 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Bartosz
Date: 2020-05-15 00:55
Hello,
I have recently bought the new chalumeau in C (sopran) with 3 keys by German factory (not a "clarineau" and with ambitions to be more "historic"). And the upper register (just a few notes) is 1/2 tone too high. Overblown C gives g#.
What do you advice?
Maybe I could improve the tuning by modifying the duodecim (bottom) hole? What will happen when I make it a little bigger? Or maybe smaller?
What do you think?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: jdbassplayer
Date: 2020-05-15 03:21
This seems to be almost a universal problem on chalumeau, found on both historic and modern versions in my admittedly limited experience. Trying to decrease the size of the lowest tonehole will affect the lower register and will make the lowest notes stuffy.
If you want to fix it you would have to enlarge the bore relative to the mouthpiece size, you would then need to add a register tube. At this point you would basically have a Baroque clarinet...
If you have a piece that goes above the high F, the best thing to do is switch to a chalumeau in a different key. I purchased a chalumeau in C for a friend to use, only to find that most of the literature I could find was written for the F instrument. It seems it's best to have a set of both in order to cover the literature. The limited range of the instrument is unfortunate, but they really do sound lovely in a baroque ensemble.
-JDbassplayer
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tobin
Date: 2020-05-15 15:32
I have no experience with Chalumeau, but I did switch from French to German clarinets three years ago. One year into the switch, with the most relaxed French embouchure, I was still 25-40+ cents sharp in the upper clarion.
Is it possible that the mouthpiece design is meant for German system?
James
Gnothi Seauton
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bartosz
Date: 2020-05-16 11:00
Thank you very much for your answers.
I have talked to the maker of historic chalumeaux and there could be a lot of factors... One of them is the mouthpiece. So now I am considering sending instrument back to the maker to improve it himself.
Yours,
Bartosz
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bartosz
Date: 2020-05-21 17:22
Hello again,
I made some research and I realised that "chalumeau" I bought is probably a modification of a "small clarinet in C" by Moeck (no longer in production). But...
As I found about the mouthpiece for that Moeck small clarinet:
"Determined by childrens' lip muscles and taking into account the change to second teeth, the pressure from the mouth had to be calculated in such a way that good intonation could be maintained. This was achieved by modifying the chamber, the table and the thickness of the reed as well as lengthening the mouthpiece so that normal Vandoren Bb clarinet reeds (German cut) with 1.5 and 2 thicknesses could be used. "
And my "chalumeau" came with the common Eb-clarinet mouthiece... so now I am almost sure that the problem is in the mouthpiece.
I wrote to the manufacturer, lets see what he will respond...
Best,
Bartosz
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: purple_ray
Date: 2022-09-26 15:24
Hi Bartosz, I am curious how you got on with this instrument in the end? Hope it worked out for you.
Yours is the only mention I have been able to find online of this instrument, other than the very minimal info on the manufacturer's site, so I'm wondering if you could please tell me about the range:
- Is it a true "soprano" chalumeau, i.e. lowest note = F4? Or are they calling it a "Sopran" (as some other makers do, and they do with the Clarineau) on the basis of soprano/descant recorder fingering (i.e. lowest note = C4)?
Thanks,
Rachael
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
