 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: John Dean
Date: 1999-07-12 22:28
Does anyone have any info. on clarinet mutes as played by Bill Smith on Dave Brubeck's Near Myth album(1960). Is this the device that Buddy De Franco was reputed to have invented to practice quietly -about the same era?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-07-12 22:46
John,
The only clarinet "mutes" I'm aware of are ones where the whole clarinet is in a kind of box and you stick your arms in (I saw a picture of it once ...)
Since the sound of a clarinet comes out of the soundholes, a practice mute isn't very practical.
However, I'm sure Bill Smith did _something_. Why not write to him, ask, and let us know? Last I heard he was professor emeritus at University of Washington. A little digging would be interesting to all of us!
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Author: paul
Date: 1999-07-13 02:25
Okay, I can partially "buy" the premise that all of the sound comes out of the toneholes for a clarinet. But, that doesn't explain why the bell has to be on the bottom as a part of the complete instrument and why its shape is important to the tone and intonation of the overall instrument.
Why, for instance, does the Bb soprano clarinet play at least one full note higher without the bell than with it? Why, for instance, would the deformed shape of the bell on the inside of a less desirable horn make such a difference in the tonal quality of the produced sound if the bell was so insignificant?
Explanations? Answers?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-07-13 02:38
paul wrote:
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Okay, I can partially "buy" the premise that all of the sound comes out of the toneholes for a clarinet. But, that doesn't explain why the bell has to be on the bottom as a part of the complete instrument and why its shape is important to the tone and intonation of the overall instrument.
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The bell acts as the bottom hole on a clarinet. There's always going to be some effect on other notes, but it is minimal.
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Why, for instance, does the Bb soprano clarinet play at least one full note higher without the bell than with it?
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That's very strange - because it's not true. Try it. The upper notes don't change, and only the long note doesn't work. I just pulled the bell off my clarinet and double checked against a tuning meter. If you mean why the long note is higer - it's beacue the open hole is now at the end of the lower joint, not at the end of the bell.
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Why, for instance, would the deformed shape of the bell on the inside of a less desirable horn make such a difference in the tonal quality of the produced sound if the bell was so insignificant?
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Explain yourself. Some bells are not round and command more money! The long notes are affected by the bell, of course, since the bell extends the acoustic length, and shape will have something to do with the quality of sound, especially with the long notes.
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Author: John Dean
Date: 1999-07-13 19:45
Hi Mark,
Yes I will try to contact Bill Smith. Interesting that with the mute he reaches E above top C on the Brubeck disc! A nice album ,by the way , for all clarinet players.
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Author: STuart
Date: 1999-07-13 22:05
How did you find out about the Bill Smith mute? Is it listed on the record sleeve? Who's Bill Smith?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-07-13 23:19
STuart wrote:
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How did you find out about the Bill Smith mute? Is it listed on the record sleeve? Who's Bill Smith?
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Stuart - after all you've said you don't know who William O. "Bill" Smith is? I'm shocked to say the least! He was an "inventor" of new, wild sounds - especially multiphonics (double & triple)!
Do a quick check on the Web - starting with the Dave Brubeck Octet & "Schizophrenic Scherzo", a song mixing classical & jazz, the first of the "third stream" style of music. He came up with new "colors" for the clarinet. Truly one of the greatest contemporary innovators on clarinet.
You can come back and talk some more about "new & fresh" sounds for clarinet after you've listened to 20 or 30 hours of Bill Smith :^)
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Author: Anne Bell
Date: 1999-07-19 13:11
While I'm not positive exactly what type of mute Bill Smith was using for this particular album I do have knowledge of several types of mutes that he calls for in his pieces. By and large these mutes are used for a difference in timbre- not volume. One is a tiny plunger- used in one of his double clarinet pieces. It is used in a similar fashion to the way trombonists use a plunger. Another mute is a large cork pushed into the bell. This mute facilitates playing upper harmonics and bugle calls. From the discription I suspect this is the mute to which John was referring. The size of the cork determines how far up the bell it rests and this affects the pitch of the resultant harmonic series. It is most effective for "long" fingerings.
Anne
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Author: Kontragirl (Contragirl)
Date: 1999-07-19 23:50
paul wrote:
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Okay, I can partially "buy" the premise that all of the sound comes out of the toneholes for a clarinet. But, that doesn't explain why the bell has to be on the bottom as a part of the complete instrument and why its shape is important to the tone and intonation of the overall instrument.
Why, for instance, does the Bb soprano clarinet play at least one full note higher without the bell than with it? Why, for instance, would the deformed shape of the bell on the inside of a less desirable horn make such a difference in the tonal quality of the produced sound if the bell was so insignificant?
Explanations? Answers?
Here's my thought's behind the shape of the bell. The clarinet was originally invented to be a high cornet. Maybe it's just me, but I think it does resemble a trumpet bell to a certain point. Also, the flare of the bell of the clarinet does give it a certain charm, don't you think?
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