 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: YCL-450
Date: 2006-05-20 22:55
I had my first clarinet lesson today and we went over the treble cleff. It was easier than I thougt to grasp. E G B D F represents each of the 5 lines on the staff from the bottom and F A C E represents the 4 spaces from the bottom. I got that but he didn't go into ledger lines. I don't understand the logic behind ledger line notes. They don't seem to follow the same rules as the basic staff. One problem I discovered right off the bat was that I don't know all the note names on the clarinet inspite of the fact that I know the finerings. In other words I can finger the notes but don't know what note I'm actually playing. Well with the exception of a few. I can now name the notes on the staff but I wll have to learn what notes I'm playing on the clarinet in order to make use of the staff.
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2006-05-20 23:28
Given the written range of the clarinet, it can be very useful to think about three places where the word "face" is spelled. One is, as you mention, the spaces right on the staff. Another is the line notes starting with top line F and including the first three leger lines above the staff. The other is the three leger lines below the staff plus the bottom line E, low F being three leger lines below the staff. They are even symmetrical because they involve the top and bottom lines of the staff. Write them on a piece of manuscript paper and you will see what I mean.
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2006-05-20 23:47
The ledger lines follow exactly the same logic as the stave. The notes run from A up to G and then A up to G over and over again.
As you have learnt, the five lines on the staff and the four spaces between them are:
Spaces Lines
............F
E
............D
C
............B
A
............G
F
............E
Going upwards from the stave, the space immediately above is G and then the ledger lines are A, C, E, G etc, with spaces B, D, F etc between them.
Going downwards below the stave, the space immediately below is D. then the ledger lines below are C, A, F, D etc (going downwards, so in reverse alphabetical order) and the spaces between them are B, G, E etc.
The term middle C, by the way, usually refers to the C on the first ledger line below the stave. So called because it is the C nearest to the middle of a piano keyboard.
And now, one very important thing that you may not have been taught.
Clarinet music is written at a different pitch from that at which it sounds.
Got that? No, I thought not. It makes no sense, but you need to understand it all the same.
Play the middle C on a piano. (It's a white key near the middle of the keyboard, with no black key immediately to the left of it.)
Play the lowest C on your clarinet. Thumb and three fingers of the left hand.
The notes will be different. The C on the clarinet will sound like the Bb on the piano. (That's the nearest black key to the left of the middle C on the piano.) To get the same note as the piano C, you have to play D (thumb and two fingers) on the clarinet.
Why?
Just because.
You have to get used to this. It's the same for saxes, trumpets, ("french") horns and some more obscure instruments; their music is written differently from how it sounds.
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If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
Post Edited (2006-05-20 23:53)
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Author: pewd
Date: 2006-05-20 23:53
Here is a free note identification web site ===> http://www.emusictheory.com/drillNoteReading.html
once it loads, click settings, then staves. set it to treble only.
that should help you learn them. it doesn't go as high (or low) as a clarinet does, but will get you started.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: YCL-450
Date: 2006-05-21 00:26
The ledger lines follow exactly the same logic as the stave. The notes run from A up to G and then A up to G over and over again.
As you have learnt, the five lines on the staff and the four spaces between them are:
Spaces Lines
............F
E
............D
C
............B
A
............G
F
............E
Going upwards from the stave, the space immediately above is G and then the ledger lines are A, C, E, G etc, with spaces B, D, F etc between them.
Going downwards below the stave, the space immediately below is D. then the ledger lines below are C, A, F, D etc (going downwards, so in reverse alphabetical order) and the spaces between them are B, G, E etc.
The term middle C, by the way, usually refers to the C on the first ledger line below the stave. So called because it is the C nearest to the middle of a piano keyboard.
And now, one very important thing that you may not have been taught.
Clarinet music is written at a different pitch from that at which it sounds.
Got that? No, I thought not. It makes no sense, but you need to understand it all the same.
Play the middle C on a piano. (It's a white key near the middle of the keyboard, with no black key immediately to the left of it.)
Play the lowest C on your clarinet. Thumb and three fingers of the left hand.
The notes will be different. The C on the clarinet will sound like the Bb on the piano. (That's the nearest black key to the left of the middle C on the piano.) To get the same note as the piano C, you have to play D (thumb and two fingers) on the clarinet.
Why?
