 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Mike G.
Date: 1999-02-09 13:04
I'm not a clarinetist, but a friend of mine who plays asked me to check this out. In cleaning out a relative's attic he came across a case that contained three clarinets; one in B-flat, one in C, and one in B natural.
Now, the B-flat and the C he's familiar with. But what is (was) a clarinet in B-natural used for and who might have used it?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-02-09 13:10
Mike G. wrote:
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I'm not a clarinetist, but a friend of mine who plays asked me to check this out. In cleaning out a relative's attic he came across a case that contained three clarinets; one in B-flat, one in C, and one in B natural.
Now, the B-flat and the C he's familiar with. But what is (was) a clarinet in B-natural used for and who might have used it?
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It is most probably a high-pitch Bb. He'll have to check the intonation against a meter.
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Author: Dee
Date: 1999-02-09 13:24
There are a couple of other possibilities.
Is the one that appears to be in B the same length as the Bb and just stamped with a B? In that case it is actually a Bb. This was a common practice in marking instruments to designate them from the clarinets in A.
Also there was a clarinet in B but my reference book(published in 1954) states that is was obsolete and no longer used. I'ld give the title and author, but the book is at home and I'm at work.
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Author: Arnold the basset hornist
Date: 1999-02-09 14:25
Dee wrote:
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There are a couple of other possibilities.
Is the one that appears to be in B the same length as the Bb and just stamped with a B? In that case it is actually a Bb. This was a common practice in marking instruments to designate them from the clarinets in A.
*** The german 'B' is a (english) Bb while the german 'H' is a (english) B-natural. The markings 'B' and 'A' are typical for german clarinets especially if you by a set. (You may want to view yamaha's german sys clarinet page: <a href=http://orchester.yamaha.de/klarinette_oe.html>Yamaha's german sys set</a> - unfortunately you cannot see this markings usually at both upper and lower joint at this internet pictures.)
Also there was a clarinet in B but my reference book(published in 1954) states that is was obsolete and no longer used. I'ld give the title and author, but the book is at home and I'm at work.
*** I also read of that pitch in Johann Georg Heinrich Backofen's "Instruction for the Clarinet", I remember.
Another fact is, the pitch moved. During barocque is was almost one semitone down, thus an early C clarinet will be allmost an B-natural clarinet today.
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Author: Meri
Date: 1999-02-10 18:31
In F. G. Rendall's book, The Clarinet: Some Notes on its History and Construction (old, but still a good resource), it says that there were instruments constructed in B-natural during the clarinet's early history.
It was used occasionally in the earliest part of the clarinet's history, when clarinets had only 2-4 keys. With so few keys, some notes could not be obtained, even with cross-fingering. It was probably used when an orchestra was performing a work that was full of accidentals, when the parts were impossible to play on an A clarinet, the most common pitch for instruments during this period.
Meri
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-02-10 18:49
Meri wrote:
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About the B clarinet:
<snip>
It was used occasionally in the earliest part of the clarinet's history, when clarinets had only 2-4 keys. With so few keys, some notes could not be obtained, even with cross-fingering. It was probably used when an orchestra was performing a work that was full of accidentals, when the parts were impossible to play on an A clarinet, the most common pitch for instruments during this period.
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There were "rules" during those early times about how many sharps or flats could be used for a clarinet before a different pitched instrument must be used. My meory fails me at the moment (and I'm at a customer site, not at home) but I <i>think</i> it was 3 sharps, 2 flats, or vice versa. Anyone with the "Clarinet Compendium" or such reading today? (My son "borrowed" my copy ...)
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Author: Mike G.
Date: 1999-02-11 13:03
Thank you all for your responses.
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Author: Josh
Date: 1999-02-18 04:25
I know for a fact that B naturals were made and I have had the pleasure of being close enough to hold it. If an of you have ever been in Sacramento, there is a music store called Tim's Band Instrument Service and he has tons of antique clarinets lining his walls and one of them is a B.
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