 The Fingering Forum
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Author: blue
Date: 2004-10-02 01:11
My clarinet is abnormally sharp. I have a plastic Selmer student model CL300 and when it pushed all together it is ALWAYS sharp. Now i know few instruments are perfectly in tune when pushed all the way together but when my clarinet is fully pushed in, I am like 20 - 30 cents sharp! Sometimes it sounds like I am the full 50 cents sharp!! I wonder if this is because of the shape my clarinet was/is in. I have owned it for 8 years. I have marched with it in the pouring rain once. A couple of mouths later after marching in the rain with it, for a competition, I had the entire instrument overhauled (unbend keys, replace all pads, shine keys etc). But when we tune, I know to always pull my clarinet dramitcally apart to be intune. Sometimes when my instrument is pulled out to be in tune, I can't play certain notes like 5th line f or f above the staff. I think I may have found the answer to my sharpness but i am not sure. my gsharp, the first one right above the staff, is horrible. I have observed other clarinets and i think my upper joint section is like 3 or 4 millimeters to short. I can see this because it seems the distance from my left hand 3rd finger hole to the bottom (not to the cork) of the upper section is shorter than that of other clarinets (this would mean that the g sharp tone hole is to close to the l.h. 3rd finger tone hole making my g sharp... well sharp and poorly responsive) I know i got a little technical by I hope any one who reads this can follow what I'm saying. Anyway, what reason can anyone out there give me for why my clarinet is so sharp all the time.
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Author: richard
Date: 2004-10-02 03:15
In my humble opinion , all student model clarinet tend to play a bit sharp. The manufacturers take care of the need of the beginners whose embouchure is not yet fully developed. Any person who has several years' playing experience always finds a student horn playing sharp.
I have the same problem when I played my Jupiter plastic clarinet that I bought years ago.
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Author: Theboy_2
Date: 2004-10-02 05:18
clarinets are different from brand to brand. you may have a C clarinet, and you are actually flat. but that seems unlikely. what size is your reed? i notice that beginners hwne playing on a soft reed, 2 1/2 or so bite really hard to squeeze their notes out. move up a reed size, 3 or 3 1/2 is as far as you need to go. vocalize your notes. when a choral student plays their note, their oral cavity and throat are open to give a nice full sound, thats what you need as well. if both are closed, then your tone can go up higher. hope this helps.
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Author: Kasumi
Date: 2004-10-03 13:18
What frequency do you normally use when you tune up your clarinet?
I'm German and I have a Student Clarinet with two Barrels, designed for 441Hz and 443Hz so I always have to pull my clarinet a bit apart when we tune by 442Hz.
So maybe you just need another barrel?
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Author: Eoin McAuley (Gnomon)
Date: 2004-10-04 16:14
Are you still using the student mouthpiece that came with the clarinet? Since students tend to play flat, these are usually adjusted to play slightly sharp to compensate. If you change to a professional mouthpiece, your pitch will go down.
What Kasumi says is also true. European clarinets tend to be pitched at 443 Hz while Americans use 440.
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Author: Kool Klarinet
Date: 2004-11-10 19:37
It would be either due to you biting or because of your barrel. I knew a girl at my last high school and she was always so sharp, she had to pull out to her corks. Her two problems were that she needed a longer barrel to fit her playing style and her model. She also was biting a lot on her clarinet(not literally). Don't play on a reed that maybe so hard for you that your embouchure has to tighten up so firm to play on it. Then when you get new reeds or use a smaller reed your so firm that you are way sharp. Don't bite, loosen up, play on a reed that fits you, and then if your still really sharp after that, then you will need a longer barrel.
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