 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Mel Lazin
Date: 2008-10-27 21:04
If a Full Boehm Bb clarinet is made for the purpose of transposing A Clarinet parts, then why are A Clarinets sometimes Full Boehm as well?
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2008-10-27 22:11
To create a "matched set."
In theory, the extra note makes low E and middle B match the adjacent notes better, avoiding the "bell tone." As a practical matter, nearly any good clarinet sounds fine on B and E, and on the relatively small number of low Eb clarinets I've tried, the extra length makes no difference.
Some people say that closing the bottom hole produces a good alternate throat Bb, but on every sample I've tried, the note is so far out of tune that it's useless.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2008-10-28 01:57
I agree with Ken, the "long Bb" [if in tune] available on a 20/7 {IMHexperience] has a much different sound from the throat A/G#, more like the B nat, so may not often be desireable. An A clarinet with 19 keys/ 7 rings [no low Eb], however, would provide the alternative fingerings that its "companion" Bb has, and thus would be desireable IMHO. Thots, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: rsholmes
Date: 2008-10-28 14:16
The question seems to assume "full Boehm" means "having a low E flat". There are other "extras" on a full Boehm clarinet besides that.
What I'm curious about is why most modern alto clarinets go to low E flat, even though there's never been such a thing as a D alto clarinet. Pure bass clarinet envy?
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2008-10-28 14:20
Ahhhh....Chris....what a beautiful photo!!!! Makes my heart smile!
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Author: Molloy
Date: 2008-10-28 15:50
If you're only interested in playing the official repertoire then I guess there isn't a whole lot of use for the low Eb on an A clarinet, although my experience with second-register low Bb is very contrary to Ken's -- the pitch is perfectly good on any of my Selmers, although the tone can be iffy.
But if you like to improvise, compose or make your own arrangements, how could you not be happy to have an extra note on the bottom to work with? Going down to concert C, a full-boehm A clarinet can take a viola part, for example. The top of a clarinet's range is kind of theoretical (and the sound up there is ugly) while no amount of skill is going to make it play any lower than it's built to (and the notes down there are beautiful).
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2008-10-28 15:56
TKS, Chris, true cl perfection, Selmers, aren't they ? Yes, RSH, with the [usual 4] additions to our "standard" 17/6 Boehm, I have ?almost? one of each combination , a '30's Bundy wood with only the fork Eb/Bb, a '50's Leblanc Dyn 2 with fork and artic.C#/G#, said to be Pete Fountain's preferred cl, a '10-20?'s Pruefer with fork, artic, and the alternate L LF Ab/Eb lever, and a 1932 Selmer RI with all 4. I have owned and given away 3 more FB's 2 Penzel Muellers, and a Selmer 1920's. "Missing" are others of the possible combinations , perhaps never made in Bb sops. My Selmer bass cl is a 3/4ths FB, without the ?impossible? fork. My Sel Alto cl has only the low Eb. I have heard that the bass's low Eb was to match the cello's lowest note, so perhaps the alto's low Eb is to match a viola's range, and cover [nearly?] the Basset Horn's range. Lots of AM thots, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Mark Horne
Date: 2008-10-28 18:24
As for the question of why modern alto clarinets go to low Eb, I believe the answer is to keep the long B natural off of the bell key. I have an older Bundy alto that is only keyed to low E and that mid-staff B is noticeably more stuffy than the surrounding notes. I have also heard that the intonation can be iffy since it depends on a precise fit of the bell on the lower tenon.
It seems like Selmer continued the practice of keying their larger clarinets (including their rosewood contra altos) only to low E for longer than other makers. Not sure why.
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Author: rsholmes
Date: 2008-10-28 18:33
The cello goes down to C2 concert, which is D2 as written for bass clarinet, so the bass's low E flat does not match the bottom cello note. I've always assumed the bass's low E flat was there for the same reason as the full Boehm low E flat on a B flat clarinet: to allow playing parts written for bass clarinet in A. Similar logic would explain the alto clarinet's low E flat key if there had been such a thing in common use as an alto clarinet in D, but there wasn't.
Low E flat on an alto clarinet is F2 sharp concert. The viola's bottom note is C3, a fourth higher, so matching the viola's range isn't the reason for that key.
The F basset horn's lowest note is F2, a half tone lower than the alto clarinet can go, so that doesn't seem to fully explain the latter's low E flat key either.
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