 The Fingering Forum
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Author: Matt
Date: 2002-01-15 18:02
Okay just a few questions. I have played Bb Clarinet for years and I have just switched to Eb Alto Clarinet. What does a Bb instrument and an Eb instrument have in common? What are their differences? They have the same fingerings but are those fingerings the same note? For example, if I play a C on clarinet I know thats a C. But if I play the same fingerings for a C on the alto will that still be a C?
Please help!
-=Matt=-
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Author: Eoin
Date: 2002-01-15 20:52
Matt, when you play a C on the clarinet, you know that it's a C. But it is actually a Bb. If you compare it with a piano, you will find your C corresponds to the piano's Bb. That's why your clarinet is called a Bb clarinet. It's written as a C in your music. When you take up your Alto clarinet and play the same fingering, the one you call C, it produces and Eb, which you can check by comparing with the piano. But you still call it a C, and as long as you use music specifically for the Alto clarinet, you can forget that you are playing something different and treat it exactly the same as a Bb soprano. THere are one or two tiny differences at the very bottom and top of the range, but I won't bother with them here.
Does that make sense?
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Author: Chris ellison
Date: 2002-01-17 21:06
I am a complete new comer to the clarinet but have played guitar and recorder for years. I don't understand why if the fingering on this website indicates a C, then I am actually playing a Bb. I must be missing something vital here and would appreciate any help.
Thanks
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Author: Aaron
Date: 2002-01-17 23:40
Chris,
The fingering on the website indicates a C because that is what note is going to be written in the music that will correspond to that fingering. The actual tone you will be producing however is a Bb. In this case since what is written on the page as a C and fingered as a C on your clarinet is in reality a Bb, we say that the instrument itself is pitched in Bb. If what was written was a C and fingered as a C came out as an "A", then you would have a clarinet pitched in A, (which I believe you said you did in another one of your posts.)
The note that is actually coming out of your horn is what they call "concert pitch" (they, generally meaning band people). So knowing that when you play a C and what the "concert pitch" is is a Bb, then when you play a C scale, what you're actually playing is a Bb scale. This relationship goes for all 12 notes. C=Bb, C#=B, D=C, D#=C#, etc.
Why not just call the notes what they really are then you ask? Well, I believe the major reason is to make it easier for someone to change between instruments. If you've played recorder, you know that 3 fingers down on the left hand is a G, lift one finger you get an A, etc. That works because the pipe on the recorder is of appropriate length to give those pitches with those fingerings. Imagine how hard it would be to re-learn what fingering corresponded to which note every time you picked up an instrument that had a pipe of slightly longer length (longer length making the pitches lower and lower). It would soon become very confusing to say the least. So instead of having a different fingering for each note depending on the length of the tube, it's easier to "lie" somewhat and "pretend" that all the fingerings correspond to the same notes just like on every other instrument and write the parts all out that way. The reality is that those notes really are different from what the standard A=440 scale says they should be, but unless you have perfect pitch, you'll never know, and can switch from one instrument to another using relatively the same fingerings for the same notes on the page. That way your 3 finger G on recorder is also a 3 finger G on the flute, the oboe, the saxophone, and to some degree even the clarinet (at least above the chalameau (sp?) register). The 3 finger G on each of those instruments may actually be a different pitch, but they're all written on music paper the same way to be more inconvertible. Does this make sense?
What's funny is I used to play saxophone a long time ago before I became an oboist, and after a while, I actually stopped thinking of say 3 finger G as "G", and began thinking of it as "F" (on tenor). I would read the music the same, but every time someone asked me to play an "F" my "G" is what they got. Things got a lot easier when I started playing oboe and didn't have to worry with such nonsense. Anyway hope this helps.
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Author: Deshaun
Date: 2002-08-26 23:31
I would like to If the Clarinet`s C is actually written C, why can't composers just write a Bb instead of a C?
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