different mouthpieces. You dont say these fingerings are sharp in the middle register so maybe you shouldn't mess around with filling in holes.
Good luck for the concert.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2002-02-13 17:25
The sharpness of these notes is, of course, most evident when one plays softly. This seems to me to be present in older clarinets more than the new R13's, for example. Since undercutting of toneholes mostly affects the low register, I assume that there was too much undercutting of the affected holes when the clarinet was made. This is not easy to reverse but it is possible to try to fill the bottoms of the toneholes near the bore. If the second register notes are also too sharp, then one can paint the entire tone hole with a coat of black nail polish and this will help both notes. One cannot sacrifice much of the second register tuning to help the lower register, however.
If you have an expert clarinet repairman/player/tuner nearby, it would be a good idea to seek advice and a quote from him/her.
For the overall tuning, mouthpieces are also of concern as some are sharper or flatter than others. I have even shortened very flat mouthpieces on a lathe to make them more useable.
In the near term, the advice given above to lower pitch with other keys is very good. It is not so convenient, however. Good luck.
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Author: JOSE ANTONIO MONTAVA SAEZ
Date: 2002-02-14 10:52
Hola, soy un clarinetista que ha visto tu pregunta.En mi opinion no es cuestion de bajar las notas con las llaves,creo que cambia demasiado el color del sonido.para esas notas es mejor(pienso yo)que pienses como un cantante de ópera y cantes esa nota grave como lo haría un barítono pero sin cambiar la embocadura y aumentando la presión de la columna de aire,¡¡ojo!! no hay que soplar más fuerte!!!!!la intensidad del sonido tiene que ser la misma.
El secreto reside en......... CANTAR!!!!!!!!!!!
SUERTE AMIGO!!!
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