 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Rapidcif
Date: 2009-10-28 18:30
ok it is me again. I am not an advanced player so i tend to ask what are "amateur questions" to others. I was listening to some youtube vids and in one vid the clarinet tone sounded like a trumpet while in another one it sounded like a flute.
I just want to ask what do you do specifically to produce different tone colours?
Thx alot.
Post Edited (2009-10-28 18:31)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2009-10-28 19:50
Rapidcif wrote:
> I just want to ask what do you do specifically to produce
> different tone colours?
Play a Buffet. ![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif)
...GBK
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2009-10-28 20:15
You experiment with dynamics/volume, tongue position, articulation, etc. And you practice for many years!
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Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2009-10-28 23:00
I agree with GBK on this. I've tried Selmer,Yamaha,Leblanc and Buffet and I've not been able to get as varied tone color as I get on my Buffet with any clarinets from the other of the big 4 manufactures.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-10-29 00:47
The real truth is that there are many things that make up tone color in a sound and the brand of clarinet has only a little to do with it. There's the mouthpiece, the reed strength and type of reed, the ligature, but not nearly as much as the others, but the main reason for obtaining different tone colors is the players concept and physical make up. There are so many factors involved in getting the sound that people get. That's the reason that simply playing the same equipment as your teacher, or your hero, doesn't mean you will sound like that person. You have to hear what you want to sound like in your "inner" ear and work at obtaining that sound, or as close to it as you can get by experimenting with your embouchure, tongue position, lip position, throat position, breathing technique and equipment. Most people have "their own" sound and it can be difficult to change unless one works hard at it for a long period of time. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2009-10-29 03:35
Iceland, no one brand will make it easier for _every_ clarinet player globally. Each and every clarinetist finds what works for them, and if it's a Buffet it's a Buffet, but if it's a Vito that's ok too!
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Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2009-10-29 13:27
Over 90% of all professional clarinets sold in the world are Buffets. Does that really not tell you anything ?
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Author: Nessie1
Date: 2009-10-29 14:19
Iceland clarinet wrote:
> Over 90% of all professional clarinets sold in the world are
> Buffets. Does that really not tell you anything ?
It could just mean that they put the most effort and money into marketing or hype up their image to persuade (?brainwash) every one into assuming that this is what they should aspire to.
As I have said at least once before on this board, commercial success does not necessarily equal quality.
However, as someone who has hopes of changing clarinets within the next few years, I will be visiting a number of dealers and shops, scouring ads and websites and looking at a number of instruments of different models and I'm quite prepared to believe that I could end up with any one of about eight or ten different models by about five different manufacturers because each individual instrument will vary, not just each model and much less each manufacturer. It's just a case of what's out there at the time. If I were to repeat the search exercise, say, six months later, the result could well be different.
It is also for each player to decide what works for him or her and gives him the effect that he or she wants. Life would be very boring if we were all exactly the same.
Vanessa.
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Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2009-10-29 14:36
Over 90% of professional pianists choose Steinway. Is it because they are more available around than say Bösendorfer ? I can tell you for example that a Bösendorfer grand piano was used the first 2 or 3 years when a music hall opened in my hometown in January 99. Then they bought a Steinway and you could choose between those two when you had a concert. I have one time seen the Bösendorfer used in a concert and that was an accompanist for a singer singing some lyrical Schumann and Schubert and such type of music. Even the music school I attended in the same building used every opportunity to use the Steinway if it was not to be used in a concert later that day/evening.
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Author: Nessie1
Date: 2009-10-29 15:19
Iceland clarinet wrote:
> Over 90% of professional pianists choose Steinway. Is it
> because they are more available around than say Bösendorfer ?
> I can tell you for example that a Bösendorfer grand piano was
> used the first 2 or 3 years when a music hall opened in my
> hometown in January 99. Then they bought a Steinway and you
> could choose between those two when you had a concert. I have
> one time seen the Bösendorfer used in a concert and that was
> an accompanist for a singer singing some lyrical Schumann and
> Schubert and such type of music. Even the music school I
> attended in the same building used every opportunity to use the
> Steinway if it was not to be used in a concert later that
> day/evening.
The preference of your music school could well be down to the preference of a few people. They are entitled to that preference. In your example you are also comparing one particular Boesendorfer and one particular Steinway. You yourself admit that they Boesendorfer was used for one type of music by one duo. It may have been more suitable for this and, again, those artists are entitled to their preference. However none of what you say means that one make is better than the other with no room for variation or doubt.
Vanessa.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2009-10-29 17:11
recording techiniques produce variable results.. the clarinet depending on the room and microphone placement can sound like just about anything but a clarinet.
David Dow
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2009-10-29 18:58
My point is to try different instruments and instrument brands. What if the original poster is one of your quoted 10% who wouldn't end up with a non-Buffet?
Every one is different. There is no ONE solution. Only by quoting 100% would Buffet truly be the "only" way to produce different tone colors!
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2009-10-29 19:33
Another thing that helps vary tone colour is embouchure pressure and airstream. For a more silky, flute-like sound, I use lighter embouchure pressure and a very generous amount of air going through the horn. Great sound for exposed, "pretty" solo parts. For a rough, blues or dixie sound, I (pardon the french) basically bite the hell out of the reed. It'll give a pinched sound which works well with some dixie tunes (LOTS of air and biting lower on the reed gives me what I THINK is close to that Pete Fountain sound), or maybe a bluesey tone (bite a little less hard, but closer to the tip).
Couple this with different oral cavities you can make (sometimes I find filling my cheeks a little varies the sound to where I want it, or leaking some air out the sides of my embouchure will help me control some notes at certain dynamics, etc). Probably not the "official, accepted and taught" ways to do it, but I was never formally taught. So whatever I have to do to get the sound the way I want it, is what I do. And things like this get the sound that I want.
Alexi
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Author: interd0g
Date: 2009-10-29 20:16
If I hear a clarinet sound which i really like, I try to find out what he (or she) plays.
Right now I am besotted with the Nicholas Cox version of theMozart Quintet.
Turns out he has a top of the line Yamaha, so Yamaha can definitely not be ruled out, despite the fact that so many good players choose Buffet.
I myself have two R13s , one from 1966 and one from recently. The sounds are not comparable - you would not guess they are essentially the same model.
The new one has a 'thinner' sound as if emerging from a narrower bore but still nice.
In either case I fiddle around with the mouthpiece and reed situation until I can make it sound like me without too much effort. You have to have a sound in mind first of all.
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Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2009-10-29 21:59
I've never heard a Reform Boehm player playing with as varied tone color and depth in the sound as Boehm player. The closest one is George Pieterson the former principal of the Concertgebouw orchestra still I hear some differences that do not at least satisfy me. My teacher once told me that he spent(since he studied in Amsterdam with George Pieterson and wanted to try to get a job there) a whole summer trying to chance to Würlitzer Reform Boehm. He eventually gave up and said the intonation was too much problem and the sound was very difficult to vary.
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