Yes I'm aware that the clarinet is a transposing instrument and thanks for your explanation of the ledger lines. It makes a little more sense now.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2006-05-21 03:14
My grade school music class used to like "Empty Garbage Before Dad Flips"
My college theory class was fond of "Every Girl Buys Designer Fashions"
Isn't it amazing how the differences in ages reflect in the acronyms?...GBK
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Author: YCL-450
Date: 2006-05-21 04:15
GBK wrote:
> My grade school music class used to like "Empty
> Garbage Before Dad Flips"
>
> My college theory class was fond of "Every Girl
> Buys Designer Fashions"
>
> Isn't it amazing how the differences in ages reflect in the
> acronyms?...GBK
You're right. Since I'm no longer in school I like the second version and it has some truth to it.
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Author: bob49t
Date: 2006-05-21 06:10
AND to digress slightly, the acronym I like for the addition of flats in key signatures BEADGCF (and of course backwards for sharps) is.........
"Beans Eaten After Dark Generally Creates Flatulence"
Sorry GBK!
BobT
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Author: GBK
Date: 2006-05-21 06:26
bob49t wrote:
> AND to digress slightly, the acronym I like for the addition of
> flats in key signatures BEADGCF (and of course backwards for
> sharps) is.........
For FCGDAEB, I've always liked:
Faulty Condoms Gave Doreen An Early Baby ![[whoa]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie10.gif)
...GBK
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Author: 3dogmom
Date: 2006-05-21 19:17
I don't think I read in any of the above postings that, in the case of ledger lines, they are simply "line fragments". The staff, in theory, goes on forever. The ledger lines allow you to read "line, space, line, space...", all the way above or below the staff.
Another acronym is "Even George Bush Drives Fast".
Sue
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Author: GBK
Date: 2006-05-21 20:48
Bad Eating And Drinking Gets Children Fat ...GBK
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2006-05-21 21:48
Many years ago the English magazine The Spectator (very roughly speaking, the English equivalent to The New Yorker), ran a competition to write a piece of prose in which each word began with successive letters of the alphabet, two or three times over. I think some cheating was tolerated regarding words beginning with X.
Of the winners, I remember only the start of one entry, indispensable to any musicians wishing to remember the order of the notes:
All Bactrian Camels Definitely Eat Fresh Grass.
Sadly, even Google does not recognise this. I shall never learn the rest of the alphabet.
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If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2006-05-22 02:03
My favorite (from King of the Hill??):
Every Girl Band Deserves Funding
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2006-05-22 10:47
>Isn't it amazing how the differences in ages reflect in the acronyms?...GBK
>
Yup. When I was a child, in days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, my piano, choir and band teachers in San Rafael, California all used the same (boring) acronym: Every Good Boy Does Fine. For the bass staff, it was (even more boringly, with worse syntax and a non-dictionary word thrown in), Good Boys Do Fine Everyday. Naturally, the students came up with creative variants. The best of these would probably get me banished from this site forever.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: D
Date: 2006-05-22 14:52
for sharps and flats I was taught
Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle
Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles Father
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Author: William
Date: 2006-05-24 15:40
Personally--and this has always worked well for me--I do not think note names when I play. To me, the position of the note on the staff, as well as on ledger lines above and below, immediately tells me a specific fingering and a pitch which I then immedantely--and automatically---play. And I have all of them well memorized, not only on soprano clarinet, but also on bass, as well as all of the saxophones and flute/piccolo. After recognizing the fingering and pitch, I may think "fingering", but usually not. It seems much more efficient to look at a note and immediantly think the fingering, rather than "hmmm....tha't a second space A (for example) and that's fingered like this". Kind of like eliminating the middle man in a business deal. Of course, it is important to know--also--what the "name" of any note is in case you have to verbally communicate with someone else or write it down sometime, but it is much more important (IMHO)--as a performer--to look at a note and immediantly think "fingering" rather than "name" and then, fingering. Makes sight reading--which I am good at--much easier. So my advice is simply, don't worry so much about names of lines and spaces, just learn and memorize the fingerings. Worry more about rhythms, intonation and musical taste.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-05-24 16:01
Simply put, ledger lines are just extensions of the stave, both upward and downward.
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Author: kal
Date: 2006-05-24 22:06
And I have all of them well memorized, not only on soprano clarinet, but also on bass.
Well, I should hope so... seeing as they're exactly the same.
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The Clarinet Pages
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