 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: wjk
Date: 2002-05-24 14:44
Do most clarinetists become fluent in microtonal fingerings? Where are these available?
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2002-05-24 20:48
Interesting question. I only wish I knew what the heck you were talking about. Would an old half-deaf geezer like me even hear them If I knew the fingering?
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2002-05-25 02:50
My curiosity got the better of me and I did my own search. Try this:
<www.stanford.edu/~gdevries/clarpicz/fingerings.html>
Hope it helps.
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2002-05-25 02:53
Sorry 'bout that. For some reason the url I found did not print.
Go to Google, search for "microtonal fingerings" and about half-way down the first page (after all the Bassoon and Flute fingerings) there is one for 2nd ed. Clarinet.
Luck
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Author: Eoin
Date: 2002-05-27 10:22
Microtones are any sort of intervals which are smaller than a semitone. The most common is the quarter tone, which is used in Middle Eastern music and in some 20th Century Comppositions. The Cambridge Clarinet Companion contains a chart with fingerings for all the quarter tones on the clarinet. I haven't seen such charts on the internet. Trying out some of these fingerings on my trusty Buffet E13, I find that they all give the correct pitch but are much quieter than the normal tones. I don't know the reason for this. Maybe the clarinet is tuned into the standard tones in some way and doesn't play the "wrong notes" easily.
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-05-28 00:01
Eion is spot on. Also, some composers specify microtones in thirds of a tone as well as quarters of a tone. Regardless of which - they are difficult to "do" until you become familiary with their sound.
Herr J.S. Bach was well aware of the properties of microtonal tuning and, indeed pioneered "equal temperament". Prior to this, composers swore by "old fashioned tunings" and organs and harpsichords were tuned according to modes. So, if they played in keys not suited to the mode, the resulting overtones would often sound like "wolf whistles" and other such noises.
The difficulty on wind instruments is that they are designed to be played in "equal temperament" so achieving microtones is a problem (but not an unsolvable one). Obviously on stringed instruments microtones are a breeze (relatively).
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